Are humans changing diversity worldwide?

It is no secret that the human population has impacted the environment and the various species on earth.  Researchers at McGill University states that animal diversity is changing due to loss of their environment and the increase of the human population. The biologists of McGill University pulled information from the largest genetic data repositories available and from the results came to a conclusion that while the human do impact the genetic diversity in animals, the results are not all negative. Data trends shows human influences increase the genetic diversity in certain species while decreases the diversity in other species.

Personally, I believe the genetic diversity in species are decreasing at a faster rate then it is increasing. I think a large percentage of the increase in genetic diversity is due to human interference, an example being breeding new corn strands. The genetic diversity increase are happening naturally but rather scientifically induced. All in all I believe the human population has a rather negative effect on genetic diversity.

Links:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191022112156.htm
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.13394

Depression Caused by Genes?

            There has been a study to determine whether depression is a genetic trait that is viewed as one grows up or is it a gene that has been passed down to them from their parents. It has been determined that it is a little bit of both that actually does cause depression in individuals. There is a much greater risk of having depression if an individual’s parents have it, and that is from viewing how a parent reacts to certain situations as they are growing up. But there has been no found gene that actually can be passed down to cause depression. A lot of studies looking into depression need to understand epigentics. Epigentics has a lot of to do with how the genes are expressed in physical of emotional ways. It has been found that if a mother is depressed, the children will end up being depressed more often than not than compared to that of the father being depressed. To conclude, depression is most likely from an individual’s surroundings as they grow then actual genes being passed down from their parents.

https://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/2017-04-14/does-depression-run-in-families

Genetics Determine Winter Vitamin D Status

In this article, it talks about the importance of Vitamin D. Vitamin D can be influenced by genetics, skin color, and sun exposure. It can be made in body from Sunlight or added by fortification in food. Reports of greater than expected vitamin D insufficiency coupled with emerging evidence that higher circulating concentrations of this nutrient may protect against cardiovascular disease have prompted a renewed interest in teasing out how environment, genetics, and behavior work independently and coordinately to influence vitamin D status.
To better understand and explain this, researchers from Emory University studied vitamin D status in twins living in different North American locations. Shelley McGuire, spokesperson for American Society for Nutrition mentions that vitamin is much more important than keeping the bones strong. It can help us protect against diseases such as heart disease and cancer and can helps us keep our body healthy. The result of Karohl study says that in winter vitamin D status is affected by the genetic differences and during summer time the vitamin D is mostly affected by non-genetic factors such as lifestyle choices and sun exposure. This article is interesting because it provides very useful information. I was not aware that Vitamin D in winter was affected by genetic differences. It also gives useful information for further studies.