Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ecological Inheritance and Cultural Inheritance: What Are They and How Do They Differ?

  • Thematic Issue Article: Cultural Niche Construction
  • Published:
Biological Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Niche construction theory (NCT) is distinctive for being explicit in recognizing environmental modification by organisms—niche construction—and its legacy—ecological inheritance—to be evolutionary processes in their own right. Humans are widely regarded as champion niche constructors, largely as a direct result of our capacity for the cultural transmission of knowledge and its expression in human behavior, engineering, and technology. This raises the question of how human ecological inheritance relates to human cultural inheritance. If NCT is to provide a conceptual framework for the human sciences, then it is important that the relationship between these two legacies is clear. We suggest that cultural processes and cultural inheritance can be viewed as the primary means by which humans engage in the universal process of niche construction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amundson R (2005) The changing role of the embryo in evolutionary thought. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Aunger R (2000) The life history of culture learning in a face-to-face society. Ethos 28:1–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beja-Pereira A et al (2003) Gene-culture coevolution between cattle milk protein genes and human lactase genes. Nat Genet 35:311–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergstrom CT, Lachmann M (2004) Shannon information and biological fitness. In: Proceedings of the IEEE workshop on information theory

  • Bergstrom CT, Rosvall M (2011) The transmission sense of information. Biol Philos 26:159–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boogert NJ, Laland KN, Paterson DM (2006) The implications of niche construction and ecosystem engineering for conservation biology. Bioscience 56:570–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borenstein E, Kendal J, Feldman MW (2006) Cultural niche construction in a metapopulation. Theor Popul Biol 70:92–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd R, Richerson PJ (1985) Culture and the evolutionary process. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown ME (1984) Burns and tradition. University of Illinois Press, Urbana

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavalli-Sforza LL, Feldman MW (1981) Cultural transmission and evolution. University of Princeton Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavalli-Sforza LL, Feldman MW, Chen KH, Dornbusch SM (1982) Theory and observation in cultural transmission. Science 218:19–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaitin G (1987) Algorithmic information theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Corenblit D, Steiger J, Gurnell AM, Naiman R (2009) Plants intertwine fluvial landform dynamics with ecological succession and natural selection: a niche construction perspective for riparian systems. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 18:507–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corenblit D, Baas ACW, Bornette G et al (2011) Feedbacks between geomorphology and biota controlling Earth surface processes and landforms: a review of foundation concepts and current understandings. Earth Sci Rev 106:307–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crain CM, Bertness MD (2006) Ecosystem engineering across environmental gradients: implications for conservation and management. Bioscience 56:211–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuddington K (2012) Legacy effects: the persistent impact of ecological interactions. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0027-5

  • Cuddington K, Byers JE, Wilson WG, Hastings A (2007) Ecosystem engineers (vol 4): plants to protists. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie CR, Poulsen M, Mendenhall J, Boomsma JJ, Billen J (2006) Coevolved crypts and exocrine glands support mutualistic bacteria in fungus-growing ants. Science 311:81–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies NB, Kilner RM, Noble DG (1998) Nestling cuckoos, Cuculus canorus, exploit hosts with begging calls that mimic a brood. Proc R Soc B 265:673–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins R (1982) The extended phenotype: the gene as the unit of selection. Freeman, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (1997) Guns, germs and steel: the fates of human societies. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Durham WH (1991) Coevolution: genes, culture and human diversity. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Erwin DH (2008) Macroevolution of ecosystem engineering, niche construction and diversity. Trends Ecol Evol 23:304–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flack JC, Girvan M, de Waal F, Krakauer DC (2006) Policing stabilizes construction of social niches in primates. Nature 439:426–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fogarty L, Feldman MW (2012) The cultural and demographic evolution of son preference and marriage type in contemporary China. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0033-7

  • Fragaszy D (2012) Community resources for learning: how capuchin monkeys construct technical traditions. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0032-8

  • Fragaszy DM, Perry S (2003) The biology of traditions: models and evidence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gerbault P, Liebert A, Itan Y et al (2011) Evolution of lactase persistence: an example of human niche construction. Philos Trans R Soc B 366:863–877

