Homo sapiens sapiens (human) is a species of living organism, subject to the same biological principles as other life forms. Thus, as small groups of humans spread (migrated) to different ecological webs (ecowebs)^[1] across the earth, each community of people underwent the same evolutionary processes as all other communities of living organisms, adapting themselves to the particular ecoweb they ultimately inhabited to be able to thrive. 

An essential aspect of evolutionary adaptation is for a species population to symbiotically optimize its physiology and biology with respect to the other living beings, available nutrients, and abiotic conditions of the ecoweb the species population inhabits, in a manner that optimizes interconnectivities and interdependencies within the ecoweb (ecosymbiosis^[2]). 

Why? 

Because survival — and, ideally, thriving — hinges on being able to fulfill all of one’s basic needs in the long-term from the ecological resources available in the particular ecoweb one inhabits. If one’s physiology is not adapted to one’s ecoweb, one will eventually perish. A case in point is the camel’s physiological adaptation to arid ecowebs, where water and food are scarce. The camel has evolved both oval-shaped blood cells that play a part in the camel’s ability to consume large amounts of water and then survive without water for several days, and also one or two humps that store fatty tissue, which can be metabolized for nutrients when food is scarce.^[3]

Thus, as human groups populated a range of very different ecowebs across the planet, each group underwent physiological adaptations specific to their particular ecoweb, resulting in the wide array of human physiologies apparent today (characterized by, e.g., skin-hair-eye pigmentation (melanin concentration in response to sunlight), stature/musculature (response to available nutrients and types of physical activities needed/engaged in), and immune system (response to local pathogens)). 

Different physiological adaptations of humans gave rise to human biodiversity, i.e., ecoweb-rooted diversity that has become encoded genetically (like brown eye color). However, due to the intellectual faculties of humans, another type of ecoweb-rooted diversity also arose, namely jīvadiversity (diversity in living), which is transmitted from generation to generation experientially, i.e., through learning and doing.

What is Jīvadiversity (Diversity in Living)?

Genetic diversity originates in part from an organism’s physiological adaptation to a particular ecoweb, in the context of the existence of many different types of ecowebs, leading to a wide range of physiological adaptations, resulting in biodiversity.

Jīvadiversity, on the other hand, originates from a human community’s development of a particular system of Knowledge-Technologies-Practices (Knowtep^[4]) adapted to the specific ecoweb the community inhabit and rely on, in the context of a plethora of different ecowebs, leading to a multitude of different systems of ecoweb-rooted Knowtep across communities and bioregions.

Thus, while genetic diversity is the basis of biodiversity, ecoweb-rooted Knowtep (linked to community identity, which is part of community-ecoself) diversity lies at the core of jīvadiversity. Across centuries and millennia, ecosymbiotic human communities in different ecowebs across all bioregions developed unique systems of ecoweb-rooted Ādi-Knowtep^[4] (ancient Indigenous Knowtep) optimally adapted to the ecological resources and conditions of their ecowebs. 

Ecoweb-Rooted Ādi-Knowtep Systems Are Designed to Preserve Ecosymbiosis 

In most cases, the human capacity to analyze enabled each community to become intellectually aware of the extensive interconnectivities and interdependencies within their particular ecoweb and hence develop a system of ecoweb-rooted Ādi-Knowtep designed to preserve that ecosymbiosis. 

What was their motive to preserve ecosymbiosis within their ecoweb? 

Each ecosymbiotic community produced the Commodities and Services (C/S) required to fulfill their basic needs from a variety of ecological resources procured from their own ecoweb. Thus, they understood that to continue being able to meet their basic needs, a precondition of surviving and thriving, the community had to ensure the integrity and health of their ecoweb, so that it would continue having and offering an abundance of diverse ecological resources. 

Thus, before the advent of global extractivism, there existed jīvadiversity across all ecosymbiotic peoples/ communities, developed through the collaborative ingenuity and creativity of both humans and other interconnected living organisms. Jīvadiversity is what has enabled ecosymbiotic people to self-reliantly thrive and foster resilience while ecosymbiotically inhabiting each unique ecoweb. 

Interconnectivities: Biodiversity, Ecoweb Wellbeing, and Human Physiology

For many millennia, the farmer members of an ecosymbiotic people have developed cultivated and semi-wild crops and co-created (ecosymbiotically with the living and abiotic components of their ecowebs, including water availability and type, temperature, elevation, soil conditions, etc.) the biodiversity of plants that provide(d) their people with all the nutrition that keeps them healthy and vigorous in that particular ecoweb. Being guided by the conceptualization of reality as being characterized by interconnectedness and interdependence, these farmers have always understood that human wellbeing could only be optimized if the interconnected wellbeing of the entire ecoweb is preserved. Thus, the farmers in each ecoweb have gradually — with caution, so as not to harm the ecoweb — developed a range of plants that are optimized for ecosymbiotic growth in that ecological niche, along with effective fertilizers and pesticides that are regeneratively derived from local biodiverse sources.

Furthermore, the physiological constitutions of the humans in that ecoweb have co-evolved with the plants cultivated for eating. In other words, the edible plants bred and grown in a high-altitude mountain ecoweb are different than those bred and grown in a humid riverbank ecoweb (Figure), with the humans living in each ecoweb having co-evolved their physiologies and systems of ecoweb-rooted Ādi-Knowtep with these plants and ecowebs to optimize their health and wellbeing. 

[1] K. Mitra, Ecological Webs (Ecowebs): Collaborative Creativity Through Adaptation Feedback Loops, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh092025-006 (3 Sep., 2025).

[2] K. Mitra, Ecosymbiosis: the Basis of Adaptive Resilience Involving Biodiversity (Ecosymbiotic Resilience), Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh092025-007 (3 Sep., 2025).

[3] N. Gonzalez, Do Camels Store Water in Their Humps? Encyclopaedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/story/do-camels-store-water-in-their-humps) (last accessed 21.08.2025).

[4] K. Mitra, Ādi-Knowtep and Their Importance in Ecosymbiotic Resilience of Human Communities, Ecosymbionts all Regenerate Together (EaRTh): DOI-EaRTh092025-008 (4 Sep., 2025).