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My name is Anna Di Rienzo from
the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago.
Today, I will review recent studies about how
human populations adapted to the different environments in which they live.
I will review the models through which these adaptations took place,
some of the methods used to look for signals of
local adaptations and how to interpret their results.
I will describe some of the biological findings obtained in these studies.
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Probably, one of the most striking aspects of evolution of
our species is that tremendous diversity of environments,
illustrated here by a map of the ecoregions,
that humans have encountered during their history and have adapted to.
Both genetic data and the fossil record
indicate that modern humans originated somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa,
and from there they dispersed across the globe to
occupy every corner of the earth landmass.
In so doing, they have encountered a variety of environmental challenges,
including different climates, different levels of UV radiation,
different pathogens and available resources.
In addition, during this history they have introduced
a number of cultural and technological innovations,
which in turn have created new selective pressures.
In response to these environmental challenges,
human populations have evolved a number of cultural, behavioral,
as well as genetic adaptations that lead to that wonderful phenotypic
and cultural diversity that we see today in contemporary populations.
