Niche Construction and Hyperreality

I recently listened to an ethologist who, in a long conversation, talked about niche construction. This is when some kind of organism changes it's environment and, because of the inevitable changes, adapts and evolves along with it. Her example was a worm burrowing through the ground leaving behind it's excrement, thus changing the soil in which it has to live. Niche construction made me think of Baudrillard's hyperreality, but in a way that wasn't abstracted.

With Baudrillard there is the fear that the references will eventually become only a reference to the reference. Something that's ultimately absurd and nonsensical. If the concept has its roots in natural evolution though I wonder how much people could allow themselves to be tricked by the non-reality since it doesn't kick back. This doesn't mean that nobody will be fooled or influenced by potentially meaningless symbols, but, as a whole, it seems impossible. If the hyperreal or abstract symbols cease to be useful then evolution will most likely weed them out.