"We humans are increasingly aware of the way our activities are
altering our environment. We rarely reflect, however, that the
entire evolutionary history of life on earth is written essentially
in terms of organism' modification of their environment, and
responses to the subsequent changes. This book is a wonderful
exploration of this strangely neglected topic, opening new vistas
on how organisms--including humans--construct ecological niches
over evolutionary time. After developing a basic theoretical
framework, the authors first indicate applications of these new
ideas to evolutionary biology, to ecology, and to the human
sciences. They even risk some testable predictions. I think this
book is a 'must read.'"--Robert M. May, University of Oxford
"There has been a growing understanding in biology that
organisms do not simply 'adapt' to preexisting environments, but
that they actively change and construct the world in which they
live. Not until "Niche Construction," however, has that
understanding been turned into a coherent structure that brings
together the observations about natural history and an exact
dynamical theory. The sobriquet, 'landmark' is casually used to
press the virtues of books, but seldom can it be taken seriously,
Niche Construction really is a landmark book."--Richard Lewontin,
Harvard University
"If the amount of attention warranted by this book is paid to
it, the result should be a massive reorientation of evolutionary
theory."--David Hull, Northwestern University
"This ambitious book tackles a problem of fundamental importance
in science: the whole-hearted synthesis of the disciplines of
ecology and evolution. The marriage of these two has often
beenannounced, but the consummation of the union is long
overdue."--Robert D. Holt, University of Florida
"Organisms are affected by the world in which they live but also
influence that world. Importantly, they may play an active role in
constructing the ecological niche into which they fit. This
construction process inevitably affects the evolution of their
descendants. Odling-Smee, Laland, and Feldman have provided the
first full-length treatment of an intensely absorbing topic which
deserves the close attention of anybody interested in
evolution."--Patrick Bateson, The Provost's Lodge, King's College,
Cambridge
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