Evolutionary Physiology

Since the origins of the first bipeds, about 7 million years ago, it is possible to observe some evolutionary trends in our lineage. Erect posture and bipedalism favored the development of the brain over a powerful body structure, promoted important changes in the mechanisms of reproduction, birth, food intake and absorption, as well as the control of body fluid homeostasis and temperature. Our species, Homo sapiens, underwent intense environmental selective pressures by migratory movements, and around 10,000 years, the invention of agropastoral production methods started the process of transition from a way of life based on foraging to another form of sociocultural organization, ultimately resulting in big cities that we know today. Since ancient times, large human settlements influenced the evolution (adaptive and non-adaptive) of many species, including ours. Cities can alter gene flow, promote genetic drift, increase mutation rates, affect access to food and water, affect environmental temperature, as well as contribute to environment deterioration (pollution), composing a perfect scenario for the development of epidemics. In this volume, we will explore how new environments (including large urban areas) have favored in a very short time scale new evolutionary pressures, resulting in a greater susceptibility to certain diseases in human populations. We are interested in amassing a volume covering a great range of research topics, including (but not limited to) the impacts of urban settlements, post-agricultural diets, as well as changes in the levels of physical activity and energy expenditure on the patterns of disease in human populations. Cardio-respiratory diseases like atherosclerosis, hypertension, ischemic cardiac injury may be the consequences of evolutionary mismatch due to the rapid changes of working, feeding, and living conditions that occurred in the last decades. Likewise, rapid environmental transformations related to urbanization, climate change, technological advances (e.g. assisted reproductive techniques), food shortages, social and economic factors (e.g poverty, migration), air, water and soil pollution (e.g endocrine disruptors), occupational hazards, among other aspects can pose challenges or be allies in the reproductive process of humans. The topic on contemporary society and human reproduction can also be addressed focusing on the history of contraception, as well as on the different aspects of demographics in relation to the role of grandparents and post-reproductive evolution and physiology. The impacts of modern lifestyle on human health can also be studied from a cellular and physiological level, including antenatal events like fetal programming. We aim to cover and to integrate new findings on the impact of recent changes in the way of life of human populations since the adoption of agriculture and the intensification of agropastoral methods, including how aspects related to demographic aspects, settlement patterns, diet composition, and physical activity levels might have influenced the patterns of disease in the last 10,000 years. All types of articles (Original Research articles, Methods, Comprehensive Reviews, Mini-reviews, etc.) are welcome.