Skip Navigation

American Zoologist 1981 21(4):845-852; doi:10.1093/icb/21.4.845
© 1981 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by PATTEN, B. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Environs: The Superniches of Ecosystems1

BERNARD C. PATTEN
Department of Zoology and Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602

Evolution proceeds by natural selection of heritable variations of individual organisms based on direct influences of environment. However, indirect effects probably vastly outweigh direct ones in ecosystems. Therefore, why is evolution based on direct effects only? The ecological niche represents the point of direct contact between organisms and their environments. To encompass indirect influences, niches are extended to new structures, environs, which are units of organism-environment coevolution. The motive force for coevolution is closure of outputs back upon inputs of the organism members of ecosystems. Closure is achieved by biogeochemical cycling and feedback interactions, direct and indirect, between organisms. To the extent that closure does not occur, there is no imperative for organism-environment coevolution. Coevolution at the system level based on indirect effects is compatible with normal evolution at the individual organism level based on direct effects. The organism is the unit of the latter, but environs are the unit of coevolution.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.