Human niche construction

Front Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 2
Contents......Page 3
The entangled (and constructed) human bank......Page 4
Introduction......Page 5
Fundamental principles of niche construction......Page 6
Evolutionary consequences of niche construction......Page 7
Integrating human, biological and social sciences......Page 9
REFERENCES......Page 10
Niche construction and archaeology......Page 13
Archaeological signatures of human niche construction......Page 14
Material and methods......Page 17
Construction of archaeological taxonomic units......Page 18
Phylogeny construction......Page 19
Transition rate analysis......Page 20
Discussion and conclusion......Page 21
REFERENCES......Page 23
Developmental niche construction......Page 29
Behavioural modernity......Page 31
A sapient paradox?......Page 33
Accumulating cognitive capital......Page 34
Testing the model......Page 38
REFERENCES......Page 40
Introduction......Page 43
Methods......Page 44
Can a cultural niche-constructing practice drive itself to fixation, even when costly?......Page 47
Can cultural niche construction generate selection for costly gene-based traits?......Page 48
Can cultural niche construction favour the secondary hitchhiking of costly capabilities at other loci, expressed in more potent niche construction?......Page 49
Discussion......Page 50
REFERENCES......Page 53
Introduction......Page 56
General modification of vegetation communities: creating mosaics and edge areas, and resetting successional sequences......Page 58
Broadcast sowing of wild annuals: creating new stands of seed-bearing plants in river and lake edge zones exposed by receding high water......Page 59
Transplantation of perennial fruit-bearing species: creating orchards and berry patches in proximity to settlements......Page 60
In-place encouragement of perennial fruit- and nut-bearing species: creating landscapes patterned with point resources......Page 61
Transplantation and in-place encouragement of perennial root crops: creating root gardens and expanding the habitat of wild stands......Page 62
Landscape modification to increase prey abundance in specific locations: enhancing salmon streams and creating clam gardens, fishweirs and drive lines......Page 63
Discussion: a predictive model......Page 64
REFERENCES......Page 66
Concentration of wild plants......Page 69
Small-scale plant cultivation......Page 70
Burning of vegetation......Page 71
Hunting as niche construction......Page 72
Why did these activities not ‘take off’?......Page 73
The development of the agricultural niche: cereal cultivation......Page 74
The exporting of the farming niche......Page 76
Can farming form a stable niche?......Page 77
REFERENCES......Page 79
Niche construction, lactase persistence phenotype and genotypes......Page 83
Selection hypotheses on lactase persistence......Page 84
The advantage of being lactase persistent......Page 85
The spread of the Neolithic......Page 86
Evidence of the consumption of dairy products......Page 87
Spatial variation in selection intensity......Page 89
Demic and cultural diffusion of farming......Page 90
Simulation overview......Page 91
Demography and niche construction......Page 92
We thank two anonymous referees for their comments. P.G. and A.L. are funded by an EU Marie Curie FP7 Framework Programme grant (LeCHE, grant ref: 215362-2). Y.I. was funded by the B’nai B’rith/Leo Baeck London Lodge and Annals of Human Genetics scholarships. We also thank the AHRC Center for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity (CECD) and the Center for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology (CoMPLEX), UCL, for supporting this research.......Page 93
REFERENCES......Page 94
Gene-culture coevolution......Page 98
Gene-culture coevolution and the physiology of communication......Page 100
Altruism is an emergent property of human gene-culture evolution......Page 101
Conditional altruistic cooperation......Page 103
Character virtues......Page 104
REFERENCES......Page 105
Introduction......Page 109
Competition over control of resource......Page 111
Rule I: ingroup favouritism......Page 112
Rule II: prestige hierarchies......Page 114
Discussion......Page 115
Evolution of discriminate sociality......Page 116
I thank K. Aoki, J. R. Kendal, O. Kondo, J. Odling-Smee, J. Tehrani and two reviewers for their comments.......Page 117
APPENDIX C. Local stability of a population fixed with strategy A......Page 118
REFERENCES......Page 119
Introduction......Page 121
Marriage forms......Page 122
Economic development......Page 124
Demographic data......Page 125
Mathematical model......Page 126
Indirect effects on [Sigma]1......Page 127
Calculating the uxorilocal marriage rate......Page 128
Social mediation of the expression of cultural ideas......Page 129
Linking the model and the empirical data......Page 130
Discussion: relative effects on marriage form and cultural belief......Page 131
Modifying the model requires quantitative empirical data......Page 133
Appendix......Page 134
REFERENCES......Page 135
Inter-generational resource transfers......Page 138
Wealth and reproductive success......Page 141
The archaeological record......Page 143
Conclusion......Page 144
REFERENCES......Page 145
Introduction: niche construction in a complex society......Page 147
Niche construction or royal engineering?......Page 148
Feedback and the emergence of functional structure......Page 149
Discussion......Page 152
REFERENCES......Page 153
Back Cover......Page 156