New York City College of Technology Human Biology – BIO1100

Biological Sciences Department

CHAPTER II

Human Evolution and Ecology:

Who Are We and Where Are We?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this class you should be able to:

• Describe evolution and explain how natural selection is its driving force
• Provide examples of evidence of evolution
• Discuss controversies and misconceptions about evolution
• Understand how humans are classified and what characteristics justify this classification
• Provide a rough timeline of steps in human evolution
• List different species present and extinct that are most closely related to modern humans
• Discuss how and why the human population is growing
• Explain how humans depend on and impact their environment
• Discuss possible future challenges modern humans will face

Introduction

Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence
shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period
of approximately six million years. The first modern humans shared the planet with at least three species of early humans.
Over time, as modern humans spread around the world, the other three species became extinct. We became the sole
survivors in the human family tree. Then, within just the past 12,000 years, our species, Homo sapiens, made the transition
to producing food and changing our surroundings. We have been so successful that we have inadvertently created a turning
point in the history of life on Earth. We have altered the world in ways that benefit us greatly. But this transformation has
unintended consequences for other species as well as for ourselves, creating new survival challenges. Knowing more about
our origins, adaptations and impact on our environment can give us the tools to understand our place on Earth and to make
the appropriate choices and decisions relating to all aspects of our life.

What is Evolution?

Evolution is the process through which the characteristics of species change over generations and through which new species
arise. All species of living organisms—from the bacteria on our skin, to the trees in our yards, to the birds outside and our own
species—evolved at some point from a different species. Although it may seem that living things today stay much the same
from generation to generation, that is not the case: evolution is ongoing. Scientists, philosophers, researchers, and others
had made suggestions and debated this topic well before Darwin began to explore this idea. Classical Greek philosopher
Plato emphasized in his writings that species were static and unchanging, yet there were also ancient Greeks who expressed
evolutionary ideas. In the eighteenth century, naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon reintroduced ideas about the
evolution of animals and observed that various geographic regions have different plant and animal populations, even when
the environments are similar. Some at this time also accepted that there were extinct species.

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(1) Natural Selection

In the mid-nineteenth century, two naturalists, Charles
Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, independently conceived
and described the actual mechanism for evolution.
Importantly, each naturalist spent time exploring the natural
world on expeditions to the tropics. Wallace traveled to Brazil
to collect insects in the Amazon rainforest from 1848 to 1852
and to the Malay Archipelago from 1854 to 1862. Darwin’s
journey, like Wallace’s later journeys to the Malay
Archipelago, included stops at several island chains, the last
being the Galápagos Islands west of Ecuador. Wallace and
Darwin both observed similar patterns in other organisms
and they independently developed the same explanation for
how and why such changes could take place. Darwin called
this mechanism natural selection. Natural selection, or
“survival of the fittest,” is the more prolific reproduction of
individuals with favorable traits that survive environmental
change because of those traits. This leads to evolutionary Charles Darwin (left; credit: Public Domain) and Alfred Russel
change i.e. how species change over time. In 1858, Darwin Wallace (right; credit: Public Domain).
and Wallace presented papers at the Linnean Society in London that discussed the idea of natural selection. The following
year Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species, was published. His book outlined in considerable detail his arguments for
evolution by natural selection.

The following example applies Darwin’s and Wallace's theory of evolution by natural selection. It explains how giraffes
came to have such long necks:.
• In the past, giraffes had short necks. But there was chance variation in neck length. Some giraffes had necks a little
longer than the average.
• Then, as now, giraffes fed on tree leaves. Perhaps the climate became drier, and leaves became scarcer. There
would be more giraffes than the trees could support. Thus, there would be a “struggle for existence.”
• Giraffes with longer necks had an advantage. They could reach leaves other giraffes could not. Therefore, the long-
necked giraffes were more likely to survive and reproduce. In other words, they had greater fitness.
• These giraffes passed the long-neck trait to their offspring. With each successive generation, the population
contained giraffes with longer necks. Eventually, all the giraffes had very long necks. (Credit: LibreTexts CC BY-NC-SA
3.0).

