Organism and environment: ecological development, niche construction, and adaption

Over the past decade, advances in both molecular developmental biology and evolutionary ecology have made possible a new understanding of organisms as dynamic systems interacting with their environments.

This innovative book synthesizes a wealth of recent research findings to examine how environments influence phenotypic expression in individual organisms (ecological development or 'eco-devo'), and how organisms in turn alter their environments (niche construction).

A key argument explored throughout the book is that ecological interactions as well as natural selection are shaped by these dual organism-environment effects.

This synthesis is particularly timely as biologists seek a unified contemporary framework in which to investigate the developmental outcomes, ecological success, and evolutionary prospects of organisms in rapidly changing environments.

Organism and Environment is an advanced text suitable for graduate level students taking seminar courses in ecology, evolution, and developmental biology, as well as academics and researchers in these fields.

The Environmental Context of Development ; 2.

The Organism-Environment Relationship: Ecological niches, adaptation, eco-devo and niche construction ; 3.

Mechanisms of Plasticity: Eco-Devo pathways as environmental cue and response systems ; 4.

Ecological Development as Niche Construction: How plasticity shapes the environment an organism experiences ; 5.

Habitat Construction and Functional Feedbacks: How organisms modify their external conditions ; 6.

Community-level Consequences of Habitat Construction and Eco-devo Responses ; 7.

Natural Selection in the Light of the Organism-Environment Relationship ; 8.

Epilogue: Research directions and real-world challenges.

Contents: 1.

The environmental context of development -- The organism-environment relationship : ecological niches, adaptation, eco-devo, and niche construction -- Mechanisms of plasticity : eco-devo pathways as environmental cue and response systems -- Ecological development as niche construction : how plasticity shapes the environment and organism experiences -- Habitat construction and functional feedbacks : how organisms modify their external conditions -- Community-level consequences of habitat construction and eco-devo responses -- Natural selection in the light of the organism-environment relationship -- Epilogue. Research directions and real-world challenges.