Tropical Niche to Sub-Saharan Desert Niche

Tropical Niche to Sub-Saharan Desert Niche
Every living organism has a niche. Niche defines the organism’s “job,” or role in the community (Ireland 2013, p. 51). Since every niche is different organism must find ways to adapt to its particular niche. Adaptation is a must to ensure survival in any niche so let’s take a look at two different niches and see what adaptations could take place to help ensure survival.
My personal niche at the current time is the great state of Hawaii. Hawaii is located in the tropics with mild summers in the upper 80s and winters that in the high 70s to low 80s. I can expect rain often here just depending on the location that I am currently in. Within this niche I am the sole provider for the family. I help provide the military with knowledge and leadership. My family and I are often found outside playing by the beaches and enjoying the water.
In the sub-Saharan desert I would not be able to enjoy the ability this water as water is scarce. When I look at the similarities between the tropics and sub-Saharan desert there are not very many if any that really stand out. One similarity that the tropics does have with the sub-Saharan desert is sand. The desert is made up mostly of sand while often found on areas near water in the tropics. Now when I look at the differences there are a lot but a few that come straight to mind. The amount of rain fall. The tropics receives more rain also allowing for the vegetation to be more abundant. Another difference is the temperature. In the Sub-Saharan Desert the temperature can climb well above 100 degrees. While in the tropics the temperature gets warm but not nearly as hot.
People in the sub-Saharan desert have found survival advantages to deal with the blistering sun and heat it provides. A simple trick but probably the best is simple being dressed correctly. This means pants, long sleeve shirt and a large brimmed hat. Of course there are other advantages as well. The ability to become acclimated to the weather. Understanding the food sources and techniques needed to acquire them. As well as finding the right combination between physical activity and rest to prevent dehydration.
The possibility to suffer from dehydration is high in either of these niches, this has caused humans to learn to adapt to their environment to prevent dehydration and possible death. Other ways we have learned to adapt is by creating structures. These structures allows us to shelter and avoid a lot of the elements in a particular niche. The ability for humans to critically think allows us to use sources that are more available to us. An example of this in the tropical niche of Hawaii fish are plentiful as the ocean surrounds us and has become a man staple of food for the locals. While in the desert we will have to change out diet to small game animals and vegetation.
Moving my niche from the tropics to the desert would cause some difficulties in my food sources as I am not skilled in hunting small game or that interested in eating vegetables. As well I would have to increase the amount of water I drink to prevent dehydration. The amount of time spent outside would have to be greatly decreased or moved to the evening as well. These would just be a few adaptations I would have to make in this niche.
In my current niche I have had to make cultural adaptations as well. The weather and humidity here allows everything to spoil much faster than. This has caused me to buy less food but have to go grocery shopping more. I think the hardest thing I had to get used to be the fact that a lot of locals on the islands don’t use air conditioning. I found this very hard at first even though it was only 81 outside it seemed very warm and humid. The locals would laugh and invite me in their homes and provide me with a fan to cool off.
As we can see there are many adaptation I have made to fit into my current niche and there would be even more that would have to be made to fit into the niche of the desert. Every organism has to learn to adapt to their current niche or risk the chance of death. So stop and think about niches we fall into before being so quick to judge others. Just because something is in our niche it may not be in theirs.

References
Briney, A. (n.d.). Tropic of Cancer - Overview and Geography. Retrieved February 14, 2015, from http://geography.about.com/od/locateplacesworldwide/a/tropiccancer.htm
Ireland, K. A. (2012). Visualizing Human Biology, 4th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781118545294/page/51
Tropical and subtropical desert climate. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/606540/tropical-and-subtropical-desert-climate