Spatial distributions of niche-constructing populations
Date
2015-12-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Abstract
Niche construction theory regards organisms not only as the object of natural selection but also an active
subject that can change their own selective pressure through eco-evolutionary feedbacks. Through reviewing
the existing works on the theoretical models of niche construction, here we present the progress made on how
niche construction influences genetic structure of spatially structured populations and the spatial-temporal
dynamics of metapopulations, with special focuses on mathematical models and simulation methods. The
majority of results confirmed that niche construction can significantly alter the evolutionary trajectories of
structured populations. Organism–environmental interactions induced by niche construction can have profound
influence on the dynamics, competition and diversity of metapopulations. It can affect fine-scale spatially
distribution of species and spatial heterogeneity of the environment. We further propose a few research
directions with potentials, such as applying adaptive dynamics or spatial game theory to explore the effect of
niche construction on phenotypic evolution and diversification.
Description
CITATION: Han, X, Huang, Y. & Hui, C. 2015. Spatial distributions of niche-constructing populations. Computational Ecology and Software, 5: 286-298.
Keywords
Citation
Han, X.Z., Huang, Y.L. & Hui, C. (2015) Spatial distributions of niche-constructing populations. Computational Ecology and Software, 5: 286-298.