An introduction to niche construction theory
Date
04/2016Keywords
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Abstract
Niche construction refers to the modification of selective environments by organisms. Theoretical and empirical studies of niche construction are increasing in importance as foci in evolutionary ecology. This special edition presents theoretical and empirical research that illustrates the significance of niche construction to the field. Here we set the scene for the following papers by (1) discussing the history of niche construction research, (2) providing clear definitions that distinguish niche construction from related concepts such as ecosystem engineering and the extended phenotype, (3) providing a brief summary of the findings of niche construction research, (4) discussing the contribution of niche construction and ecological inheritance to (a) expanded notions of inheritance, and (b) the extended evolutionary synthesis, and (5) briefly touching on some of the issues that underlie the controversies over niche construction.
Citation
Laland , K N , Matthews , B & Feldman , M W 2016 , ' An introduction to niche construction theory ' , Evolutionary Ecology , vol. 30 , no. 2 , pp. 191-202 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-016-9821-z
Publication
Evolutionary Ecology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0269-7653Type
Journal article
Rights
© The Author(s) 2016. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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