Ортаны өзгерту арқылы тіршілік әрекетінің эволюциялық әсері

Process by which an organism shapes its environment

Niche construction is the process by which an organism alters its own (or another species') local environment. These alterations can be a physical change to the organism’s environment or encompass when an organism actively moves from one habitat to another to experience a different environment. Examples of niche construction include the building of nests and burrows by animals, and the creation of shade, influencing of wind speed, and alternation of nutrient cycling by plants. Although these alterations are often beneficial to the constructor, they are not always (for example, when organisms dump detritus, they can degrade their own environments).

For niche construction to affect evolution it must satisfy three criteria: 1) the organism must significantly modify environmental conditions, 2) these modifications must influence one or more selection pressures on a recipient organism, and 3) there must be an evolutionary response in at least one recipient population caused by the environmental modification. The first two criteria alone provide evidence of niche construction. Recently, some biologists have argued that niche construction is an evolutionary process that works in conjunction with natural selection. The complementary match between an organism and its environment results from the two processes of natural selection and niche construction. The effect of niche construction is especially pronounced in situations where environmental alterations persist for several generations, introducing the evolutionary role of ecological inheritance. This theory emphasizes that organisms inherit two legacies from their ancestors: genes and a modified environment. A niche constructing organism may or may not be considered an ecosystem engineer. Ecosystem engineering is a related but non evolutionary concept referring to structural changes brought about in the environment by organisms.

As creatures construct new niches, they can have a significant effect on the world around them. Niche construction can also generate co evolutionary interactions, as illustrated by the above earthworm, beaver and yeast examples. The development of many organisms, and the recurrence of traits across generations, has been found to depend critically on the construction of developmental environments such as nests by ancestral organisms. Ecological inheritance refers to the inherited resources and conditions, and associated modified selection pressures, that ancestral organisms bequeath to their descendants as a direct result of their niche construction. Niche construction has important implications for understanding, managing, and conserving ecosystems. The niche construction perspective was subsequently brought to prominence through the writings of Harvard evolutionary biologist, Richard Lewontin. In the 1970s and 1980s Lewontin wrote a series of articles on adaptation, in which he pointed out that organisms do not passively adapt through selection to pre existing conditions, but actively construct important components of their niches. Over the next decade research into niche construction increased rapidly, with a rush of experimental and theoretical studies across a broad range of fields.

While the fact that niche construction occurs is non contentious, and its study goes back to Darwin's classic books on earthworms and corals, the evolutionary consequences of niche construction have not always been fully appreciated. Researchers differ over to what extent niche construction requires changes in understanding of the evolutionary process. Many advocates of the niche construction perspective align themselves with other progressive elements in seeking an extended evolutionary synthesis, a stance that other prominent evolutionary biologists reject. Laubichler and Renn In particular, the claim that niche construction is an evolutionary process has excited controversy. A collaboration between some critics of the niche construction perspective and one of its advocates attempted to pinpoint their differences. However, other researchers see no conflict between niche construction theory and the application of behavioral ecology methods in archaeology. A critical review by Manan Gupta and colleagues was published in 2017 which led to a dispute amongst critics and proponents. In 2018 another review updates the importance of niche construction and extragenetic adaptation in evolutionary processes.