Synanthrope

{{short description|Wild animal or plant that lives near and benefits from people}}

File:Pigeons and tourists.jpg intermingle with tourists in Venice]]

A synanthrope (from ancient Greek σύν sýn "together, with" and ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos "man") is an organism that evolved to live near humans and benefit from human settlements and their environmental modifications (see also anthropophilia for animals who live close to humans as parasites). The term includes many animals and plants regarded as pests or weeds, but does not include domesticated species. Common synanthrope habitats include houses, sheds and barns, non-building structures, gardens, parks, farms, road verges and rubbish dumps.

Zoology

Examples of synanthropes are various species of insects (ants, lice, bedbugs, silverfish, cockroaches, etc.), myriapods (millipedes and centipedes, notably the house centipede), arachnids (spiders, dust mite, etc.), common house gecko, birds such as house sparrows, gulls, rock doves (pigeons), crows and magpies, honeyguides, swallows and other passerines, various rodent species (especially rats and house mice), Virginia opossums, raccoons,{{Cite news|url=https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/09/delving-into-the-nocturnal-city-of-the-synanthrope/570352/|title=Night of the Living Synanthropes|last=Meier|first=Allison C.|newspaper=Bloomberg|date=24 September 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-09-06}} certain monkey species, coyotes,{{Cite web |url=https://www.gothamcoyote.org/ |title=Gotham Coyote Project - Studying NYC's Coyotes |website=Gotham Coyote Project |access-date=2021-01-31}}{{cite book |last=Flores |first=Dan |date=September 2017 |title=Coyote America: A Natural & Supernatural History |publisher=Basic Books |pages=193 |chapter=Chapter 6: Bright Lights, Big Cities |isbn=978-0-465-09372-4}} deer, and other urban wildlife.{{cite book |first=Elizabeth Ann |last=Johnson |author2=Michael W. Klemens |name-list-style=amp |title =Nature in fragments: the legacy of sprawl |publisher=Columbia University Press |year =2005 |page=212 |isbn=978-0-231-12779-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SqsP5gXdj4C}}{{Cite journal |last=Jarvis |first=Brooke |date=November 8, 2021 |title=Deer Wars and Death Threats |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/15/deer-wars-and-death-threats |journal=New Yorker}}Sofaer HR, Flather CH, Jarnevich CS, Davis KP, Pejchar L. Human-associated species dominate passerine communities across the United States. Global Ecol Biogeogr. 2020;29:885–895. {{doi|10.1111/}} geb.13071

The brown rat is counted as one of the most prominent synanthropic animals and can be found in almost every place there are people.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20716625|title=Are you never more than 6ft away from a rat?|last=Pritchard|first=Charlotte|date=2012-12-17|access-date=2019-09-06|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|url=http://synpreserve.com/|title=Synanthrope Preserve|website=synpreserve.com|access-date=2019-09-06}}

Botany<span class="anchor" id="Apophyte"></span><span class="anchor" id="Anthropophyte"></span>

Synanthropic plants include pineapple weed, dandelion, chicory, and plantain. Plant synanthropes are classified into two main types – apophytes and anthropophytes.

Apophytes are synanthropic species that are native in origin. They can be subdivided into the following:{{cite book|author1=Francesco Di Castri |author2=A. J. Hansen |author3=M. Debussche |name-list-style=amp |title =Biological invasions in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin|publisher =Springer|year =1990|page=52|isbn =978-0-7923-0411-1|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=z7y-Fo2RT8IC&q=Synanthrope&pg=PA52}}

Cultigen apophytes – spread by cultivation methods
Ruderal apophytes – spread by development of marginal areas
Pyrophyte apophytes – spread by fires
Zoogen apophytes – spread by grazing animals
Substitution apophytes – spread by logging or voluntary extension

Anthropophytes are synanthropic species of foreign origin, whether introduced voluntarily or involuntarily. They can be subdivided into the following:

Archaeophytes – introduced before the end of the 15th century
Kenophytes – introduced after the 15th century
Ephemerophytes – anthropophytic plants that appear episodically
Subspontaneous – voluntarily introduced plants that have escaped cultivation and survived in the wild without further human intervention for a certain period.
Adventive – involuntarily introduced plants that have escaped cultivation and survived in the wild without further human intervention for a certain period.
Naturalized or Neophytes – involuntarily introduced plants that now appear to thrive along with the native flora indefinitely.

Literature

Herbert Sukopp & Rüdiger Wittig (eds.): Urban Ecology . 2nd edition G. Fischer; Stuttgart, Jena, Lübeck, Ulm; 1998: p. 276 ff. {{ISBN|3-437-26000-6}}

References

External links

[http://synpreserve.com/ The Synanthrope Preserve]

Category:Plant life-forms

Category:Human ecology

Category:Ecology terminology