The idea of adaptation, in which an organism or population becomes better suited to its environment, is used in a variety of disciplines. Originating in evolutionary biology, adaptation has been a central theme in biological anthropology and human ecology. More recently, the study of adaptation in the context of climate change has become an important topic of research in the social sciences. While there are clearly commonalities in the different uses of the concept of adaptation in these fields, there are also substantial differences. We describe these differences and suggest that the study of climate-change adaptation could benefit from a re-integration with biological and evolutionary conceptions of human adaptation. This integration would allow us to employ the substantial theoretical tools of evolutionary biology and anthropology to understand what promotes or impedes adaptation. The evolutionary perspective on adaptation focuses on diversity because diversity drives adaptive evolution. Population structures are also critical in facilitating or preventing adaptation to local environmental conditions. This suggests that climate-change adaptation should focus on the sources of innovation and social structures that nurture innovations and allow them to spread. Truly innovative ideas are likely to arise on the periphery of cohesive social groups and spread inward. The evolutionary perspective also suggests that we pay careful attention to correlated traits, which can distort adaptive trajectories, as well as to the importance of risk management in adaptations to variable or uncertain environments. Finally, we suggest that climate-change adaptation could benefit from a broader study of how local groups adapt to their dynamic environments, a process we call “autochthonous adaptation.”

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想要适应气候变化？进化论可以提供帮助

适应的概念，即有机体或种群变得更适合其环境，被用于各种学科。起源于进化生物学，适应一直是生物人类学和人类生态学的中心主题。最近，气候变化背景下的适应研究已成为社会科学研究的一个重要课题。虽然在这些领域中适应概念的不同使用有明显的共性，但也存在实质性差异。我们描述了这些差异，并建议气候变化适应的研究可以从与人类适应的生物学和进化概念的重新整合中受益。这种整合将使我们能够利用进化生物学和人类学的大量理论工具来了解促进或阻碍适应的因素。关于适应的进化观点侧重于多样性，因为多样性推动了适应性进化。人口结构在促进或防止适应当地环境条件方面也很重要。这表明气候变化适应应侧重于创新的来源和培育创新并允许其传播的社会结构。真正创新的想法很可能出现在有凝聚力的社会群体的外围，并向内传播。进化的观点还表明，我们要密切关注相关性状，这会扭曲适应性轨迹，以及风险管理在适应可变或不确定环境中的重要性。最后，我们建议气候变化适应可以受益于对当地群体如何适应其动态环境的更广泛研究，我们称之为“本土适应”的过程。