Niche construction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Niche construction is the process in which an organism alters its own (or other species') environment, often but not always in a manner that increases its chances of survival. Traditionally, niche construction has been viewed as simply being an aspect of the organism's phenotype, and not having any special role in evolution. However, recently several biologists have argued that niche construction is as important to evolution as natural selection; not only does the environment cause changes in species through selection, but species also cause changes in their environment through niche construction. The effect of niche construction may be especially pronounced in situations where the alterations persist for several generations, introducing ecological inheritance. Organisms inherit two legacies from their ancestors, genes and a modified environment.

Differs from the The Extended Phenotype in that the process is not necessarily subject to a reproductive life-cycle bottleneck in the short term (as is the caddis larval case example). The Extended Phenotype can be considered a subset of Niche Construction.

The unified neutral theory of biodiversity asserts that niche construction may be neglected in population dynamics.

[edit] Organisms that exhibit niche construction

• Humans: capital accumulation, the creation of art, music, poetry, and different sports
• Earthworms: Alter the chemical and mechanical properties of the soil in which they live
• Lemon Ants (Myrmelachista schumanni): Create Devil's garden
• Beavers: Construction of dams creates or deepens lakes

[edit] External links

• http://www.nicheconstruction.com/
• Day RL, Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ Perspect Biol Med. 46:80-95 (2003) Rethinking adaptation: the niche-construction perspective
• Laland K. N., Odling-Smee J. & Feldman M. W. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 96, 10242-10247 (1999). Evolutionary consequences of niche construction and their implications for ecology