chemical fairly common among species of ants) as a herbicide. By eliminating trees unsuitable for lemon ant colonies, these ants produce distinctive habitats known as Devil's gardens. Beavers build dams and thereby create lakes that drastically shape and alter riparian ecosystems. These activities modify nutrient cycling and decomposition dynamics, influence the water and materials transported downstream, and ultimately influence plant and community composition and diversity. Benthic diatoms living in estuarine sediments in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, secrete carbohydrate exudates that bind the sand and stabilize the environment. This changes the physical state of the sand which allows other organisms (such as the amphipod Corophium volutator) to colonize the area. Chaparrals and pines increase the frequency of forest fire through the dispersal of needles, cones, seeds and oils, essentially littering the forest floor. The benefit of this activity is facilitated by an adaptation for fire resistance which benefits them relative to their competitors. Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast creates a novel environment out of fermenting fruit. This fermentation process in turn attracts fruit flies that it is closely associated with and utilizes for transportation. Cyanobacteria provide an example on a planetary scale through the production of oxygen as a waste product of photosynthesis (see Great Oxygenation Event). This dramatically changed the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, with vast macroevolutionary and ecological consequences. Microbialites represent ancient niches constructed by bacterial communities which give evidence that niche construction was present on early life forms. Consequences As creatures construct new niches, they can have a significant effect on the world around them. An important consequence of niche construction is that it can affect the natural selection experienced by the species doing the constructing. The common cuckoo illustrates such a consequence. It parasitizes other birds by laying its eggs in their nests. This had led to several adaptations among the cuckoos, including a short incubation time for their eggs. The eggs need to hatch first so that the chick can push the host's eggs out of the nest, ensuring it has no competition for the parents' attention. Another adaptation it has acquired is that the chick mimics the calls of multiple young chicks, so that the parents are bringing in food not just for one offspring, but a whole brood. Niche construction can also generate co-evolutionary interactions, as illustrated by the above earthworm, beaver and yeast examples. The development of many organisms, and the