There are conditions for natural selection to take place:

i) Variation or differences, among individuals in a population
have to be present; ii) importantly, these differences must have
some genetic basis to be heritable; otherwise, the selection will
not lead to change in the next generation. Inheritance is critical
because nongenetic reasons can cause variation among
individuals such as an individual's height because of better
nutrition rather than different genes. Inherited trait that helps an
organism's survival and reproduction in its present environment
is called an adaptation. Scientists describe groups of organisms
adapting to their environment when a genetic variation occurs
over time that increases or maintains the population's “fit” to its
environment. A snow leopard's thick fur is an adaptation for living
in the cold. Whether or not a trait is favorable depends on the Darwin’s Finches. Darwin observed that beak shape
current environmental conditions. If placed in a warmer varies among finch species. He postulated that the beak of
environment, the fur of the snow leopard might become a an ancestral species had adapted over time to equip the
disadvantage; iii) there must be competition between finches to acquire different food sources(credit: John Gould,
individuals of the same species. More offspring are produced Public Domain)
than the environment can sustain, therefore, resources for survival and reproduction are limited. The capacity for
reproduction in all organisms outstrips the availability of resources to support their numbers. Thus, there is competition
for those resources in each generation.

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(2) Evidence of Evolution

The Ukrainian-born American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky
famously wrote in 1964 that “nothing makes sense in biology except
in the light of evolution.” He meant that the principle that all life has
evolved and diversified from a common ancestor is the foundation
from which we understand all other questions and observations in
biology.
a) The evidence for evolution is found at all levels of organization in
living things and in the extinct species we know about through
fossils. Fossils provide solid evidence that organisms from the
past are not the same as those today, and fossils show a
progression of evolution. Scientists determine the age of fossils
and categorize them from all over the world to determine when
the organisms lived relative to each other. The resulting fossil
record tells the story of the past and shows the evolution of form
over millions of years. For example, scientists have recovered Horse Evolution. Composed from Skeletons of
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe,
highly detailed records showing the evolution of humans and Germany. From left to right: Size development,
horses. biometrical changes in the cranium, reduction of toe
b) Anatomical structures and embryo development are another (credit: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0)
type of evidence for evolution. For example, the bones in human,
dog, bird, and whale appendages all share the same overall construction resulting from their origin in a common
ancestor's appendages. Over time, evolution led to changes in the bones' shapes and sizes in different species, but
they have maintained the same overall layout. Such synonymous parts are called homologous structures. Other
structures without any apparent function at all, exist in organisms, and appear to be residual parts from a past common
ancestor. These unused structures without function are called vestigial structures. Examples of vestigial structures
are wings on flightless birds, leaves on some cacti, and hind leg bones in whales, the human tailbone.

Homologous Structures. The similar bone construction of these forelimbs (left; credit: JoKalliaeur, CC BY-SA 4.0) and remarkably
similar embryos of these different animals (right; credit: Public Domain) indicate that these organisms share a common ancestor.

c) Biogeography, or the geographic distribution of organisms on the planet, follows patterns that we can explain best by
evolution in conjunction with tectonic plate movement over geological time. The geographic distribution of organisms
on the planet follows patterns that are best explained by evolution in conjunction with the movement of tectonic plates
over geological time. Broad groups that evolved before the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea (about 200 million
years ago) are distributed worldwide. Groups that evolved since the breakup appear uniquely in regions of the planet,
such as the unique flora and fauna of northern continents that formed from the supercontinent Laurasia and of the
southern continents that formed from the supercontinent Gondwana. Marsupial diversification in Australia and the
absence of other mammals reflect Australia’s long isolation. Australia has an abundance of endemic species—species
found nowhere else—which is typical of islands whose isolation by expanses of water prevents species to migrate. Over
time, these species diverge evolutionarily into new species that look very different from their ancestors that may exist
on the mainland. Australia's marsupials, the Galápagos' finches, and many species on the Hawaiian Islands are all
unique to their one point of origin, yet they display distant relationships to ancestral species on mainland.
d) Like anatomical structures, the molecular structures of life reflect descent with modification. DNA is found in all
organisms and its universality reflects evidence of a common ancestor for all of life. In general, the relatedness of
groups of organisms is reflected in the similarity of their DNA sequences—exactly the pattern that we would expect
from descent and diversification from a common ancestor.

