The unique contribution made by biological anthropology to human welfare lies in the fundamental understanding it can provide of the dynamic interrelationships between physical and social factors. By understanding these patterns, we can interpret the significance of variation in such measures of human well-being in terms of the incidence of disease and mortality rates. Topics covered include reproductive ecology and fertility, nutritional status in relation to health, and the effects of pollution on growth. In the later chapters, the concepts of physiological adaptation, and Darwinian fitness and its relation to individual physical fitness are explored.
• Suitable for courses in biological anthropology, human biology and anthropology; for beginning graduate students and others wishing to update their knowledge of modern approaches to the subject • Likely undergraduate text adoption and PB candidate when reprinted. Subject of wide interest among researchers as well • Editors: successful Press authors, and both are series editors (Cambridge Studies in Biological Anthropology) • Mascie-Taylor is Head of the Biological Anthropology Department in Cambridge. He is also Programme Secretary of the Society for the Study of Human Biology (SSHB). The SSHB has members in the Home and European market, we also publish their symposia volumes • Lasker is a highly eminent and senior American academic
Contents
1. Introduction G. W. Lasker; 2. Reproductive ecology and human fertility P. T. Ellison; 3. Nutritional status: its measurement and relation to health C. G. N. Mascie-Taylor; 4. Pollution and human growth: lead, noise, polychlorobiphenol compounds, and toxic wastes L. M. Schell; 5. Human physiological adaptation to high altitude environments L. P. Greksa; 6. Darwinian fitness, physical fitness and physical activity R. M. Malina; 7. Human evolution and the genetic epidemiology of chronic degenerative diseases D. E. Crews and G. D. James; 8. The biology of human aging W. A. Stini; Literature cited; Index.
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