Niche Construction

Niche Construction is defined as a process whereby organisms modify/select habitats, resources, and environments to change the selection pressures acting on current/future generations of that organism, as well as independent populations. In terms of evolutionary biology, niche construction can be thought of as organisms acting on their selected environments, while those environments simultaneously coevolve with the organisms. One might ask, how is this concept distinguishable from adaptation? More importantly, how do two theories such as adaptation and niche construction feed into the evolutionary process as a whole? Adaptation focuses on how an alteration in the structure/function of an organism results from natural selection and how that organism evolved to be better fitted to survive in its environment. Here,

The development of niche construction as an evolutionary process, was studied over an extended period of time, as it includes the construction of everything that a living organism does from conception to death. However, the theory of niche construction, over time, has developed the idea that it “can change the direction, rate, and dynamics of the evolutionary process. Niche construction is a potent evolutionary agent because it introduces feedback into the evolutionary dynamic” (Niche Construction, 2). To put this theory into context, take for example leaf-cutter ants from Odling-Smee, Laland, and Feldman’s reading regarding niche construction. Here they present a case where leaf-cutter ants construct their nests in areas of high fungi growth potential, to supply an abundant amount of food for their population. As a result of these nests growing so large (considering many ants selected this desirable