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(3) Artificial Selection

In the first chapter of his book On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin discussed
how artificial selection, also called selective breeding, had been successful in
changing the traits of animals, including pigeons, cats, cattle, and dogs. He used
this discussion as a springboard to introduce his idea of natural selection as well
as to provide support for it. The use of selective breeding to change the traits of
other species has a very long history. In fact, archaeological evidence indicates
that selective breeding of both plants and animals began as early as 10,000 years
ago in the Middle East when previous hunter-gatherers began to domesticate
animals and cultivate cereal plants. Around this time, changes in climate led to
increasing drought, which forced people to concentrate around permanent water
sources. These population concentrations could not be supported by the wild
animals and plants in the vicinity, providing a stimulus for the invention of
agriculture and the use of selective breeding to increase the amount of available
food. For thousands of years, species of plants such as wheat and rice and of
Artificial Selection of Corn. Selective
animals such as goats and sheep were selectively bred and changed from their breeding changed teosinte (left) to
wild ancestors. In the New World (the Americas and nearby islands), the wild grain modern maize (right). The middle ear is a
called teosinte, was selectively bred by Native Americans to produce larger and hybrid produced by breeding teosinte with
more numerous edible kernels. The result was modern maize (commonly called maize (credit: John Doebley, CC BY 2.5)
corn). After maize was created, it spread across the Americas and was introduced
to Europe by European explorers and traders. Today, maize is still a dietary staple
and the most widely grown grain crop in the Americas.

(4) Misconceptions About Evolution

Although the theory of evolution generated some controversy when
Darwin first proposed it, biologists almost universally accepted it,
particularly younger biologists, within 20 years after publication of
On the Origin of Species. Nevertheless, the theory of evolution is a
difficult concept and misconceptions about how it works abound.
The factual nature of evolution is often challenged by wrongly
associating the scientific meaning of a “theory” with the common
meaning of this word. Evolution is sometimes mistakenly interpreted
to mean that individuals evolve, when in fact only populations can
evolve as their gene frequencies change over time with each
generation. Evolution is often assumed to explain the origin of life,
which it does not speak to. It is often spoken in goal-directed terms
by which organisms change through intention, and selection
operates on mutations present in a population that have not arisen
in response to a particular environmental stress. For example,
applying antibiotics to a population of bacteria will, over time, select
for a population of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. The
resistance, which is caused by a gene, did not arise by mutation
because of the application of the antibiotic. The gene for resistance
was already present in the gene pool of the bacteria, likely at a low
frequency. The antibiotic, which kills the bacterial cells without the What Evolution Looks Like. When people think of
resistance gene, strongly selects for individuals that are resistant, “evolution”, they often picture the “March of Progress”.
since these would be the only ones that survived and divided. This popular visual metaphor, a line of individuals leading
Experiments have demonstrated that mutations for antibiotic from apes to humans (top), goes back to Rudolph
resistance do not arise as a result of antibiotic application. Zallinger’s classic illustration for the Early Man volume of
Critics of evolution often argue that alternative theories to evolution the Life Nature Library series published by Time-Life
should be taught in public schools; however, there are no other Books. But that illustration was never meant to show a
viable scientific theories to evolution. The alternative religious direct evolutionary lineage—several of the figures were
beliefs should not be taught as science because it cannot be proven, explicitly mentioned as side branches. Evolution is not
linear, but branching, with various ancestors giving rise to
and in the United States it is unconstitutional. Science is silent on
multiple lineages, some of which may coalesce a while
the question of the existence of a god while scientists are able to after their separation (bottom). (credit: T. Michael Keesey, CC
reconcile religious belief and scientific knowledge. BY 2.0)

