What is a synanthropic species? This concept refers to organisms whose existence is associated with human activities. If we consider animals, then this category includes species whose diet is based on household waste, human food. Since man and his lifestyle are a good source of food, synanthropic organisms rarely leave the settlements. Let's take a closer look at what these species are?
Combinant plants
Synanthropic plants are a rather heterogeneous group of organisms. They are divided as follows:
- Segetal plants - settle on plantations of cultivated plants and in the fields. Weeds make up the bulk. Some segetal plants have a clear attachment to a particular culture, without which they cannot develop, reproduce and exist in general.
- Ruderal plants - rarely found among crops. Most often they settle in waste dumps, wastelands, grow on the streets, nearroads, near dwellings. Unlike the previous category of synanthropic plants, they do not cause practical harm to humans, but only spoil the general appearance of well-groomed areas.
- Adventive plants are species that are transported by long-distance vehicles between remote regions of the planet. For this reason, they are often found near sea and river docks, airports, factories, railway stations. If there are suitable conditions for growth and reproduction, they can subsequently move into the category of ruderal or segetal plants.
Commercial insects
How did insects that belong to the category of synanthropes arise? It is noteworthy that initially it was a man who came to their house, occupying more and more new habitats. Some creatures such as spiders, black cockroach inhabited the caves in prehistoric times. Gradually, people learned to build their own dwellings. Together with them, insects also moved from primitive shelters. The reason for this behavior was the emergence of quick access to unlimited means of subsistence.
All insects that are considered synanthropes can be divided into several categories:
- Intra-urban - able to exist without leaving the boundaries of human settlements. However, they can inhabit not only houses, but also be outside them. These include ants, mosquitoes, flies, mosquitoes. With the onset of cold weather, the synanthropic insect species can climb into dwellings and spend the winter in secluded places.
- Intradomovye - liveexclusively inside houses. Vivid examples are the black cockroach, bed bug, flea, clothes moth.
What harm do synanthropic insects do to humans?
Obviously, living in the neighborhood is beneficial only to synanthropic insects, but not to humans. Most of these organisms are parasites that harm human he alth, destroy our homes, contaminate food, spoil household items, clothes, etc. Insects of this category are predominantly in contact with sewage, feed on decaying waste and therefore pose a danger in epidemiological terms.
Synanthropic animal species - main groups
Animals that belong to the category of synanthropes can be divided into several separate groups:
- Optional - rodents, small predators, some birds, which are only slightly dependent on humans. Such species try to avoid direct contact with humans. Most often they live on the periphery of settlements, in particular, they live in tree plantations, on crops of cultivated plants.
- Obligate - species that are seriously dependent on a person and his activities. Not able to exist outside of settlements. In the course of the development of civilization, such animals constantly followed humans, which allowed them to expand their habitats. Prominent representatives of obligate species are mice in the house, pigeons, rats.
Rodents
Among synanthropic animals, a speci althe place is occupied by rodents that have adapted to close proximity to humans. Despite their small size, they have good survivability in almost any conditions. Mountainous terrain, arid regions, cold, tropical climate - all this is not an obstacle to the growth of the rodent population, which is a synanthropic species.
The problem of mass settlement of such animals in human settlements remains relevant to this day. Mice in the house and rats began to live with us from the moment when a person began to thoughtlessly throw away waste near his own home. However, the phenomenon became widespread in the course of the development of agriculture, when people began to grow grain and raise livestock.
Animals in this category can be characterized as follows:
- Such rodents do not reach such an impressive size as their relatives that they live in natural, wild conditions.
- The diet consists mainly of cereals, as well as animal feed. In the absence of the latter, they are able to exist quietly, eating waste, greens. They can feed on insects, which also belong to the category of synanthropes.
- For a long time they live within the same human settlement. With the disappearance of the source of food, they are able to overcome quite impressive distances in large colonies in search of other suitable places where there is access to food.
- Able to regularly produce offspring, which allowed synanthropic rodents to flood the whole world.
- Like people, have quite complexrelationships in groups. Their conditional society is divided into hierarchical, social structures.
- Synanthropic rodents are absolutely not embarrassed by the close presence of people. In most rats and house mice, a person practically does not cause fear. The only exceptions are pets, which can be dangerous for them.
Combinant birds
The main feature of synanthropic birds is their sedentary lifestyle. They settle on the roofs of houses, build nests in parks, other green areas where there is close access to food. Today, there are separate species of waterfowl that no longer migrate to warmer climes with the onset of cold weather, but hibernate in ice-free sumps.
Why are synanthropic birds dangerous?
Species such as sparrows, pigeons and crows damage the architecture of settlements. However, the main danger is the spread of infections. There are several viral diseases that can be transmitted from them to humans, in particular avian influenza. Some outbreaks of epidemics of dangerous diseases among people are the result of migrations of synanthropic birds.
Microorganisms
Synanthropic microorganisms occupy a special place among the adaptive creatures of this plan. Most of them are pathogenic bacteria that can only develop in the human body. However, today you can also find a synanthropic type of microorganisms that are inseparably associated with the processesindustrialization. In particular, scientists are isolating bacteria that have learned to assimilate the decay products of various artificial polymers.
