How has natural selection resulted in these dramatic differences in skin color as they relate to different latitudes?

As people moved to areas farther from the equator with lower UV levels, natural selection favored lighter skin which allowed UV rays to penetrate and produce essential vitamin D. The darker skin of peoples who lived closer to the equator was important in preventing folate deficiency.

What factor best explains the distribution of human skin colors and what is the role played by the pigment melanin?

Human skin color is correlated with the intensity of solar radiation. This produces a clinal distribution in skin color, with the darkest skin found near the equator, and lighter skin found at increasing latitudes. Human skin color is determined mainly by a pigment called melanin.

What best explains skin color variations that tend to get lighter away from the equator?

UV radiation is strongest at the equator, and greater in the southern hemisphere. As dark-skinned human populations moved away from the equator, the risk for vitamin D deficiency increased because their skin blocked UV radiation. Selection favored change toward lighter skin in such environments.

Why do the Inuit have dark skin?

Increased melanin made their skin become darker. As early humans started migrating north into Europe and east into Asia, they were exposed to different amounts of sun. So despite their chilly climate and lack of sun exposure, it’s the Inuit diet that has kept them in their natural glow.

How do these pigments produce the different hair and skin colors?

Melanogenesis is the name of the process where melanins are produced by specialized pigment cells called melanocytes, in response to UV radiation. Melanin in our skin protects our DNA from damage by UV radiation.

What pigments determine skin color explain each briefly?

Skin Pigmentation The relative coloration of the skin depends of the amount of melanin produced by melanocytes in the stratum basale and taken up by keratinocytes. Melanin occurs in two primary forms. Eumelanin exists as black and brown, whereas pheomelanin provides a red color.

What best explains skin color variations that tend to get lighter away from the equator quizlet?

What best explains skin color variations that TEND to get lighter away from the equator? In cooler areas outside the tropics, lighter skin allowed for more absorption of Vitamin D from sunlight.

What are the possible factors that determine variations in skin color explain?

Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one’s biological parents), the exposure to the sun, or both.

What is the difference between Inuk and Inuit?

“Inuit” is plural, and it also serves as the adjective; one person is an Inuk.