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Activity 1. Evolution
Using the information in the text above, provide the appropriate word for each of the definitions below:
a. The theory that species change over time: _________________________________
b. The process by which evolution occurs: ______________________________
c. Refers to differences in individuals in a population: _____________
d. Refers to how traits are passed from parents to offspring _______________________
e. Traits that help organisms survive and reproduce: __________________________
f. Process by which humans create organisms with desirable traits: _________________
g. The idea that each living species descended from other species: common ____________
h. Remains of organisms that lived in the past: _____________
i. Structures that are similar in related organisms, like bones of the arm: ________________
j. A ______________ structure is a part of the body that has no function; evidence of evolution.

Human Evolution

(1) Overview of the Biological Classification of Humans

Since humans have nucleated cells, they belong to the Eukarya Domain of life. Their ability to move on their own places
them in the animal kingdom. Further, humans belong to the animal phylum known as chordates because we have a
backbone housing a dorsal spinal cord. The human animal has hair and mammary (milk) glands, so we are placed in
the class of mammals. Within the mammal class, humans are placed in the primate order. All primate species have
adaptations for climbing trees (described below), as they all descended from tree-dwellers, although not all species are
arboreal (living in trees). The characteristics and evolution of primates are of particular interest to us as they allow us to
understand the evolution of our own species.
Hierarchy of the Taxonomic Classification of Humans
Domain Eukarya Cells with a nucleus
Kingdom Animalia Multicellular organisms; usually motile; no cell wall or chlorophyll; heterotrophs by ingestion
Phylum Chordata Organisms that, at a stage of their life history, have a dorsal nerve cord, a notochord, pharyngeal
clefts and a post anal tail

Class Mammalia Vertebrates with mammary glands; warm-blooded; presence of hair; well-developed brain

Order Primates Opposable thumb; no claws, scales, horns or hoofs; large brain
Family Hominidae Upright stance and bipedal locomotion
Genus Homo S-curved spine; making and using tools
Species Homo sapiens Modern human body proportions, think skull bones, largest cranial capacity

(2) Humans Are Primates

Living members of the primate order include monkeys, apes, and humans; and any member of this order of mammals is
called a primate. At some point in the distant past, we shared ape-like ancestors with all these modern groups of primates.
We share between 93 percent and almost 99 percent of our DNA sequences with them, providing hard evidence that we
have relatively recent common ancestors. Besides genes, what traits do we share with other primates? Primates are
considered generalists among the mammals. A generalist is an organism that can thrive in a wide variety of environmental
conditions and make use of a variety of different resources, such as consuming many different types of food. Although
primates exhibit a wide range of characteristics, there are several traits that are shared by most primates:
• Primates have five digits (fingers or toes) on each extremity (hand or foot). The fingers and toes have nails instead
of claws and are covered with sensitive tactile pads.
• The thumbs are opposable (and in many species the big toes as well), meaning they can be brought into opposition
with the other digits, allowing both a power grasp and a precision grip.
• The primate body is generally semi-erect or erect, and primates have one of several modes of locomotion, including
walking on all four legs (quadrupedalism), vertical clinging and leaping, swinging from branch to branch in trees

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(brachiation), or walking on two legs (bipedalism), the last of which

applies only to our own species today. The primate shoulder girdle
has a collar bone (clavicle), which is associated with a wide range of
motion of the upper limbs.
• Relative to other mammals, primates rely less on their sense of smell.
They have a reduced snout and relatively small area in the brain for
processing olfactory (odor) information. Primates rely more on their
sense of vision, which shows several improvements over that of
other mammals. Most primates can see in color. Primates also tend
to have large eyes with forward placement in a relatively flat face.
This results in an overlap of the visual fields of the two eyes, allowing
stereoscopic vision, or three-dimensional, vision. Other indications of
the importance of vision to primates is the protection given the eyes
by a complete bony eye socket and the large size of the occipital lobe
of the brain where visual information is processed.
• Primates are noted for their relatively large brains, high degree of
intelligence, and complex behaviors. The part of the brain that is
especially enlarged in primates is the cerebrum, which analyzes and
synthesizes sensory information and transforms it to motor behaviors
appropriate to the environment.
• Primates tend to have longer lifespans than most other mammals.
In particular, there is a lengthening of the prenatal period and the
postnatal period of dependency of infants on adults, providing an
extended opportunity for learning in juveniles. Most primates live in
social groups. In fact, primates are among the most social of animals.
Depending on the species, adult nonhuman primates may live in
Primates. Various primates found around the world
mated pairs or in groups of up to hundreds of members. (credit: Miguelrangeljr, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Scientists think that many primate traits are adaptations to an arboreal, or tree-dwelling, lifestyle. Primates are thought to
have evolved in trees, and the majority of primates still live in trees. For life in the trees, the sense of vision trumps the
sense of smell, and three-dimensional vision is especially important for grasping the next branch or limb. Having mobile
limbs, a good grip, and manual dexterity are matters of life and death when one lives high above the ground.

(3) Humans Are Hominids

We are placed in the family called Hominidae. Any member of this family is called a hominid. Hominids include four living
genera: chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and humans. Among these four genera are just seven living species: two in
each genera except humans, with our sole living species, Homo sapiens. Hominids are relatively large, tailless primates,
ranging in size from the bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee, which may weigh as little as 30 kg (66 lb), to the eastern gorilla,
which may weigh over 200 kg (440 lb). Most modern humans fall somewhere in between that range. In all species of
hominids, males are somewhat larger and stronger, on average, than females, but the differences may not be great.
Except for humans, hominids are mainly quadrupedal, although they can get around bipedally if need be to gather food
or nesting materials. Humans are the only habitually bipedal species of living hominids.

Evolutionary Relationships Between Extant Apes (credit: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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(4) Humans Are Now Homo sapiens Only

Within the hominid family, our species is placed in the genus Homo. Our
species, Homo sapiens, is the only living species in this genus.
Several earlier species of Homo existed but have since gone extinct.
The human genus, Homo, first appeared between 2.5 and three million
years ago. For many years, fossils of a species called H. habilis were
the oldest examples in the genus Homo, but in 2010, fossils of a new
species called Homo gautengensis were discovered and may be older.
H. erectus appeared approximately 1.8 million years ago. It is believed
to have originated in East Africa and was the first hominin species to
migrate out of Africa. Fossils of H. erectus have been found in India, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. The skull of H.
erectus (left; credit: Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0) showing
China, Java, and Europe, and were known in the past as “Java Man” or the larger teeth, prominent brow ridge and receding
“Peking Man.” H. erectus had a number of features that were more shin compared to H. sapiens’ skull (right; credit: Rama,
similar to modern humans than those of H. habilis. Artifacts found with CC BY-SA 3.0)
fossils of H. erectus suggest that it was the first hominin to use fire,
hunt, and have a home base. H. erectus is generally thought to have lived until about 50,000 years ago. A number of
species, sometimes called archaic Homo sapiens, apparently evolved from H. erectus starting about 500,000 years ago.
These species include Homo heidelbergensis, Homo rhodesiensis, and Homo neanderthalensis. These species had a
brain size similar to that of modern humans but differed from modern humans by having a thick skull, a prominent brow
ridge, and a receding chin. Some of these species survived until 30,000 to 10,000 years ago, overlapping with modern
humans.

Species of Homo. From left to right, reconstructed models of Homo abilis (credit: flowcomm, CC BY 2.0), H. erectus (credit: Tim
Evanson CC BY-SA 2.0), H. heidelbergensis (credit: flowcomm, CC BY 2.0), H. neanderthalensis (credit Petr Kratochvil, Public Domain)
and early H. sapiens (credit: Neal Romanek, CC BY 2.0).

