The Evolution of the Super-Constructors

Niche construction is the process through which organisms modify their local environments, thereby modifying natural selection and influencing their own evolution. Niche construction theory (NCT) is an emerging feature of modern evolutionary biology, and provides compelling evidence that niche construction is evolutionarily and ecologically consequential. Nowhere is this more true than for humans, who can aptly be caste as 'super-constructors'. In this talk I will describe how NCT sheds light on human evolution, and helps to explain our extraordinary capability to modify ecological and social environments.