General patterns of niche construction and the management of ‘wild’ plant and animal resources by small-scale pre-industrial societies

Niche construction efforts by small-scale human societies that involve ‘wild’ species of plants and animals are organized into a set of six general categories based on the shared characteristics of the target species and similar patterns of human management and manipulation: (i) general modification...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2011-03, Vol.366 (1566), p.836-848
Main Author: Smith, Bruce D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animals
Animals, Wild
Annuals
Construction management
Cultural Evolution
Culture
Ecosystem
Ecosystem Engineering
Fruit trees
Human Niche Construction
Human societies
Humans
Indigenous Knowledge Small-Scale Societies
Plants
Predictive Modelling
Resource Management
Sustainable agriculture
Transplantation
Vegetation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Niche construction efforts by small-scale human societies that involve ‘wild’ species of plants and animals are organized into a set of six general categories based on the shared characteristics of the target species and similar patterns of human management and manipulation: (i) general modification of vegetation communities, (ii) broadcast sowing of wild annuals, (iii) transplantation of perennial fruit-bearing species, (iv) in-place encouragement of economically important perennials, (v) transplantation and in-place encouragement of perennial root crops, and (vi) landscape modification to increase prey abundance in specific locations. Case study examples, mostly drawn from North America, are presented for each of the six general categories of human niche construction. These empirically documented categories of ecosystem engineering form the basis for a predictive model that outlines potential general principles and commonalities in how small-scale human societies worldwide have modified and manipulated their ‘natural’ landscapes throughout the Holocene.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2010.0253