Abstract
Unlike plants that were domesticated to secure food, the domestication and breeding of ornamental plants are driven by aesthetic values. Here, we examine the major elements of the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) theory that bridges the gap between the biology of ornamental plant domestication and the sociocultural motivations behind it. We propose that it involves specific elements of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE), plant gene–human culture coevolution (PGHCC), and niche construction (NC). Moreover, ornamental plant domestication represents an aesthetics-driven dimension of human niche construction that coevolved with socioeconomic changes and the adoption of new scientific technologies. Initially functioning as symbolic and aesthetic assets, ornamental plants became globally marketed material commodities as a result of the co-dependence of human CCE and prestige-competition motivations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 124-138 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Trends in Plant Science |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021
Keywords
- aesthetics
- cultural evolution
- extended evolutionary synthesis
- gene-culture coevolution
- ornamental plant domestication
- socio-cultural niche construction
- symbolic-material assets