There is considerable debate about the origins of anatomically modern humans or Homo sapiens. As discussed earlier,
H. erectus migrated out of Africa and into Asia and Europe in the first major wave of migration about 1.5 million years ago.
It is thought that modern humans arose in Africa from H. erectus and migrated out of Africa about 100,000 years ago in a
second major migration wave. Then, modern humans replaced H. erectus species that had migrated into Asia and Europe
in the first wave. This evolutionary timeline is supported by molecular evidence. During the roughly 2.8 million years of
the evolution of the Homo genus, the remaining features of Homo sapiens evolved. These features include:
• small front teeth (incisors and canines) with relatively large molars, at least compared to other primates.
• a decrease in the size of the jaws and face, and an increase in the size of the cranium, forming a nearly vertical
forehead.
• a tremendous enlargement of the brain, especially in the cerebrum, which is the site of higher intellectual functions.

The increase in brain size occurred very rapidly as far as evolutionary change goes, between about 800,000 and 100,000
years ago. During this period, the size of the brain increased from about 600 cm3 to about 1400 cm3 and the earliest Homo
sapiens appeared. This was also a period of rapid climate change, and many scientists think that climate change was a
major impetus for the evolution of a larger, more complex brain. In this view, as the environment became more
unpredictable, bigger, "smarter" brains helped our ancestors survive. Paralleling the biological evolution of the brain was
the development of culture and technology as behavioral adaptations for exploiting the environment. These
developments, made possible by a big brain, allowed modern humans and their recent ancestors to occupy virtually the
entire world and become the dominant land animals. Because of our big, complex brain, we clearly have a much greater
capacity for abstract thought and technological advances than any other primate., even chimpanzees who are our closest
living relatives. However, in other ways, we are not as adept as other living hominids around the world. We are physically
weaker than gorillas, far less agile orangutans, and arguably less well-mannered than bonobos.

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Activity 2. Evolution and Human Evolution

Work in small groups to categorize each statement as either Fact, Fiction, or Opinion. Provide a short explanation for each of your
choices.
Statement Fact Fiction Opinion Explanation
There are no transitional fossils
The theory of evolution has
changed since the time of Darwin
Humans evolved from monkeys
To be good at their job, scientists
should believe in evolution
Charles Darwin developed the
theory of evolution
All traits are adaptations
produced by natural selection
Religion and evolution are
incompatible
Natural selection is another word
for evolution
Evolution can be observed
Natural selection acts for the
good of the species
Evolution ensures that all
organisms are perfectly adapted
Humans share a common
ancestor with chimpanzees

Credit: modified from the biologycorner.com, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Humans and Ecosystems

Modern humans evolved a unique combination of physical and behavioral characteristics, many of which other early human
species also possessed, though not to the same degree. The complex brains of modern humans enabled them to interact
with each other and with their surroundings in new and different ways. For millions of years all humans, early and modern
alike, had to find their own food. They spent a large part of each day gathering plants and hunting or scavenging animals. By
164,000 years ago modern humans were collecting and cooking shellfish and by 90,000 years ago modern humans had
begun making special fishing tools. Then, within just the past 12,000 years, our species, Homo sapiens, made the transition
to producing food and changing our surroundings. Humans found they could control the growth and breeding of certain plants
and animals. This discovery led to farming and herding animals, activities that transformed Earth’s natural landscapes—first
locally, then globally. As humans invested more time in producing food, they settled down. Villages became towns, and towns
became cities. With more food available, the human population began to increase dramatically. Modern humans have spread
to every continent and vastly expanded their numbers. They have altered the world in ways that benefit them greatly. But this
transformation has unintended consequences for other species as well as for ourselves, creating new survival challenges.

(1) The Human Population

The world’s human population is presently growing exponentially. Long-term exponential growth carries with it the
potential risks of famine, disease, and large-scale death, as well as social consequences of crowding such as increased
crime. A consequence of exponential growth rate is that the time that it takes to add a particular number of humans to the
population is becoming shorter. It took 123 years to add 1 billion humans between 1804 and 1930, but it only took 24
years to add the two billion people between 1975 and 1999. This acceleration in growth rate will likely begin to decrease
in the coming decades.

