Crecimiento, Dimorfimo Sexual y Desnutrición Una Reseña desde la Antropología Biológica Experimental y Comparativa

OYHENART EE; DAHINTEN SL

De Cómo Cruzar Fronteras en la Ciencia. Homenaje a Héctor M. Pucciarelli

Instituto Patagónico de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas e Instituto de Investigaciones en Diversidad Cultural y Procesos de Cambio. CONICET

Lugar: Puerto Madryn y San Carlos de Bariloche; Año: 2017; p. 27 - 41

Growth and sexual dimorphism reflect the interaction between geneticcomposition and the capacity of human beings to respond to differentenvironments. The underlying environmental factors cannot be easily detectedwith comparative methods, even though evidence in the literature suggests thatnutritional factors may cause variations in growth and sexual differentiationpatterns. In this regard, the results published by Pucciarelli in his doctoral thesis in 1971 showed that comparative studies in Biological Anthropology were not absolutely concluding. In cases of two or more contradictory explanations for the same factor supported by comparative evidence, the procedure applied hadmethodological limitations. Thus, Pucciarelli distinguished a clear function ofthe experimental method in Biological Anthropology, settling a question difficultto solve by comparative methodology. Here we present a review of the workby Héctor Pucciarelli and associate researchers addressing growth and sexualdimorphism through experimental models, employing rodents and primates, andlater in human populations.