Abstract
The focus of ethnobiological research is to understand the interactions between people and biota. Here we suggest that niche construction theory can provide an important “theoretical framework” for understanding these interactions from different perspectives. Niche construction is a process by which living beings, including humans, modify their own niches or those of other organisms through their activities and decisions. By altering their niches, organisms can also alter the natural selective pressures. In this chapter, we sought to explore the niche construction theory and its key concepts. We also sought to show how niche construction theory can illustrate the biological and cultural impacts of human populations on the environment and on its own species and how ethnobiology can benefit from this theory. Niche construction theory can serve as an integrating concept for different ethnobiological approaches.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aklillu E, Herrlin K, Gustafsson LL et al (2002) Evidence for environmental influence on CYP2D6-catalysed debrisoquine hydroxylation as demonstrated by phenotyping and genotyping of Ethiopians living in Ethiopia or in Sweden. Pharmacogenetics 12:375–383
Barker G, Odling-Smme J (2014) Integrating ecology and evolution: niche construction and ecological engineering. In: Barker G, Desjardins E, Pearce T (eds) Entangled life: history, philosophy and theory of the life sciences. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 187–211
Berkes F, Colding J, Folke C (2000) Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management. Ecol Appl 10:1251–1262
Cavalli-Sforza LL, Feldman M (1981) Cultural transmission and evolution: a quantitative approach. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Durham WH (ed) (1991) Coevolution: genes, culture, and human diversity. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA
Evans WE, Relling MV (2004) Moving towards individualized medicine with pharmacogenomics. Nature 429:464–468
Feldman MW, Cavalli-Sforza LL (1989) On the theory of evolution under genetic and cultural transmission with application to the lactose absorption problem. In: Feldman MW (ed) Mathematical evolutionary theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp 145–173
Fried M, Abramson S, Meyer JH (1987) Passage of salivary amylase through the stomach in humans. Dig Dis Sci 32:1097–1103
Garrido-Pérez EI, Glasnovic P (2014) The search of human-driven patterns of global plant diversity: why and how? Brenesia 81:96–107
Ingelman-Sundberg M (1997) Genetic polymorphism of drug metabolizing enzymes. Implications for toxicity of drugs and other xenobiotics. Arch Toxicol Suppl 19:3–13
Ingelman-Sundberg M (2001) Pharmacogenetics: an opportunity for a safer and more efficient pharmacotherapy. J Intern Med 250:186–200
Ingelman-Sundberg M (2005) Genetic polymorphisms of cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6): clinical consequences, evolutionary aspects and functional diversity. Pharmacogenomics J 5:6–13
Ingram CJE, Mulcare CA, Itan Y, Thomas MG, Swallow DM (2009) Lactose digestion and the evolutionary genetics of lactase persistence. Hum Genet 124:579–591
Laland KN, Sterelny K (2006) Seven reasons (not) to neglect niche construction. Evolution 60:1751–1762
Laland KN, Boogert NJ (2010) Niche construction, co-evolution and biodiversity. Ecol Econ 69:731–736
Laland KN, Brown G (2011) Niche construction and human behavioral ecology: tools for understanding work. In: Levin R, Laughlin S, De La Rocha C, Blackwell A (eds) Work meets life: exploring the integrative study of work in living systems. The MIT Press, London, pp 113–132
Laland KN, O’Brien MJ (2011) Cultural niche construction: an introduction. Biol Theory 6:191–202
Laland KN, Boogert NJ, Evans C (2014) Niche construction, innovation and complexity. Environ Innov Soc Trans 11:71–86
Larson G, Piperno DR, Allaby RG et al (2014) Current perspectives and the future of domestication studies. Proc Natl Acad Sci 111(17):6139–6146
Larson G, Fuller DQ (2014) The evolution of animal domestication. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 66:115–136
