Journal
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 366, Issue 1566, Pages 927-934Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0308
Keywords
emergence; adaptive agents; evolutionary games; NRY haplotypes; Hegel
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation
- James McDonnell Foundation
- Yayasan Somia Pretiwi
- Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta Indonesia
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie
- Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci [1144405] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Human niche construction encompasses both purely biological phenomena, such as the evolution of lactose tolerance, and dual inheritance theory, which investigates the transmission of cultural information. But does niche construction help to explain phenomena in which conscious intention also plays a role? The creation of the engineered landscape of Balinese rice terraces offers a test case. Population genetic analysis and archaeological evidence are used to investigate whether this phenomenon emerged historically from trial and error by generations of farmers, or alternatively was designed by Bali's rulers. In light of strong support for the former hypothesis, two models are developed to explore the emergence of functional structure at both local and global scales. As time goes forward and selected patterns of irrigation schedules are implemented, local variation in rice harvests influences future decisions by the farmers, creating a coupled human-natural system governed by feedback from the environment. This mathematical analysis received a measure of empirical support when government agricultural policies severed the local feedback channels, resulting in the almost instantaneous collapse of rice harvests. The historical process of niche construction may also have included an evolution of religious consciousness, reflected in the beliefs and practices of the water temple cult.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available