Question

why does himan skin color vary? What biological phenomenon is this a good example of?

What is race? Does biological evidence support classic ideas of race? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Skin color is determined by the amount of melanin or the dark color pigment located in the epidermis of the skin. Skin color in humans is an example of Polygenic inheritance (multiple alleles). The genes responsible for human skin color show different traits when expressed together and do not show complete dominance which means that one gene does not completely mask the other.

There are at least 3 genes that influence skin color and each gene has two alleles, one for dark skin and one for light skin, found on different chromosomes. The allele for dark skin is dominant while the allele for light skin is recessive.

People inherit different combinations of light and dark skin alleles and thus have varying skin color.

A race is basically the characterization of people on the basis of shared physical appearance or social qualities like the language people speak in, or the way they look.

It was once thought to be a real biological concept, different scientists have however discarded that possibility since it has no taxonomic evidence and everyone belongs to the same species, Homo sapiens. There is no biological evidence that distinguishes between different racial groups. The biological basis of different skin color, disease susceptibility, or resistance is because of the genetic variations that exist among all racial groups and is not limited to a particular race or ethnic group.

I hope you got the answer.