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey-Smith P (1996) Complexity and the function of mind in nature. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hastings A, Byers JE, Crooks JA, Cuddington K, Jones CG, Lambrinos JG, Talley TS, Wilson WG (2007) Ecosystem engineering in space and time. Ecol Lett 10:153–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hewlett BS, Cavalli-Sforza LL (1986) Cultural transmission among Aka pygmies. Am Anthropol 88:922–934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hölldobler B, Wilson EO (1995) Journey to the ants: a story of scientific exploration. Belknap, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoppitt WJE, Laland KN (2008) Social processes influencing learning in animals: a review of the evidence. Adv Study Behav 38:105–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hui C, Li ZZ, Yue DX (2004) Metapopulation dynamics and distribution, and environmental heterogeneity induced by niche construction. Ecol Model 177:107–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ihara Y, Feldman MW (2004) Cultural niche construction and the evolution of small family size. Theor Popul Biol 65:105–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones CG, Lawton JH, Shachak M (1994) Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69:373–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones CG, Lawton JH, Shachak M (1997) Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology 78:1946–1957

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keesing RM (1974) Theories of culture. Annu Rev Anthropol 3:73–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendal JR (2012) Cultural niche construction and human learning environments: investigating sociocultural perspectives. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0038-2

  • Kendal J, Tehrani JJ, Odling-Smee FJ (2011) Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus. Philos Trans R Soc B 366:785–792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krakauer DC, Page KM, Erwin DH (2009) Diversity, dilemmas and monopolies of niche construction. Am Nat 173:26–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kroeber AL, Kluckhohn C (1952) Culture: a critical review of concepts and definitions. Harvard University Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 47, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Kylafis G, Loreau M (2008) Ecological and evolutionary consequences of niche construction for its agent. Ecol Lett 11:1072–1081

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kylafis G, Loreau M (2011) Niche construction in the light of niche theory. Ecol Lett 14:82–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN (2004) Social learning strategies. Learn Behav 32:4–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Brown G (2006) Niche construction, human behavior, and the adaptive-lag hypothesis. Evol Anthropol 15:95–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Galef BG Jr (eds) (2009) The question of animal culture. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, O’Brien MJ (2010) Niche construction theory and archaeology. J Archaeol Method Theory 17:303–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, O’Brien MJ (2012) Cultural niche construction: an introduction. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0026-6

  • Laland KN, Sterelny K (2006) Seven reasons (not) to neglect niche construction. Evolution 60:1751–1762

    Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ, Feldman MW (1996) The evolutionary consequences of niche construction. J Evol Biol 9:293–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ, Feldman MW (1999) Evolutionary consequences of niche construction and their implications for ecology. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:10242–10247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ, Feldman MW (2000) Niche construction, biological evolution, and cultural change. Behav Brain Sci 23:131–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ, Feldman MW (2001) Cultural niche construction and human evolution. J Evol Biol 14:22–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Odling-Smee FJ, Feldman MW (2004) Causing a commotion. Niche construction: Do the changes that organisms make to their habitats transform evolution and influence natural selection? Nature 429:609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Sterelny K, Odling-Smee FJ, Hoppitt W, Uller T (2011) Cause and effect in biology revisited: Is Mayr’s proximate-ultimate distinction still useful? Science 334:1512–1516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann L (2008) The adaptive dynamics of niche constructing traits in spatially subdivided populations: evolving posthumous extended phenotypes. Evolution 62:549–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin RC (1982) Organism and environment. In: Plotkin EC (ed) Learning, development and culture. Wiley, New York, pp 151–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin RC (1983) Gene, organism, and environment. In: Bendall DS (ed) Evolution from molecules to men. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 273–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin RC (2000) The triple helix: gene, organism and environment. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ley RE, Peterson DA, Gordon JI (2006) Ecological and evolutionary forces shaping microbial diversity in the human intestine. Cell 124:837–848

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lohrer AM, Thrush SF, Gibbs MM (2004) Bioturbators enhance ecosystem function through complex biogeochemical interactions. Nature 431:1092–1095

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesoudi A (2011) Cultural evolution: how Darwinian theory can explain human culture and synthesize the social sciences. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesoudi A, Whiten A, Laland KN (2004) Is human cultural evolution Darwinian? Evidence reviewed from the perspective of The Origin of Species. Evolution 58:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesoudi A, Whiten A, Laland KN (2006) Towards a unified science of cultural evolution. Behav Brain Sci 29:329–383