Lins Neto EMF, Oliveira IF, Britto FB et al (2013) Traditional knowledge genetic morphological diversity in populations of Spondias tuberosa Arruda (Anacardiaceae). Genet Resour Crop Evol 60:1389–1406
Livingstone FB (1958) Anthropological implications of sickle-cell distribution in west Africa. Am Anthropol 60:533–562
Matthews B, De Meester L, Jones CG et al (2014) Under niche construction: an operational bridge between ecology, evolution, and ecosystem science. Ecol Monogr 84:245–263
Nebert DW, Dieter MZ (2000) The evolution of drug metabolism. Pharmacology 2000:124–135
Odling-Smee J, Laland KN, Feldman MW (2003) Niche construction: the neglected process in evolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Odling-Smee J, Laland KN (2011) Ecological inheritance and cultural inheritance: what are they and how do they differ? Biol Theory 6:220–230
Odling-Smee J, Erwin DH, Palkovacs EP et al (2013) Niche construction theory: a practical guide for ecologists. Q Rev Biol 88:3–28
O’Brien MJ, Laland KN (2012) Genes, culture, and agriculture: an example of human niche construction. Curr Anthropol 53(4):434–470
Ortega VE, Meyers DA (2014) Pharmacogenetics: implications of race and ethnicity of defining genetic profiles for personalized medicine. J Allergy Clin Immunol 133:16–26
Parra F, Casas A, Peñaloza-Ramirez JM et al (2010) Evolution under domestication: ongoing artificial selection and divergence of wild and managed Stenocereus pruinosus (Cactaceae) populations in the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico. Ann Bot 106:483–496
Perry GH, Dominy NJ, Claw KG et al (2007) Diet and the evolution of human amylase gene copy number variation. Nature 39(10):1256–1260
Posnansky M (1969) Yams and the origins of west African agriculture. Odu 1:101–107
Richerson PJ, Boyd R (1985) Culture and the evolutionary process. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Romero GQ, Gonçalves-Souza T, Vieira C et al (2014) Ecosystem engineering effects on species diversity across ecosystems: a meta-analysis. Biol Rev. doi:10.1111/brv.12138
Scott-Phillips TC, Laland KN, Shuker DM et al (2014) The niche construction perspective: a critical appraisal. Evolution 68:1231–1243
Seripa D, Pilotto A, Panza F et al (2010) Pharmacogenetics of cytochrome P450 (CYP) in the elderly. Ageing Res Rev 9:457–474
Smith BD (2007) Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication. Evol Anthropol 16:188–199
Smith BD (2009) Resource resilience, human niche construction, and the long-term sustainability of Pre-Columbian subsistence economies in the Mississippi River Valley Corridor. J Ethnobiol 29:167–183
Smith BD (2011a) A cultural niche construction theory of initial domestication. Biol Theory 6:260–271
Smith BD (2011b) General patterns of niche construction and the management of ‘wild’ plant and animal resources by small-scale pre-industrial societies. Phil Trans R Soc B 366:836–848
Soldati GT, Albuquerque UP (2012) Ethnobotany in intermedical spaces: the case of the Fulni-ô Indians (Northeastern Brazil). Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2012:Article ID 648469. doi:10.1155/2012/648469
Wollstonecroft M (2011) Investigating the role of food processing in human evolution: a niche construction approach. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 3:141–150
Wright JP, Jones CG, Flecker AS (2002) An ecosystem engineer, the beaver, increases species richness at the landscape scale. Oecologia 132:96–101
Acknowledgements
We particularly thank Dr. John Odling-Smee (Mansfield College—University of Oxford) and Dr. Kevin Laland (University of St. Andrews) for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by funding from the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq—Proc. 471989/2012-6).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Albuquerque, U.P., Júnior, W.S.F., Santoro, F.R., Torres-Avilez, W.M., Júnior, J.R.S. (2015). Niche Construction Theory and Ethnobiology. In: Albuquerque, U., De Medeiros, P., Casas, A. (eds) Evolutionary Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19917-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19917-7_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19916-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19917-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)