Environmental correlations of skin colour

Area of Science:

• Human evolutionary biology
• Anthropometry
• Environmental science

Background:

• Human skin pigmentation exhibits significant geographic variation.
• Understanding the selective pressures driving this variation is crucial for evolutionary studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between skin color and environmental variables in indigenous populations.
• To determine the extent to which environmental factors explain skin color variance.

Main Methods:

• Collected skin color data using reflectance spectrophotometry.
• Compared spectrophotometric data with environmental variables: latitude, temperature, humidity, and altitude.

Main Results:

• Latitude showed the strongest association with skin color across all measured wavelengths.
• Temperature and humidity also correlated with skin color, with specific wavelength dependencies.
• Environmental variables accounted for over 80% of the interpopulation variance in skin color.

Conclusions:

• Skin color is a complex trait influenced by multiple environmental factors.
• Different components of skin color may be under different selective pressures.
• Environmental factors, especially latitude, are primary drivers of human skin pigmentation diversity.