UDC 572
Human population physiology is a branch of physiological anthropology that studies the physiological structure of populations under specific environmental conditions. The theoretical basis of the direction is the concept of physiological homeostasis, and the methodological basis is consistency and integrity. The first task of human population physiology is to study the intra-and inter-group variability of the levels of individual physiological indicators and physiological status in general. A systematic approach allows us to establish differences or similarities in the physiological status of populations and explain them from the standpoint of ecological originality, state of adaptation and maladaptation.
Key words: physiological homeostasis, adaptation, environmental factors, physiological status, systematic approach, variability.
Introduction
In 1964, at the VII International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnographic Sciences (ICAEN), physiological anthropology was officially recognized as an independent scientific discipline. The founder of this discipline in Russian science can rightly be called Tatyana Ivanovna Alekseeva.
The content of physiological anthropology was defined as the study of adaptive variability - "a necessary prerequisite for the pan-ecumenical existence of a person" [Alekseeva, 1977, p. 6]. From a methodological point of view, an integrated approach to the study of various population groups living in various geographical conditions has become fundamentally new. A number of new features and methods were introduced into scientific use. A broad program of comprehensive research included the study of racial and diagnostic traits, morphological and physiological features of ethno-territorial groups, their genetic and demographic structure, the collection of nutrition data, and the determination of dermatoglyphic and odontological traits. In 1961, a team of employees of the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State ...
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