1. Environmental stress such as heat can be very detrimental to the survival of humans. Dehydration is a major problem in areas where the temperature is above average. Heat not only affects humans directly but indirectly as well. Extreme heats have caused famines and drought which have threatened human survival in the past.
2. An example of a short term adaptation for humans against heat would be sweating.
A facultative adaptation would be a tan.
An example of a developmental adaptation would be skin color.
Last, an example of a cultural adaptation to heat would be different clothing.
3. The benefits of studying human variation is that we can discover why so many different human traits exists. Also it helps us identify some ways to fight against environmental stresses. Information such as this is useful because different areas have greater environmental factors to consider.
4. Race would show that skin color is just based on the pigmentation of your skin. This is just a result of a human trait variation that protects from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Environmental influences on adaptations are a better way to understand human variation because it shows a wide variety of ways that a human could adapt to a certain stress.
