Niche construction is the process by which organisms alter environmental states, thereby modifying the conditions that they, and other organisms, experience, and the sources of natural selection in their environments.

Organisms adapt to their environments through natural selection. However, they also modify natural selection through niche construction. In this way, they influence evolution.

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What is niche construction theory?

Implications for evolutionary theory

Philosophical implications

Implications for other fields

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?

Research perspectives