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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2016/Paper I/Human Genetics & Human Biology
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper I 2016 20 Marks Model Answer Available

Genetic and Non-genetic Factors in Bio-cultural Adaptation — 2016 Paper I

Question · 2016 · Paper I · 20 Marks

Discuss the genetic and non-genetic factors in the bio-cultural adaptations of human beings to different environments.

Model Answer

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Approach

  • Demand of Question: Integrate genetic and non-genetic adaptation across different timescales and environments. Distinguish adaptation from acclimatisation and developmental plasticity.
  • Structuring the Response: Define four levels -> genetic high-altitude and other examples -> acclimatory/developmental responses -> cultural buffering -> Baker/Frisancho hierarchy -> timescale and historical ecology.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover: EPAS1/EGLN1; Tibetan/Andean/Ethiopian contrasts; sickle-cell-malaria; UV pigmentation; lactase persistence; acclimatisation; developmental plasticity; heat/cold; culture; gene-culture coevolution; epigenetics caution.

Model Answer

Introduction

Biocultural adaptation refers to the ways humans adjust to environmental stress through four interacting levels: genetic adaptation, developmental plasticity, physiological acclimatisation and culture. No one level alone explains human ecological success.

Body

Genetic factors operate across generations through natural selection on inherited variation. High altitude is a strong example. Tibetan and Sherpa populations show selection in hypoxia-related pathways, especially EPAS1 and EGLN1, and generally maintain lower haemoglobin concentrations than Andean highlanders. Andean populations more often show increased haemoglobin and different cardiopulmonary responses; Ethiopian highlanders display another pattern. Similar hypoxic stress has therefore produced distinct population-specific solutions rather than a single “high-altitude type.”

Other genetic examples include the sickle-cell trait–malaria association, skin-pigmentation adaptations to ultraviolet radiation, and lactase persistence in some dairying populations. The latter demonstrates gene–culture coevolution: a cultural practice altered the selective environment.

Non-genetic responses work within lifetimes or during development. Acclimatisation to altitude includes hyperventilation, cardiovascular adjustment and increased erythropoiesis. Heat produces sweating and vasodilation; cold induces vasoconstriction, shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis. Development during persistent stress can produce lasting changes in body size, chest dimensions or physiology. Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules describe broad climatic tendencies in body form, but nutrition, migration and population history prevent deterministic use.

Culture is the fastest adaptive system. Clothing, shelter, fire, food processing, irrigation, mobility, seasonal scheduling and medicine buffer heat, cold, pathogens and food scarcity. Culture can reduce biological stress but can also generate new stresses through agriculture, urbanisation or altered diets.

Paul Baker’s human-adaptability approach and Frisancho’s distinction among genetic, developmental and acclimatory responses provide a useful hierarchy. Contemporary genomics adds molecular evidence, while epigenetic regulation highlights environmentally responsive gene expression without equating it with long-term genetic adaptation.

A further distinction is between adaptation and accommodation. A reversible physiological response in a lowlander visiting altitude is acclimatisation, whereas inherited population differences require evidence of selection; developmental effects lie between these timescales. This prevents the common error of labelling every human difference “genetic.” Cultural buffering may also weaken or redirect selection—for example, heating, insulated housing and modern medicine reduce direct climatic mortality. Conversely, agriculture and dense settlement increased pathogen exposure. Biocultural analysis therefore asks not simply whether a trait is adaptive, but at what timescale, through which mechanism and within which historical ecology.

Conclusion

Hence, human adaptation is a feedback system: genes shape possibilities, development calibrates phenotype, physiology provides reversible adjustment, and culture modifies exposure and even future selection. The anthropological advantage lies precisely in analysing these levels together rather than treating “nature” and “culture” as separate causes.

2026 Genetic polymorphism and natural selection. 2026 Numerical chromosomal aberrations can be due to abnormalities in autosomes as well as sex chromosomes. Elaborate in terms of the effects these have on human body, giving suitable examples. 2026 Distinguishing features of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. 2026 How would you find out that a particular disease/disorder is inherited and, if so, in which manner? Elaborate with suitable examples.

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UPSC Anthropology Optional 2016 — Paper I

28 questions

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