The niche construction perspective was originally introduced into evolutionary biology through the pioneering writings of Conrad Waddington and Richard Lewontin. The perspective is encapsulated in the below quote:
The organism influences its own evolution, by being both the object of natural selection and the creator of the conditions of that selection.
– Levins and Lewontin 1985, p. 106
From a niche construction standpoint, organisms are viewed as co-directing their own evolution. Through their activities, organisms modify selection acting on themselves and other species that share their environment. Evolution thus entails networks of causation and feedback in which niche-constructing traits are favoured by natural selection, and environments modified through niche construction subsequently become sources of natural selection for further changes (Odling-Smee 1988, Odling Smee 2024).
Here, environmental modification by organisms (“niche construction”), and its legacy over time (“ecological inheritance”), are explicitly recognized to be evolutionary processes: that is, they cause evolutionary change by acting as sources of modified selection, as well as of modified phenotypes. The addition of niche construction to the processes of evolution changes what evolutionary theory is about. It’s no longer just about the evolution of organisms. It is now about the co-evolution of organisms with their environments.
However, niche construction is not restricted to the biological adaptations of organisms, but also stems from their developmental plasticity, their by-products, and their acquired characters. Organisms are viewed as active agents that impose order on the conditions of their existence, and direction on their development and evolution.
The niche construction perspective is intellectually aligned with other movements within evolutionary biology, including ‘developmental systems theory’ (Oyama et al., 2001), the active role of behavior in evolution (Bateson, 1988; Duckworth 2009), an emphasis on developmental plasticity (West-Eberhard, 2003), and calls for an extended evolutionary synthesis (Laland et al, 2015).
Odling-Smee J 2024. Niche Construction. How Life Contributes to its own Evolution. MIT Press. Odling-Smee’s new book – which touches on climate change, war, religion and the extended evolutionary synthesis – summarises the latest in niche construction theory in a readable form.
Lewontin RC. 1983. Gene, organism, and environment. In: Bendall DS, ed. pp. 273-285. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press This accessible essay introduces the niche construction perspective and critiques conventional evolutionary approaches to adaptation.
Lewontin RC. 2000. The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Another readable introduction to the niche-construction perspective by the pioneer of this way of thinking.
Odling-Smee FJ, Laland KN, Feldman MW. 1996. Niche construction. American Naturalist. 147:641–648 A brief, but non-technical, introduction to niche construction for evolutionary biologists.
Odling-Smee FJ, Laland KN, Feldman MW 2003. Niche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press An authoritative, rigorous and extensive introduction to niche construction theory.
Sultan SE 2015. Organism & environment: Ecological development, niche construction, and adaptation. Oxford: Oxford University Press The most up-to-date authoritative and comprehensive treatment of niche construction, packed with empirical examples, particularly in plants and animals.
