Human Biological Diversity

This text is intended for the sophomore level course in human variation/human biology taught in anthropology departments. It may also serve as a supplementary text in introductory physical anthropology courses. In addition to covering the standard topics for the course, it features contemporary topics in human biology such as the Human Genome Project, genetic engineering, the effects of stress, obesity and pollution.

Are humans unique? This simple question, at the very heart of the hybrid field of biological anthropology, poses one of the false of dichotomies—with a stereotypical humanist answering in the affirmative and a stereotypical scientist answering in the negative. The study of human biology is different from the study of the biology of other species. In the simplest terms, people's lives and welfare may depend upon it, in a sense that they may not depend on the study of other scientific subjects. Where science is used to validate ideas—four out of five scientists preferring a brand of cigarettes or toothpaste—there is a tendency to accept the judgment as authoritative without asking the kinds of questions we might ask of other citizens' pronouncements.

The implications of biodiversity loss for the global environment have been widely discussed, but only recently has attention been paid to its direct and serious effects on human health. Biodiversity loss affects the spread of human diseases, causes a loss of medical models, diminishes the supplies of raw materials for drug discovery and biotechnology, and threatens food production and water quality. Biodiversity and Human Health brings together leading thinkers on the global environment and biomedicine to explore the human health consequences of the loss of biological diversity. Based on a two-day conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution, the book opens a dialogue among experts from the fields of public health, biology, epidemiology, botany, ecology, demography, and pharmacology on this vital but often neglected concern. Contributors discuss the uses and significance of biodiversity to the practice of medicine today, and develop strategies for conservation of these critical resources. Topics examined include: the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss emerging infectious diseases and the loss of biodiversity the significance and use of both prescription and herbal biodiversity-derived remedies indigenous and local peoples and their health care systems sustainable use of biodiversity for medicine an agenda for the future In addition to the editors, contributors include Anthony Artuso, Byron Bailey, Jensa Bell, Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Michael Boyd, Mary S. Campbell, Eric Chivian, Paul Cox, Gordon Cragg, Andrew Dobson, Kate Duffy-Mazan, Robert Engelman, Paul Epstein, Alexandra S. Fairfield, John Grupenhoff, Daniel Janzen, Catherine A. Laughin, Katy Moran, Robert McCaleb, Thomas Mays, David Newman, Charles Peters, Walter Reid, and John Vandermeer. The book provides a common framework for physicians and biomedical researchers who wish to learn more about environmental concerns, and for members of the environmental community who desire a greater understanding of biomedical issues.

This text is intended for the sophomore level course in human variation/human biology taught in anthropology departments. It may also serve as a supplementary text in introductory physical anthropology courses. In addition to covering the standard topics for the course, it features contemporary topics in human biology such as the Human Genome Project, genetic engineering, the effects of stress, obesity and pollution.

The Value of Life is an exploration of the actual and perceived importance of biological diversity for human beings and society. Stephen R. Kellert identifies ten basic values, which he describes as biologically based, inherent human tendencies that are greatly influenced and moderated by culture, learning, and experience. Drawing on 20 years of original research, he considers: the universal basis for how humans value nature differences in those values by gender, age, ethnicity, occupation, and geographic location how environment-related activities affect values variation in values relating to different species how vlaues vary across cultures policy and management implications Throughout the book, Kellert argues that the preservation of biodiversity is fundamentally linked to human well-being in the largest sense as he illustrates the importance of biological diversity to the human sociocultural and psychological condition.

The present volume is an attempt to synthesize, present, and argue for what has been learned and remains to be learned about the biological differences within and among human groups. Marks, a biologist as well as an anthropologist, avails himself of the data generated by molecular genetics about the hereditary composition of the human species. As it happens, genetics has undermined the fundamental assumptions of racial taxonomy, for genetic variation has turned out to be, to a large extent, polymorphism (variation within groups) rather than polytypy (variation among groups). Though populations at geographical extremes can be contrasted, the fundamental units of the human species are populations rather than races. Further, genetics provides little in the way of reliable biological history of our species, because human populations are culturally-defined, as well as biological, entities. And genetics has often been used as a scientific validation for cultural values - from the idea that there is indeed a small number of genetically distinct kinds of people ("races") to be identified to more pervasive suggestions about the relationship of genetics to behavior. In its presentation of the bio-cultural nature of human diversity as well as in its presentation of the history of the problem and the illusions embedded in that history, this will be a widely used textbook that fills a void in the literature of biology and of physical anthropology.

"Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity; United Nations Development Programme; United Nations Environment Programme; IUCN--The World Conservation Union."