The Adaptive Limits of Human Populations

Baker, P. T.

doi:10.2307/2803221

Cited by 59 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…It has adapted to different ecological communities, such as understory where Lauraceae species and yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) are dominant and understory where Myrtaceae are dominant, and other associations, including natural grasslands, where it forms dense groups (Reitz and Klein 1966, Klein 1978, Mattos 1994. Therefore, the adaptability of the two species to a very wide range of environments coincides with the adaptability of human populations to live in different scenarios (Baker 1984), an attribute that would facilitate greater coordination and cohesiveness in the human-Araucaria relationship.…”

Section: Adaptabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscapes with Araucaria in South America: evidence for a cultural dimension

Reis¹,

Ladio²,

Peroni³

2014

E&S

108

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ABSTRACT. South American Araucaria species include Araucaria araucana (Mol.) C. Koch (Argentina and Chile) and Araucaria angustifolia (Bert.) O. Kuntze (Brazil and Argentina). Both species produce nut-like seeds (piñones, pinhões) that have, since preColumbian times, formed part of the traditional diet of local societies: Kaingang (A. angustifolia) and Mapuche-Pehuenche (A. araucana). In this work, we compared and analyzed converging and diverging characteristics of these species founded on ecological and ethnobotanical evidence. We also studied the role of human groups in the construction of Araucaria forests. The methodology used was based on a bibliographical analysis that included a wide range of sources, from ecological to social sciences. Our results show that both species hold strong cultural and symbolic significance for associated human groups. The ecological characteristics of both species have favored their rapid territorial expansion since the Holocene; however, palynological, archaeological, and ethnobotanical evidence reinforces the hypothesis that the human groups involved played a key role in this process. For both societies, there are records of past and present practices related to the transport, storage, and processing of the seeds. The landscapes where A. araucana and A. angustifolia are present also reflect use patterns that hold a level of significance that goes beyond merely utilitarian purposes. For the Kaingang and the Mapuche-Pehuenche, the Araucaria forests are associated with the concept of territoriality and play a key role in determining their identity. Our approach to cultural landscapes, which considers the importance of societies in the modelling of natural landscapes, can offer new perspectives for conservation policies and action in both forests.

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Section: Adaptabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscapes with Araucaria in South America: evidence for a cultural dimension

Reis¹,

Ladio²,

Peroni³

2014

E&S

108

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“…Such natural experiments, now commonly known as human adaptability studies (Little, 2010), revealed extensive phenotypic variation both within and across human populations. Examples include populations living in extreme climates (e.g., high altitude and extreme cold/heat; Baker, 1958Baker, , 1984, those transitioning from local-based economies to cash-based infrastructures (Baker et al, 1986), those surviving to different ages across populations (Crews & Lawson, 2015), and even those inhabiting different sections within the same country (Kusano et al, 2016;Worthman & Panter-Brick, 2008). Early on, human adaptability studies demonstrated somatic and physiological variation are patterned not only by environmental and ecological circumstances, but also by local sociocultural variation, exploitative technologies, and variable phenotypes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such patterns of phenotypic variation tend to shift as new technologies are developed or introduced and existing adaptive balances are altered. Baker (1984) articulated a human adaptability process whereby cycles of social, cultural, developmental, or genetic adjustments that alleviate stressors often generate new stressors requiring new adjustments. Biological anthropologists continue to explore how human stressors and related behavioral, social, environmental, metabolic, neuroendocrine, genetic, and cultural factors jointly modulate physiological stress responses and phenotypes in humans (Crews, 2003(Crews, , 2007Crews & Ice, 2012;Danese & McEwen, 2012;Ice & James, 2007;Juster, McEwen, & Lupien, 2010;Kusano et al, 2016;Leahy & Crews, 2012;Leonard & Crawford, 2002;McDade, 2002McDade, , 2007McDade & Nyberg, 2010;McEwen, 2008McEwen, , 2012Schulkin, 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, we propose ALIs will add a cumulative measure that assesses multiple dimensions of health and well-being to ongoing research on human variation in response to ecological and sociocultural stressors. For over half a century, biological anthropologists have conducted numerous natural experiments designed to explore how evolutionary, environmental, and sociocultural stressors influence human growth and development, health, reproductive function, cause of death, and life span (e.g., Baker, 1984;Baker, Hanna, & Baker, 1986;Bindon, Knight, Dressler, & Crews, 1997;Damon, 1974;Garn, 1963;Goodman & Leatherman, 1998;James, Crews, & Pearson, 1989;Lasker, 1952;Little & Haas, 1989;Roberts, 1960;Ulijaszek & Huss-Ashmore, 1997;Washburn, 1951). Such natural experiments, now commonly known as human adaptability studies (Little, 2010), revealed extensive phenotypic variation both within and across human populations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Allostatic load and biological anthropology

Edes

Crews

2017

American J Phys Anthropol

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Multiple stressors affect developing and adult organisms, thereby partly structuring their phenotypes. Determining how stressors influence health, well-being, and longevity in human and nonhuman primate populations are major foci within biological anthropology. Although much effort has been devoted to examining responses to multiple environmental and sociocultural stressors, no holistic metric to measure stress-related physiological dysfunction has been widely applied within biological anthropology. Researchers from disciplines outside anthropology are using allostatic load indices (ALIs) to estimate such dysregulation and examine life-long outcomes of stressor exposures, including morbidity and mortality. Following allostasis theory, allostatic load represents accumulated physiological and somatic damage secondary to stressors and senescent processes experienced over the lifespan. ALIs estimate this wear-and-tear using a composite of biomarkers representing neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune systems. Across samples, ALIs are associated significantly with multiple individual characteristics (e.g., age, sex, education, DNA variation) of interest within biological anthropology. They also predict future outcomes, including aspects of life history variation (e.g., survival, lifespan), mental and physical health, morbidity and mortality, and likely health disparities between groups, by stressor exposures, ethnicity, occupations, and degree of departure from local indigenous life ways and integration into external and commodified ones. ALIs also may be applied to similar stress-related research areas among nonhuman primates. Given the reports from multiple research endeavors, here we propose ALIs may be useful for assessing stressors, stress responses, and stress-related dysfunction, current and long-term cognitive function, health and well-being, and risk of early mortality across many research programs within biological anthropology. K E Y W O R D Saging, allostasis, frailty, growth and development, nonhuman primates, senescence, stress | I N T R O D U C T I O NTraditional research foci within biological anthropology include variations in stress, morbidity, and mortality (for reviews, see Ice & James, 2007;Little, 2010). Despite this long-term focus, the field continues to pursue a reliable, relatively easy to apply metric for assessing lifetime stress and stress-related outcomes. We suggest incorporating the theory of allostasis and methods for assessing allostatic load within anthropological theory and methodology to aid in closing this gap. As a theory, allostasis was developed to explain how mammalian physiological responses to stressors in their environments evolved to maximize the probability of survival while limiting somatic damage (Korte, Koolhaas, Wingfield, & McEwen, 2005;McEwen & Stellar, 1993;McEwen & Wingfield, 2003;Sterling, 2004Sterling, , 2012Sterling & Eyer, 1988). Unfortunately, such beneficial defensive responses come at a cost and, over time, repeated allostatic activi...

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“…Considering hu-mans, early hominid evolution produced a form adapted to the climate and biota of the hot savannah, but from Homo erectus onward, hominid populations adapted to an increasingly diversified combination of natural and cultural stresses leading to much of the biological and behavioral variation observed today. The model envisaged is a diversity of stresses promoting adaptation to new environments which create new stresses evoking further adaptive responses (Baker, 1984). Important biological stresses include infectious diseases and altered food intake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%