Karola Stotz

In 2014 she received the position of Senior Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Australia.

According to Stotz, the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis should go beyond the antinomy of biological vs cultural and revise more inclusive theories of gene-culture coevolution and niche construction.

Such a revised theory of evolution should take into account genetic, epigenetic (molecular and cellular), behavioral, ecological, socio-cultural and cognitive-symbolic legacies.

"[6] Stotz introduced the concept of Developmental Niche Construction as an integrative framework for the study of various non-genetic (exogenetic) inheritance mechanisms and for an explanation of how the environment (physical, biological or social) can construct new heritable variations during individual development.

This concept originated in the idea of the 'ontogenetic niche' introduced in 1987 by developmental psychobiologists Meredith West and Andrew King,[7] and theory of 'niche construction' presented by biologist John Odling-Smee in 1988.