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

摘要: Niche construction efforts by small-scale human societies that involve ‘wild’ species of plants and animals are organized into a set six general categories based on the shared characteristics target similar patterns management manipulation: (i) modification vegetation communities, (ii) broadcast sowing wild annuals, (iii) transplantation perennial fruit-bearing species, (iv) in-place encouragement economically important perennials, (v) root crops, (vi) landscape to increase prey abundance in specific locations. Case study examples, mostly drawn from North America, presented for each niche construction. These empirically documented ecosystem engineering form basis predictive model outlines potential principles commonalities how worldwide have modified manipulated their ‘natural’ landscapes throughout Holocene.