Journal ArticleDOI
Diversity, dilemmas, and monopolies of niche construction.
TLDR
A fundamental dilemma of niche construction is demonstrated, whereby the construction of a shared resource leads to a tragedy of the commons, with competition tending to eliminate niche construction strategies.Abstract:
The behavior of organisms can contribute to the transformation of their environments. When organismal impacts on the environment feed back to influence organismal density, viability, fertility, or persistence, the environment can be construed as an extension of the organism. This process of fitness-enhancing environmental transformation has been called niche construction. We focus on the relationship of niche construction with species or strain diversity and on the variability of investment in niche construction versus reproduction. We demonstrate a fundamental dilemma of niche construction, whereby the construction of a shared resource leads to a tragedy of the commons, with competition tending to eliminate niche construction strategies. The ability to monopolize a niche, either through spatial proximity or through preferential exploitation, can stabilize niche construction and promote ecological coexistence among polymorphic constructors. We consider both sympatric and allopatric origins of niche construction. Under a variety of different construction mechanisms, variability in the investment in niche construction versus reproduction suggests reproductive altruism but is fully consistent with selfish behavior. We discuss the implications of niche-construction theory on the evolution of life cycles and development, behavioral plasticity, the division of labor, and long-term macroevolutionary trends.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Developmental Plasticity and Evolution. In: Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Editor, Oxford University Press (2003) Pp. xi+794. Price $50.00 paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions.
Kevin N. Laland,Tobias Uller,Tobias Uller,Marcus W. Feldman,Kim Sterelny,Kim Sterelny,Gerd B. Müller,Armin P. Moczek,Eva Jablonka,John Odling-Smee +9 more
TL;DR: The structure, core assumptions and novel predictions of the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) are spelled out, and it is shown how it can be deployed to stimulate and advance research in those fields that study or use evolutionary biology.
Journal ArticleDOI
Beyond DNA: integrating inclusive inheritance into an extended theory of evolution
Etienne Danchin,Anne Charmantier,Frances A. Champagne,Alex Mesoudi,Benoit Pujol,Simon Blanchet +5 more
TL;DR: The evidence for such effects of epigenetic, ecological and cultural inheritance and parental effects, and methods that quantify the relative contributions of genetic and non-genetic heritability to the transmission of phenotypic variation across generations are reviewed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Understanding complexity in the human brain
TL;DR: The brain, it is argued, can be understood as a complex system or network, in which mental states emerge from the interaction between multiple physical and functional levels.
Journal ArticleDOI
An introduction to niche construction theory
TL;DR: This special edition presents theoretical and empirical research that illustrates the significance of niche construction to the field, and provides clear definitions that distinguish niche construction from related concepts such as ecosystem engineering and the extended phenotype.
References
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Book ChapterDOI
Organisms as ecosystem engineers
TL;DR: The role that many organisms play in the creation, modification and maintenance of habitats does not involve direct trophic interactions between species, but they are nevertheless important and common.
Journal ArticleDOI
Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals
TL;DR: The address of the president of a society, founded largely to further the study of evolution, at the close of the year that marks the centenary of Darwin and Wallace's initial presentation of the theory of natural selection.
Book
Niche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution
TL;DR: This book extends evolutionary theory by formally including niche construction and ecological inheritance as additional evolutionary processes, and demonstrates how the theory can resolve long-standing problems in ecology, particularly by advancing the sorely needed synthesis of ecology and evolution.
Journal ArticleDOI
Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers
TL;DR: It is argued that engineering has both negative and positive effects on species richness and abundances at small scales, but the net effects are probably positive at larger scales encompassing engineered and nonengineered environments in ecological and evolutionary space and time.
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