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The fundamental cause of the acceleration of

growth rate for humans in the past 200 years
has been the reduced death rate due to a
development of the technological advances of
the industrial age, urbanization that supported
those technologies, and especially the
exploitation of the energy in fossil fuels. Other
factors in human population growth are
migration and public health. Humans originated
in Africa, but we have since migrated to nearly
all inhabitable land on Earth, thus, increasing
the area that we have colonized. Public health,
sanitation, and the use of antibiotics and
vaccines have decreased the ability of The Human Population Growth. (credit: CNX OpenStax, CC BY-SA 4.0)
infectious disease to limit human population
growth in developed countries. In the past, diseases such as the bubonic plaque of the fourteenth century killed between
30 and 60 percent of Europe’s population and reduced the overall world population by as many as one hundred million
people. Infectious disease continues to have an impact on human population growth. Despite this, the population will
continue to increase and the threat of overpopulation remains, particularly because the damage caused to ecosystems
and biodiversity is lowering the human carrying capacity of the planet. The carrying capacity of a given environment, is
the maximum population size it can sustain.

(2) Humans & Biodiversity

Agriculture began after early hunter-gatherer societies first settled in one place and heavily modified their immediate
environment. This cultural transition has made it difficult for humans to recognize their dependence on undomesticated
living things on the planet. Biologists recognize the human species is embedded in ecosystems and is dependent on them,
just as every other species on the planet is dependent. Technology smooths out the extremes of existence, but ultimately
the human species cannot exist without a supportive ecosystem. Loss of biodiversity eventually threatens other species
we do not impact directly because of their interconnectedness; as species disappear from an ecosystem other species
are threatened by the changes in available resources. Biodiversity is important to the survival and welfare of human
populations because it has impacts on our health and our ability to feed ourselves through agriculture and harvesting
populations of wild animals:
a) Human Health: Many medications are derived from
natural chemicals made by a diverse group of
organisms. For example, many plants produce
secondary plant compounds, which are toxins used
to protect the plant from insects and other animals
that eat them. Some of these secondary plant
compounds also work as human medicines.
Examples of significant medicines derived from plant
compounds include aspirin, codeine, digoxin,
atropine, and morphine. Many medications were Poppy and Mold. Morphine and other opioids are extracted from the
once derived from plant extracts but are now plant Papaver somniferum (credit: Linda Kenney, CC BY-SA 2.0);
synthesized. It is estimated that, at one time, 25 antibiotics such as penicillin are obtained from mold (fungi) (credit:
Crulina98, CC BY-SA 3.0)
percent of modern drugs contained at least one plant
extract. Antibiotics, which are responsible for extraordinary improvements in health and lifespans in developed
countries, are compounds largely derived from fungi and bacteria. In recent years, animals toxins and poisons have
excited intense research for their medicinal potential. They are used for treatment of diseases such as hypertension,
chronic pain, and diabetes.
b) Agricultural Diversity and Food Sources: Every plant, animal, and fungus that has been cultivated by humans has
been bred from original wild ancestor species into diverse varieties arising from the demands for food value, adaptation
to growing conditions, and resistance to pests. The potato demonstrates a well-known example of the risks of low crop
diversity: during the tragic Irish potato famine (1845–1852 AD), the single potato variety grown in Ireland became
susceptible to a potato blight—wiping out the crop. The loss of the crop led to famine, death, and mass emigration.
Resistance to disease is a chief benefit to maintaining crop biodiversity and lack of diversity in contemporary crop
species carries similar risks. The ability to create new crop varieties relies on the diversity of varieties available and the
availability of wild forms related to the crop plant. These wild forms are often the source of new gene variants that can

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be bred with existing varieties to create varieties with new attributes. Loss of wild species related to a crop will mean
the loss of potential in crop improvement. Maintaining the genetic diversity of wild species related to domesticated
species ensures our continued supply of food.
Plant pollination is another key ecosystem service, provided by various species of bees, other insects, and birds. One
estimate indicates that honey bee pollination provides the United States a $1.6 billion annual benefit.
In addition to growing crops and raising food animals, humans obtain food resources from wild populations, primarily
wild fish populations. For about one billion people, aquatic resources provide the main source of animal protein. But
since 1990, production from global fisheries has declined. Despite considerable effort, few fisheries on Earth are
managed sustainably.

