Central questions in the domestication of plants and animals

Zeder, Melinda A.

doi:10.1002/evan.20101

Cited by 206 publications

(167 citation statements)

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“…Placing those particular behavior patterns that produced domesticates within the broader comparative context provided by other parallel human efforts at landscape management may offer clues to other relevant aspects of the process by which humans shifted to a greater economic reliance on domesticates. Ongoing consideration of why some species went on to have long and illustrious careers as domesticates while others did not 3,4,6,33 holds the promise of continuing to provide substantial new insights regarding the particular attributes and profiles of preadaptation that humans were able to recognize during broad-scale niche-construction auditioning for potential star performers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eight to ten centers of domestication are now recognized worldwide. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] These independent centers of domestication exhibit considerable variation in terms of climate, physical environment, biotic community composition, and human developmental history. As a result, they comprise a significant comparative data set of independent, parallel, regional-scale case-study situations with which not only to search for similarities, but to consider alternative explanatory frameworks for domestication.…”

Section: Regional and Species-level Approaches To Understand-ing Domementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These regional perspectives incorporate a range of different theoretical perspectives, including human behavioral ecology, macroevolutionary theory, and several processual approaches. 4,5,[27][28][29][30] These regionalscale models are also region-specific; they focus on the interplay of climatic, environmental, and social variables within specific natural and cultural-developmental contexts.…”

Section: Regional Scale Macroevolutionary Causal Explanations For Whymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each of the eight to ten environmentally and culturally diverse world regions currently identified as likely independent centers of domestication and agricultural origin exhibits a unique multiple-millennia sequence of domestication of different species. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Further evidence in support of the proposition that initial domestication occurred within broad strategies of resource management is provided by the diversity of human behavior patterns included under the general heading of ''domestication.'' For each of the hundreds of different species of plants and animals brought under domestication at widely scattered times and places around the world, human societies had to develop a unique, species-specific set of new behaviors.…”

Section: Domesticates Provide Evidence Of Niche Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication

Smith¹

2007

Evolutionary Anthropology

220

147

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Many animal species attempt to enhance their environments through niche construction or environmental engineering. Such efforts at environmental modification are proposed to play an important and underappreciated role in shaping biotic communities and evolutionary processes.1, 2 Homo sapiens is acknowledged as the ultimate niche constructing species in terms of our rich repertoire of ecosystem engineering skills and the magnitude of their impact. We have been trying to make the world a better place—for ourselves—for tens of thousands of years. I argue here that it is within this general context of niche‐construction behavior that our distant ancestors initially domesticated plants and animals and, in the process, first gained the ability to significantly alter the world's environments.The general concept of niche construction also provides the logical link between current efforts to understand domestication being conducted at two disconnected scales of analysis. At the level of individual plant and animal species, on one hand, there recently have been significant advances in our knowledge of the what, when, and where of domestication of an ever‐increasing number of species worldwide.3 At the same time, large‐scale regional or universal developmental models of the transition to food production continue to be formulated. These incorporate a variety of “macro‐evolutionary” causal variables that may account for why human societies first domesticated plants and animals.4, 5 This essay employs the general concept of niche construction to address the intervening question of how, and to connect these two scales of analysis by identifying the general behavioral context within which human societies responded to “macroevolutionary” causal variables and forged new human plant or animal relationships of domestication.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional and Species-level Approaches To Understand-ing Domementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional Scale Macroevolutionary Causal Explanations For Whymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Domesticates Provide Evidence Of Niche Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication

Smith¹

2007

Evolutionary Anthropology

220

147

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“…We know much about macroevolutionary features of this critical evolutionary transformation: the what, when, where, and who (Zeder 2006). We are rapidly learning about morphological, functional, and genetic features of domestication itself and how it occurred, from the perspective of selection pressure on domesticate phenotypes and plant and animal genetics ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Four Neglected Concepts with a Role to Play in Explaining the Origins of Agriculture

Winterhalder¹,

Kennett

2009

Current Anthropology

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Origin and Spread of Goat Pastoralism

Pereira

Amorim

2010

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Goats were the first wild herbivores to be domesticated in the Near East around 11 000 years ago at the beginning of the revolutionary transition from hunter‐gatherer to agriculture‐based societies. Ever since that time, goats have fulfilled a vital economic, cultural and religious role in many human civilisations. A collaborative research effort that integrates genetics and archaeology has vastly expanded our ability not only to detect the context, locations and timing of initial goat domestication but also to trace the migratory trajectories used by humans to spread this farm animal worldwide. The successful geographical diffusion and exponential growth of goat populations around the world clearly demonstrate the remarkable adaptability of this ruminant species to extreme climates and difficult terrains and offer an excellent opportunity to assess the rise and fall of human migratory and commercial networks during historical times. Key Concepts: Animal domestication was one of the most important events in human history. Goats ( Capra hircus ) were probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East around 11 000 years ago from the bezoar goat ( Capra aegagrus ). Studies of archaeological assemblages suggest that the transition from the hunting to the herding of goats was a long‐term process. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the most widely used genetic tool in the study of goat populations. The domestication of goats involved multiple maternal lineages carrying considerable pre‐existing mtDNA diversity. Goats were taken to nearly every corner of the world alongside humans in migratory movements. Goats are the most adaptable and geographically widespread livestock species.

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Central questions in the domestication of plants and animals

Cited by 206 publications

References 50 publications

Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication

Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication

Four Neglected Concepts with a Role to Play in Explaining the Origins of Agriculture

Origin and Spread of Goat Pastoralism

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