Abstract
In modern evolutionary theory, selection acts on particular genes and assemblages of genes that operate through phenotypes expressed in environments. This view, however, overlooks the fact that organisms often alter their environments in pursuit of fitness needs and thus modify some environmental selection pressures. Niche construction theory introduces a reciprocal causal process that modifies natural selection relative to three general kinds of environmental components: abiota, biota (other organisms), and artifacts. The ways in which niche-constructing organisms can construct or modify the components differ. Modification of abiota, for example, may have different consequences from the construction of artifacts. Some changes in abiota may simply be caused by the by-products of metabolisms and activities of organisms. Alternatively, artifacts may be “extended phenotypes” that demonstrate obvious prior “design” and “construction” by organisms in the service of fitness needs. Nevertheless, adaptation should always account for the reciprocity between constructed niches and the living agents that construct them. Looking to well-adapted nature for inspiration for human-built artifacts must account for this reciprocity between phenotype and constructed environment as well as the novel features of human architecture, including frank intentionality of design and novel culturally acquired knowledge.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13752-012-0029-3/MediaObjects/13752_2012_29_Fig1_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13752-012-0029-3/MediaObjects/13752_2012_29_Fig2_HTML.gif)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benyus JM (1997) Biomimicry: innovation inspired by nature. Morrow, New York
Blute M (2011) Supercooperators? Trends Ecol Evol 26:624–625
Bonabeau E, Theraulaz G, Deneubourg JL, Aron S, Camazine S (1997) Self-organization in social insects. Trends Ecol Evol 12:188–193
Bruinsma OH (1979) An analysis of building behaviour of the termite Macrotermes subhyalinus (Rambur). PhD dissertation, Landbouwhogeschool, Wageningen
Cuddington K (2012) Legacy effects: the persistent impact of ecological interactions. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0027-5
Dawkins R (1982) The extended phenotype. Freeman, New York
Diamond J (2005) Guns, germs and steel: the fates of human societies. Norton, New York
Enattah NS, Jensen TG, Nielsen M, Lewinski R, Kuokkanen M et al (2008) Independent introduction of two lactase-persistence alleles into human populations reflects different history of adaptation to milk culture. Am J Hum Genet 82:57–72
Gilbert SF, Epel D (2009) Ecological developmental biology: integrating epigenetics, medicine, and evolution. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA
Gould S, Lewontin R (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Proc R Soc Lond B 205:581–598
Gruber P (2008) The signs of life in architecture. Bioinspir Biomim 3:1–9
Hamilton WD (1964a) The genetical evolution of social behaviour I. J Theor Biol 7:1–16
Hamilton WD (1964b) The genetical evolution of social behaviour II. J Theor Biol 7:17–52
Hansell MH (1984) Animal architecture and building behaviour. Longman, London
Howse PE (1984) Sociochemicals of termites. In: Bell WJ, Cardé RT (eds) Chemical ecology of insects. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 475–519
Hutchinson GE (1957) Concluding remarks. Cold Spring Harb Symp 22:415–427
Jablonka E, Lamb MJ (2005) Evolution in four dimensions: genetic, epigenetic, behavioral and symbolic variation in the history of life. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Jones CG, Lawton JH, Shachak M (1997) Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology 78:1057–1062
Kretzschmar A, Monestiez P (1992) Physical control of soil biological activity due to endogeic earthworm behaviour. Soil Biol Biochem 24:1609–1614
Laland KN, O’Brian MJ (2012) Cultural niche construction: an introduction. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0026-6
Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ, Feldman MW (2000) Niche construction, biological evolution, and cultural change. Behav Brain Sci 23:131–175
Laland KN, Odling-Smee J, Gilbert SJ (2008) Evo-devo and niche construction: building bridges. J Exper Zool 310:549–566
Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ, Myles S (2010) How culture has shaped the human genome: bringing genetics and the human sciences together. Nat Rev Genet 11:137–148
Lewens T (2009) Seven types of adaptation. Biol Phil 24:161–182
Lewontin RC (1983) Gene, organism and environment. In: Bendall DS (ed) Evolution from molecules to men. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Lewontin RC (2000) The triple helix: gene, organism and environment. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Lovegrove BG (1991) Mima-like mounds (heuweltjies) of South Africa: the topographical, ecological and economic impact of burrowing animals. Symp Zool Soc Lond 63:183–198
McLellan JF (2004) The philosophy of sustainable design: the future of architecture. Ecotone, Kansas City
Moore JM, Picker MD (1991) Heuweltjies (earth mounds) in the Clanwilliam District, Cape Province, South Africa: 4000-year-old termite nests. Oecologia 86:424–432
Nowak MA, Tarnita CE, Wilson EO (2010) The evolution of eusociality. Nature 466:1062–1957
Odling-Smee FJ (2010) Niche inheritance. In: Pigliucci M, Müller GB (eds) Evolution: the extended synthesis. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 175–207
Odling-Smee J, Laland KN (2012) Ecological inheritance and cultural inheritance: what are they and how do they differ? Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0030-x
Odling-Smee FJ, Laland KN, Feldman MW (1996) Niche construction. Am Nat 147:641–648
Odling-Smee FJ, Laland KN, Feldman MW (2003) Niche construction: the neglected process in evolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Satchell JE (ed) (1983) Earthworm ecology: from Darwin to vermiculite. Chapman and Hall, London
Smith BD (2007) Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication. Evol Anthropol 16:188–199
Turner JS (2000) The Extended organism: the physiology of animal-built structures. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Turner JS (2004) Extended phenotypes and extended organisms. Biol Phil 19:327–352
Turner JS (2007) The tinkerer’s accomplice: how design emerges from life itself. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Turner JS (2012) Evolutionary architecture? Some perspectives from biological design. Archit Des 82:28–33
von Frisch K, von Frisch O (1974) Animal architecture. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York
Wilson EO (1971) The insect societies. Belknap, Cambridge, MA
Acknowledgments
This collaboration was made possible in part by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation to JST.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Odling-Smee, J., Turner, J.S. Niche Construction Theory and Human Architecture. Biol Theory 6, 283–289 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0029-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0029-3