Do we need an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES)? Back in 2007 I argued for a positive answer in a paper published in Evolution. A few years later, with my colleague Gerd Müller, I co-edited an entire volume to attempt to map the territory of what an EES would look like. And now, with this blog and website, we have a new and exciting multi-disciplinary project devoted to the idea.
Niche construction refers to a process by which organisms modify their environments through their evolved traits, which in turn can feed back on the organisms themselves by modifying the selection processes they experience. Although the evolutionary importance and consequences of such niche construction is still debated, few biologists would deny its existence. The classical example of niche construction is the beaver and the dams that it builds, which have huge landscape consequences.
It is a privilege to study evolution in this tremendously exciting era. New ideas and data are flooding in and, to many of us, the findings are both exhilarating and challenging. Evolutionary biology has never been more vibrant.
