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Why Gupta et al.'s critique of niche construction theory is off target.
TLDR
This issue corrects Gupta et al.Abstract:
Gupta et al., in their article in this issue ('Niche construction in evolutionary theory: the construction of an academic niche?'. doi:10.1007/s12041-017-0787-6), lament 'serious problems with the way science is being done' and suggest that 'niche construction theory exemplifies this state of affairs.' However, their aggressively confrontational but superficial critique of niche construction theory (NCT) only contributes to these problems by attacking claims that NCT does not make. This is unfortunate, as their poor scholarship has done a disservice to the evolutionary biology community through propagating misinformation.We correct Gupta et al.'s misunderstandings, stressing that NCT does not suggest that the fact that organisms engage in niche construction is neglected, nor does it make strong claims on the basis of its formal theory. Moreover, the treatment of niche construction as an evolutionary process has been highly productive, and is both theoretically and empirically well-validated.We end by reflecting on the potentially deleterious implications of their publication for evolutionary science.read more
Citations
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Précis of Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking
TL;DR: Cognitive gadgets are distinctively human cognitive mechanisms that have been shaped by cultural rather than genetic evolution, and the framework employed – cultural evolutionary psychology – addresses parallel issues across the cognitive and behavioural sciences.
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Reciprocal Causation and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine Laland et al.'s central concept of reciprocal causation and identify where skeptics can push back against these arguments, and highlight what they see as the empirical, explanatory, and methodological issues at stake.
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The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: what is the debate about, and what might success for the extenders look like?
TL;DR: An overview of the multiple dimensions of debate over the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis enables clarification of two philosophical elements of the EES debate, regarding the status of niche-construction and the role of selection in explaining adaptation.
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Scale-invariant topology and bursty branching of evolutionary trees emerge from niche construction.
TL;DR: A simple, coarse-grained statistical model of niche construction coupled to simple models of speciation that recapitulates both the scale-invariant topology and the bursty pattern of diversification in time shows how dynamical scaling laws of phylogenetic trees on long timescales can reflect the indelible imprint of the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes.
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What’s wrong with the modern evolutionary synthesis? A critical reply to Welch (2017)
TL;DR: This paper argued that the main calls for reform do not concern the field of evolutionary biology in general but rather, or more specifically, the modern evolutionary synthesis, which is either seriously deficient and incapable of incorporating ideas that are new, relevant and plausible or it is not seriously deficient at all but is prone to attracting discontent and to the championing of ideas not very relevant, plausible and/or not really new.
References
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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.
Book
The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss Gene and Organism II. Organism and Environment III. Parts and Wholes, Causes and Effects IV. Directions in the Study of Biology Notes Index
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Core questions in domestication research.
TL;DR: Consideration of three central questions about domestication provide a unifying framework for diverse research on the topic and find greater empirical support for explanatory frameworks grounded in niche-construction theory over those derived from optimal foraging theory.
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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.
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Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus
TL;DR: Niche construction theory potentially integrates the biological and social aspects of the human sciences, and modifies selection pressures in environments in ways that affect both human evolution, and the evolution of other species.