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Cultural niche construction and human evolution.

K N Laland1, J Odling-Smee1, M W Feldman1

  • 1Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, Cambridge, UKInstitute of Biological Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Biological Sciences, Herrin Hall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.

Journal of Evolutionary Biology
|December 28, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Organisms actively shape their environments through niche construction, altering evolutionary pressures. Human culture significantly amplifies this, with gene-culture models revealing profound impacts on evolution.

Keywords:
adaptationcultural transmissionecosystem engineeringgene-culture coevolutionhuman evolutionniche construction

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Human evolution
  • Gene-culture coevolution

Background:

  • Organisms modify their environments, a process termed niche construction, which alters selection pressures.
  • Human capacity for niche construction is significantly amplified by culture.
  • Understanding the evolutionary consequences of culturally driven niche construction is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the evolutionary impacts of culturally generated niche construction in human evolution.
  • To analyze the effects of biased versus unbiased cultural transmission on niche construction.
  • To investigate how cultural niche construction influences natural selection and evolutionary trajectories.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized gene-culture coevolutionary models.
  • Simulated the transmission of cultural traits with and without biases.
  • Analyzed the interplay between cultural niche construction and natural selection.

Main Results:

  • Unbiased cultural transmission of traits mirrors gene-based niche construction effects.
  • Biased cultural transmission can either amplify or diminish the impact of niche construction.
  • Cultural niche construction can override natural selection, accelerate gene spread, and drive novel evolutionary events, including speciation.

Conclusions:

  • Cultural niche construction, especially with biased transmission, has significant and potentially greater evolutionary consequences than gene-based niche construction.
  • Faster cultural processes likely played a pivotal role in human evolution.
  • Cultural niche construction can fundamentally alter evolutionary pathways and outcomes.