Some Evolutionary Consequences of Niche Construction with Genotype-Environment Interaction

"Niche construction" is the ability of organisms to determine the environment they inhabit. Niche construction can occur through direct modification of the environment, habitat choice, or passive alterations to the environment, such as resource use or depletion. When organisms predictably alter the environment they inhabit, and when niche construction has a genetic basis, it can influence evolutionary responses to selection. Each component of evolutionary responses to selection-the strength of selection on a trait, the phenotype and phenotypic variance of a trait, and the genetic variance of a trait-can change with the environment. Examples of niche construction in plants are discussed, and a simple univariate model demonstrates that when niche construction alters phenotypic expression (via phenotypic plasticity) and the expression of genetic variation or heritability (via genotype-environment interaction), it can cause slower or faster responses to selection, less or more sustained responses to selection, or even negative responses to selection. In particular, genotype-environment interaction can counteract or augment phenotypic plasticity to the constructed environment in its effects on evolutionary responses to selection. Thus, genotype-environment interaction that results in environment-dependent genetic parameters influences evolutionary trajectories with niche construction.