(3) Human Ecological Impact

The core threat to biodiversity on the planet, and therefore
a threat to human welfare, is the combination of human
population growth and the resources used by that
population. The human population requires resources to
survive and grow, and those resources are being removed
unsustainably from the environment. Environmental issues,
such as toxic pollution, have specific targeted effects on
species, but are not generally seen as threats at the
magnitude of the following greatest threats to biodiversity:
• habitat loss which occurs through deforestation,
damming of rivers, and other activities. When the entire
habitat, within the range of a species is removed or
changed, the species will become extinct unless they are
one of the few species that do well in human-built
environments. Climate Change. Global annual average temperature (as
• overharvesting, a threat particularly to aquatic species, measured over both land and oceans). Red bars indicate
but the taking of bush meat in the humid tropics threatens temperatures above and blue bars indicate temperatures below
many species in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. the average temperature for the period 1901-2000. The black line
• introduction of exotic species which have been the shows atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in parts
cause of a number of extinctions and are especially per million (ppm). While there is a clear long-term global warming
damaging to islands and lakes. Exotic species are trend, each individual year does not show a temperature increase
relative to the previous year, and some years show greater
species that have been intentionally or unintentionally changes than others. [...] These year-to-year fluctuations in
introduced by humans into an ecosystem in which they temperature are due to natural processes, such as the effects of
did not evolve. Invasive species can threaten other El Niños, La Niñas, and the eruption of large volcanoes (credit:
species through competition for resources, predation, or NOAA/NCDC, Public Domain);
disease. Exotic species’ introductions are rising because
of the increased mobility of human populations and growing global trade and transportation.
• anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, predicted to become significant during this century, is forcing range
changes that may lead to extinction as species do not have time to adapt. The impacts of climate change are currently
greatest in the arctic. Global warming is also raising sea levels, eliminating some islands and reducing the area of all
others. Global climate change is a consequence of human population needs for energy and the use of fossil fuels to
meet those needs.

Legislation within individual countries protecting species and agreements on global warming have had limited success;
the Paris Climate accord is currently being implemented as a means to reduce global climate change. In the United States,
the Endangered Species Act protects listed species but is hampered by procedural difficulties and a focus on individual
species. The Migratory Bird Act is an agreement between Canada and the United States to protect migratory birds. The
non-profit sector is also very active in conservation efforts in a variety of ways. Conservation preserves are a major tool
in biodiversity protection. Presently, 11 percent of Earth’s land surface is protected in some way. The science of island
biogeography has informed the optimal design of preserves; however, preserves have limitations imposed by political and
economic forces. In addition, climate change will limit the effectiveness of preserves in the future. A downside of preserves
is that they may lessen the pressure on human societies to function more sustainably outside the preserves. Habitat
restoration has the potential to restore ecosystems to previous biodiversity levels before species become extinct.
Examples of restoration include reintroduction of keystone species and removal of dams on rivers. Zoos have attempted
to take a more active role in conservation and can have a limited role in captive breeding programs and a useful role in
education.

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Activity 4. Humans & The Environment

Using the information in the text above, complete the diagram below by adding as many arrows of positive and negative
effects as needed:

Positive Effects

conservation
programs

antibiotics

Human
Biodiversity
Population

invasive species

Negative Effects

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Review Questions
1. What is evolution?

2. Which scientific concept did Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace independently discover?

3. What are the conditions required for natural selection to occur?

4. Discuss misconceptions about evolution. Where do they stem from?

5. Outline how humans are classified. Name their taxa, starting with the kingdom and ending with the species.

6. List several primate traits. Explain how they are related to life in the trees.

7. What are hominids?

8. Discuss species in the genus Homo.

9. List unique features of Homo sapiens

10. How is the human population growing? What are consequences of that growth?

11. How are human beings dependent on biodiversity?

12. Describe the impact of the human population on the environment.

With text modified from OpenStax Biology 2e and Concepts of Biology

and What does it mean to be human, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

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