Final answer:
An evolutionary perspective on physical trait variations is primarily concerned with adaptive changes. These changes are a result of natural selection acting on traits that can improve an organism's relative fitness. Cultural factors may influence mate selection, but do not directly result in genetic alterations.
Step-by-step explanation:
An evolutionary perspective on variations in physical traits primarily reflects adaptive changes. Variations, also known as traits, are significant because they are passed on to offspring and are inherited. These traits, over time through small generational changes, can lead to major evolutionary changes. Natural selection is a major mechanism of evolution, which acts on phenotypic variations in populations, selecting traits that increase an organism's relative fitness, in turn enhancing survival and reproduction potential compared to the rest of the population.
Cultural factors can be influential in an evolutionary context through the process of sexual selection. Traits like skin tone and body morphology may evolve due to preferences in mate selection based on cultural standards of beauty, reflecting nonrandom mating changes in a population's gene pool. Although cultural changes can affect the evolutionary process, they do not directly cause the genetic changes that underpin physical variations in a population.