title: The evolution of skin pigmentation and hair texture in people of African ancestry.
abstract: Our species, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa, and humanity's highest levels of genetic diversity are maintained there today. Underlying genetic diversity combined with the great range of solar regimes and climatic conditions found in Africa has contributed to a wide range of human integumentary phenotypes within the continent. Millions of Africans have moved, voluntarily and involuntarily, to other continents in the past 2000 years, and the range of integumentary phenotypes among admixed African diaspora populations is enormous. In this contribution, we do not catalog this variation, but provide basic evolutionary background as to how it developed in the first place.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Electronic address: ngj2@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Nina G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Jablonski
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chaplin
mesh_terms: D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D044383:Black People; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006200:Hair Color / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D012880:Skin Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics; D001741:Black or African American
keywords: African American; Afro-textured hair; Eumelanin; MC1R; Melanin; Thermoregulation; Ultraviolet radiation