Emperor penguins are the only vertebrate species able to breed during the Antarctic winter. They huddle together to keep warm in an icy landscape up to 50°C below zero. But how warm is it inside the huddle?

By huddling together for just two hours, penguin bodies can raise the temperature in the middle of the huddle to as high as 37 degrees above zero! The penguins are able to construct a warm environment, even in a blizzard (Gilbert et al, 2007)!

Despite living on land for millions of years, earthworms have retained the physiology of the freshwater species from which they evolved. How can they survive with such ‘poor’ morphological adaptation?

Through niche construction. Earthworms process soil in ways allowing them to draw water into their bodies more effectively, creating a simulated aquatic environment on land (Turner, 2000). It is as if they built their own swimming pools!

Hermit crabs use shells as safe homes to live in. They modify these shells to increase their inner size and reduce their weight. As they grow, they need larger shells. But the only shells big enough are those carried by other hermit crabs. What do they do?

Hermit crabs gather, waiting for other hermit crabs to change shells, and then jump into a suitable vacated one. Niche construction creates a biological market, leading to the evolution of sociality in a hitherto solitary species (Laidre, 2012).

Female dung beetles manufacture and bury a brood ball of dung and insert into it a faecal pedestal onto which they lay an egg. Through niche construction they provide a safe home, food, and microbiome for their developing young (Schwab et al 2016).

Developing larvae also processes the brood ball, changing microbiome composition. Experiments show that maternal and offspring niche construction strongly affect offspring size, fitness and trait characteristics (Schwab et al 2016, 2017).

These snails (Euchondrus spp.) feed on lichens that grow on and under rocks in the Negev desert. Each snail is very small, and has a tiny effect on its environment, and yet their activities have a massive effect on the entire desert ecosystem. How?

The trees have evolved fire resistance, rapid resprouting after fire, and often require fire to reproduce (Schwilk 2003). Forest fires benefit them, but not the competition.

Even traits such as the timing of germination and flowering can be niche-constructing traits. How?

The timing of germination and flowering determine the seasonal environment experienced by plants and their offspring. This alters many traits, the expression of genetic variation of those traits, and natural selection on those traits (Donohue, 2013).

Humans are champion niche constructors. Through agriculture, deforestation, urbanization, control of fire, and the domestication of plants and animals, humans have modified environments in dramatic ways, even on a global scale.

The domestication of cattle and consumption of dairy products is a compelling example of human niche construction. Dairy culture generated natural selection favouring genes allowing adults to metabolise lactose in milk (Gerbault et al, 2011).

Niche construction can occur even without a physical change in the environment. Through migrating, birds transform their local environment from a harsh location with little food or mating opportunities, to one rich with food and mates.

Experimental studies with bacteria demonstrate that niche construction evolves rapidly, under a broad range of conditions (Callahan et al 2014).

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae facilitates its own propagation by modifying fruit to produce chemicals that attract Drosophila, and then hitches a ride (Buser et al 2014).  Here niche construction drives coevolutionary interactions.

The snails feeding breaks up rocks and inadvertently generates tonnes of soil. This soil supports a plant community, which in turn supports insects and birds. The snails play a vital role in constructing the desert ecosystems.

Waterpepper smartweeds alter the shapes of their leaves when their light conditions are different, thereby altering the amount of light they receive. This is known as ‘experiential niche construction’ (Sultan 2015).

It’s a self-irrigating plant! Its leaves channel water towards its taproot, which grows and​ then shrinks again, producing chemical exudates that line the cavity, where water gathers (Lev-Yadun et al, 2009).

More desert plants have small leaves or spines, to conserve water. So how can this plant, the desert rhubarb (Rheum palaestinum), survive with huge leaves?

Traditionally, niche construction has been viewed as a source of environmental change, but not a cause of evolution. Evolutionary processes are generally thought of as phenomena that directly change gene frequencies.

A broader view of evolutionary causation recognizes that niche construction biases the direction of evolution by systematically modifying selection.