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Rethinking adaptation: the niche-construction perspective.

Rachel L Day1, Kevin N Laland, F John Odling-Smee

  • 1Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, UK.

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
|February 13, 2003
PubMed
Summary
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Organisms actively shape their environments through niche construction, influencing their own evolution. This process, alongside natural selection, creates a reciprocal feedback loop driving evolutionary change.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Ecosystem Ecology

Background:

  • Niche construction is the process by which organisms modify their local environments.
  • A growing number of evolutionary biologists view niche construction as a key evolutionary process.
  • Organisms influence their own selection pressures through non-random environmental modifications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review arguments supporting niche construction as a distinct evolutionary process.
  • To highlight the reciprocal relationship between niche construction and natural selection.
  • To integrate niche construction with ecosystem ecology concepts like ecosystem engineers.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing arguments and theoretical frameworks for niche construction.
  • Analysis of mathematical population genetics models demonstrating evolutionary consequences.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Conceptual integration of niche construction with ecosystem engineering.

    • Main Results:

    • Niche construction generates feedback loops that are evolutionarily consequential.
    • Organisms, as ecosystem engineers, control energy and matter flows.
    • The organism-environment match results from reciprocal niche construction and natural selection.

    Conclusions:

    • Niche construction is a significant evolutionary process, not merely a product of natural selection.
    • Viewing organisms as ecosystem engineers provides valuable ecological insights.
    • The interplay between niche construction and natural selection drives evolutionary adaptation.