ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the problems posed by the arctic environment of northern Alaska and on the adaptation strategies used by the Inuit population. It also focuses on the Inuit, and refers to other arctic populations for the sake of comparison and to enrich the perspective of human adaptability to cold environments. The study of human adaptation to arctic conditions has engaged scholars in many fields since the late nineteenth century, but it is only since the 1950s that we can speak of a distinct field of arctic human ecology. Marine birds are also diagnostic of Contemporary climate changes because they feed at the top of the arctic food chain. Throughout the many climatic fluctuations of the past 150,000 years, arctic ecosystems and biota in the most recent 10,000 years have suffered repeated losses of diversity as a result of extinctions during the rapid global warming at the end of the last glacial stage.
