Niche construction : the neglected process in evolution / F. John Odling-Smee, Kevin N. Laland, and Marcus W. Feldman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Odling-Smee, F. John, 1935-

Contributor:

Laland, Kevin N.

Feldman, Marcus W.

Series:

Monographs in population biology ; 37.

Monographs in population biology ; 37

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Niche (Ecology).

Evolution (Biology).

Human ecology.

Physical Description:

xii, 472 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2003]

Summary:

The seemingly innocent observation that the activities of organisms bring about changes in environments is so obvious that it seems an unlikely focus for a new line of thinking about evolution. Yet niche construction -- as this process of organism-driven environmental modification is known -- has hidden complexities. By transforming biotic and abiotic sources of natural selection in external environments, niche construction generates feedback in evolution on a scale hitherto underestimated -- and in a manner that transforms the evolutionary dynamic. It also plays a critical role in ecology, supporting ecosystem engineering and influencing the flow of energy and nutrients through ecosystems. Despite this, niche construction has been given short shrift in theoretical biology, in part because it cannot be fully understood within the framework of standard evolutionary theory. Wedding evolution and ecology, this book extends evolutionary theory by formally including niche construction and ecological inheritance as additional evolutionary processes. The authors support their historic move with empirical data, theoretical population genetics, and conceptual models. They also describe new research methods capable of testing the theory. They demonstrate how their theory can resolve long-standing problems in ecology, particularly by advancing the sorely needed synthesis of ecology and evolution, and how it offers an evolutionary basis for the human sciences. Already hailed as a pioneering work by some of the world's most influential biologists, this is a rare, potentially field-changing contribution to the biological sciences.

Contents:

2. The Evidence for Niche Construction 36

3. A Theoretical Investigation of the Evolutionary Consequences of Niche Construction 116

4. General Qualitative Characteristics of Niche Construction 167

5. Niche Construction and Ecology 194

6. Human Niche Construction, Learning, and Cultural Processes 239

7. Testing Niche Construction 1: Empirical Methods and Predictions for Evolutionary Biology 282

8. Testing Niche Construction 2: Empirical Methods, Theory, and Predictions for Ecology 305

9. Testing Niche Construction 3: Empirical Methods and Predictions for the Human Sciences 337

10. Extended Evolutionary Theory 370.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [421]-455) and index.

ISBN:

0691044384

0691044376

OCLC:

50476701