    Google Scholar 

  • Meysman F, Middleburg J, Heip C (2006) Bioturbation: a fresh look at Darwin’s last idea. Trends Ecol Evol 21:688–695

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naiman RJ, Johnston CA, Kelley JC (1988) Alterations of North American streams by beaver. Bioscience 38:753–762

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien M, Laland KN (2012) Genes, culture and agriculture: an example of human niche construction. Curr Anthropol (in press)

  • Odling-Smee FJ (1988) Niche-constructing phenotypes. In: Plotkin HC (ed) The role of behavior in evolution. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 73–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Odling-Smee FJ (2007) Niche inheritance: a possible basis for classifying multiple inheritance systems in evolution. Biol Theory 2:276–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odling-Smee FJ (2009) Niche construction in evolution, ecosystems and developmental biology. In: Barberousse A, Morange M, Pradeu T (eds) Mapping the future of biology. Springer, New York, pp 69–91

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Odling-Smee FJ (2010) Niche inheritance. In: Pigliucci M, Müller GB (eds) Evolution: the extended synthesis. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 175–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Odling-Smee FJ, Turner JS (2012) Niche construction theory and human architecture. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0029-3

  • Odling-Smee FJ, Laland KN, Feldman MW (1996) Niche construction. Am Nat 147:641–648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odling-Smee FJ, Laland KN, Feldman MW (2003) Niche construction: the neglected process in evolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Piersma T, van Gils JA (2011) The flexible phenotype: a body centred integration of ecology, physiology and behaviour. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Post DM, Palkovacs EP (2009) Eco-evolutionary feedbacks in community and ecosystem ecology: interactions between the ecological theatre and the evolutionary play. Philos Trans R Soc B 364:1629–1640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rendell L, Boyd R, Cownden D et al (2010) Why copy others? Insights from the social learning strategies tournament. Science 327:208–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reyes-Garcia V, Broesch J, Calvet-Mir L et al (2009) Cultural transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills: an empirical analysis from an Amerindian society. Evol Hum Behav 30:274–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richerson P, Boyd R (2005) Not by genes alone: how culture transformed human evolution. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Sapp J (1987) Beyond the gene: cytoplasmic inheritance and the struggle for authority in genetics. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schielke EG, Palkovacs EP, Post DM (2012) Eco-evolutionary feedbacks drive niche differentiation in the alewife. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0031-9

  • Schwilk DW, Ackerly DD (2001) Flammability and serotiny as strategies: correlated evolution in pines. Oikos 94:326–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shavit A, Griesemer J (2011) Mind the gaps: Why are niche construction models so rarely used? In: Gisis SB, Jablonka E (eds) Transformations of Lamarckism: from subtle fluids to molecular biology. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 307–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Silver M, Di Paolo E (2006) Spatial effects favour the evolution of niche construction. Theor Popul Biol 20:387–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith BD (2007) Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication. Evol Anthropol 16:188–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith BD (2011) General pattern of niche construction and the management of “wild” plant and animal resources by small-scale pre-industrial societies. Philos Trans R Soc B 366:836–848

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith BD (2012) A cultural niche construction theory of initial domestication. Biol Theory 6. doi:10.1007/s13752-012-0028-4

  • Sterelny K (2001) Niche construction, developmental systems, and the extended replicator. In: Oyama S, Griffiths PE, Gray RD (eds) Cycles of contingency: developmental systems and evolution. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 333–349

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterelny K (2012) The evolved apprentice: how evolution made humans unique. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Tylor EB (1871) Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom, etc. Murray, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Hinde R, Laland KN, Stringer C (2011) Introduction. Philos Trans R Soc B 366:938–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright JP, Jones CG, Flecker AS (2002) An ecosystem engineer, the beaver, increases species richness at the landscape scale. Oecologia 132:96–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Mike O’Brien and Kim Cuddington for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. Our research was supported in part by an ERC Advanced grant to KNL.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mansfield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    John Odling-Smee

  2. School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK

    Kevin N. Laland

Authors
  1. John Odling-Smee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kevin N. Laland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Odling-Smee.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Odling-Smee, J., Laland, K.N. Ecological Inheritance and Cultural Inheritance: What Are They and How Do They Differ?. Biol Theory 6, 220–230 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0030-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0030-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation