2. Synanthropes is a term applied to species of wild animals and plants
of various kinds that live near, and benefit from, an association with
humans and the somewhat artificial habitats that humans create
around them. Those habitats include houses, gardens, farms,
roadsides, garbage dumps, and so on.
3. The category of synanthrope includes a large
number of what humans regard as pest species.
It does not include domesticated animals.
Examples of synanthropes would be rodents,
sparrows, pigeons, lice, and other urban animals.
Domesticated animals such as cows, goats and
dogs are not described in this way.
4. In plants, 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:
1.Cultigen apophytes - spread by cultivation methods
2.Ruderal apophytes - spread by development of marginal areas
3.Pyrophyte apophytes - spread by fires
4.Zoogen apophytes - spread by grazing animals
5.Substitution apophytes - spread by logging or voluntary extension
5. 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 appears to thrive along
with the native flora indefinitely.
6. The oriental cockroach
often called "waterbugs" since they prefer dark, moist places. They can often be found around
decaying organic matter, and in sewers, drains, damp basements, porches, and other damp
locations. They can be found outside in bushes, under leaf groundcover, under mulch, and
around other damp places outdoors. They are major household pests in parts of the northwest,
mid-west, and southern United States.
7. The House Sparrow is closely associated with
humans. They are believed to have become
associated with humans around 10,000 years
ago. Subspecies bactrianus is least associated
The House with humans and considered to be
evolutionarily closer to the ancestral non-
Sparrow commensal populations. Usually, it is regarded
as a pest, since it consumes agricultural
products and spreads disease to humans and
their domestic animals. Even birdwatchers
often hold it in little regard because of its
molestation of other birds. In most of the
world the House Sparrow is not protected by
law. Attempts to control House Sparrows
include the trapping, poisoning, or shooting of
adults; the destruction of their nests and eggs;
or less directly, blocking nest holes and scaring
off sparrows with noise, glue, or porcupine
wire. However, the House Sparrow can be
beneficial to humans as well, especially by
eating insect pests, and attempts at the large-
scale control of the House Sparrow have failed.
8. Housefly
House flies feed on liquid or semiliquid
substances beside solid material which has
been softened by saliva or vomit. Because of
their large intake of food, they deposit feces
constantly, one of the factors that makes the
insect a dangerous carrier of pathogens.
Although they are domestic flies, usually
confined to human habitations, they can fly
for several miles from the breeding place.
They are active only in daytime, and rest at
night, e.g., at the corners of rooms, ceiling
hangings, cellars, and barns, where they can
survive the coldest winters by hibernation,
and when spring arrives, adult flies are seen
only a few days after the first thaw.
9. Opossum
Like raccoons, opossums can be found
in urban environments, where they eat
pet food, rotten fruit, and human
garbage. Though sometimes mistakenly
considered to be rats, opossums are not
closely related to rodents. They rarely
transmit diseases to humans, and are
surprisingly resistant to rabies, mainly
because they have lower body
temperatures than most placental
mammals. In addition, opossums limit
the spread of Lyme disease, as they
successfully kill off most disease
carrying ticks that feed on them
10. Brown rat
Likely originating from the
plains of Asia, northern China
and Mongolia, the brown rat
spread to other parts of the
world sometime in the Middle
Ages. The question of when
brown rats became commensal
with humans remains
unsettled, but as a species, they
have spread and established
themselves along routes of
human migration and now live
almost everywhere humans do.
11. White Stork
The nominate race of the White Stork has a
wide although disjunct summer range across
Europe, clustered in the Iberian Peninsula and
North Africa in the west, and much of eastern
and central Europe, with 25 percent of the
world's population concentrated in Poland, as
well as parts of western Asia. The asiatica
population of about 1450 birds is restricted to
a region in central Asia between the Aral Sea
and Xinjiang in western China. The Xinjiang
population is believed to have become extinct
around 1980. Migration routes extend the
range of this species into many parts of Africa
and India. Some populations adhere to the
eastern migration route, which passes across
Israel into eastern and central Africa.
12. XX Secondary School in Gdańsk
in Poland
Supervision: Agnieszka Jackiewicz
Consultation: Beata Piełowska
Authors: Michał Krawczyk, Artur Bystrzyński, Marta Szeliga
