For this assignment, you will design a population that lives in a mountainous re

Question

For this assignment, you will design a population that lives in a mountainous region at an altitude of 12,000 feet above sea level. For instance, the Inca Empire also had a portion of the population who lived in similar circumstances.

1. What are at least two environmental stresses that would affect this population at this high altitude?

Hypoxia and cold stress

2. Consider what you’ve read in ch. 15 and 16. Consider the effects of high altitude, Bergmann/Allen, nutrition, etc. What characteristics do you think the members of this population, in this specific environment described above, would be likely to have, in terms of

a. body size/shape:

Smaller Body size

Explanation / Answer

Environmental stresses that will effect this population are:

1.   Hypoxia: at higher altitude the atmospheric pressure decreases i.e. there is a decrease in concentration of available oxygen.

2.   Dehydration: Humidity is low and air is dry, this results in dehydration.

3.   Dry air: The air is very dry at high altitude as humidity is low.

4.   Hypothermia: With increase in altitude, there if huge fall in temperature. Hypothermia and cold stress are seen at such a high altitude.

Specific characteristics of this population are:

1.   Body size/shape: The maturation rate of skeleton in such population is slower due to lower oxygen availability. Thus body has smaller size.

2.   Lung capacity is very large to compensate the low oxygen levels.

3.   RBC (red blood cell) production rate is higher and thus they have reddish color on face due to presence of high concentration of RBCs. RBC contain hemoglobin to deliver oxygen to body parts.

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