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The niche construction perspective : a critical appraisal

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Laland_2013_Evo_Niche.pdf (180.3Kb)
Date
05/2014
Author
Scott-Phillips, Thomas C.
Laland, Kevin N.
Shuker, David M.
Dickins, Thomas E.
West, Stuart A.
Funder
European Research Council
Grant ID
Keywords
Adaptation
Adaptationism
Evolution
Natural selection
Niche
Niche construction
Evolutionary synthesis
Interacting phenotypes
Lactase persistence
Social interactions
Extended phenotype
Uncluive fitness
Sexual selection
Kin selection
Evo-devo
Consequences
QH301 Biology
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Abstract
Niche construction refers to the activities of organisms that bring about changes in their environments, many of which are evolutionarily and ecologically consequential. Advocates of niche construction theory (NCT) believe that standard evolutionary theory fails to recognize the full importance of niche construction, and consequently propose a novel view of evolution, in which niche construction and its legacy over time (ecological inheritance) are described as evolutionary processes, equivalent in importance to natural selection. Here, we subject NCT to critical evaluation, in the form of a collaboration between one prominent advocate of NCT, and a team of skeptics. We discuss whether niche construction is an evolutionary process, whether NCT obscures or clarifies how natural selection leads to organismal adaptation, and whether niche construction and natural selection are of equivalent explanatory importance. We also consider whether the literature that promotes NCT overstates the significance of niche construction, whether it is internally coherent, and whether it accurately portrays standard evolutionary theory. Our disagreements reflect a wider dispute within evolutionary theory over whether the neo-Darwinian synthesis is in need of reformulation, as well as different usages of some key terms (e.g., evolutionary process).
Citation
Scott-Phillips , T C , Laland , K N , Shuker , D M , Dickins , T E & West , S A 2014 , ' The niche construction perspective : a critical appraisal ' , Evolution , vol. 68 , no. 5 , pp. 1231-1243 . https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12332
Publication
Evolution
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12332
ISSN
0014-3820
Type
Journal item
Rights
© 2013 The Author(s). Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
For financial support, the authors thank Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, The Economic and Social Research Council, The Natural Environment Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the European Research Council, and the Royal Society.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5067

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