Immigrant Evolution

[wallet123]

With immigration ever hitting the media lately, and me lately discovering that all white people evolved from travelling tribesmen from Africa and Central Asia does that mean that all immigrants coming into Europe now will eventually turn white?

[CDarwin]

With immigration ever hitting the media lately, and me lately discovering that all white people evolved from travelling tribesmen from Africa and Central Asia does that mean that all immigrants coming into Europe now will eventually turn white?

 

Just as "white" Australians will eventually "turn black." Lighter skin color is selected for in Europe just as darker skin color is selected for in Australia.

[iNow]

Give it a few hundred years... we'll all be a nice shade of mocha.

[Psycho]

Give it a few hundred years... we'll all be a nice shade of mocha.

 

Indeed that is what I was thinking, they won't turn white and Australians won't turn black, selection pressures are different now to "basic" ones such as those.

 

If you are white you can put on some sun screen if you are black you can take a vitamin D tablet.

[ecoli]

Since skin color seems to be co-dominant, I suspect the 'mocha shade' will occur due to inter-marriage rather then evolution. Provided societal pressures don't remain against it.

[lucaspa]

With immigration ever hitting the media lately, and me lately discovering that all white people evolved from travelling tribesmen from Africa and Central Asia does that mean that all immigrants coming into Europe now will eventually turn white?

 

No. Skin color is related to the amount of sunlight in a region. What will happen is interbreeding between immigrants and "natives". Normally, northern Europeans would be geographically isolated from people in Africa and Central Asia -- which is how the skin colors evolved in the first place.

 

Now, however, everyone is meeting in the same geographical location -- the USA or Britain or other places. So we will see what is known in evolution as "gene flow". This means mating between Africans and northern Europeans. The distinctivenss of skin color will be lost as the alleles for skin color are mixed and matched in the offspring. Since skin color is dependent on several (I think 7) alleles, you will see more and more people with intermediate skin color as they have some alleles for dark skin and some for lighter skin.