Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
; 366(1566): 785-92, 2011 Mar 27.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21320894
ABSTRACT
Niche construction is an endogenous causal process in evolution, reciprocal to the causal process of natural selection. It works by adding ecological inheritance, comprising the inheritance of natural selection pressures previously modified by niche construction, to genetic inheritance in evolution. Human niche construction modifies selection pressures in environments in ways that affect both human evolution, and the evolution of other species. Human ecological inheritance is exceptionally potent because it includes the social transmission and inheritance of cultural knowledge, and material culture. Human genetic inheritance in combination with human cultural inheritance thus provides a basis for gene-culture coevolution, and multivariate dynamics in cultural evolution. Niche construction theory potentially integrates the biological and social aspects of the human sciences. We elaborate on these processes, and provide brief introductions to each of the papers published in this theme issue.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Ecossistema
/
Estudos Interdisciplinares
/
Atividades Humanas
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2011
Tipo de documento:
Article