Our planet is inhabited by people, animals, trees, herbs, mushrooms grow on it. But besides beneficial organisms, there are also harmful ones, such as parasites. Why do they harm in some cases, and in others? Parasites belong to what, what is their classification? Read this article.
Producers
At the heart of any ecosystem are living and non-living organisms. The latter are called abiotic factors. Any biotic structure is impossible without producers - living creatures capable of producing organic substances using inorganic ones. These include plants whose photosynthesis process occurs with the help of light energy. Plants, using carbon, water and certain mineral substances, when exposed to chlorophyll, are able to synthesize organic substances.
Consumers
These are organisms that feed on prepared organic matter. These include animals, people, some microorganisms, plants. And what about parasites? Based on their lifestyle, they are consumers. And those are of different types.
- Primary or first order. These include animals whose food is plants.
- Secondary or second and subsequent orders. They eat animal food, but plant organisms, that is, primary consumers, also enter their diet. This means that parasites relate to them. Consumables are also animals that consume organic substances. They receive the main energy from the eaten plants. This is the beginning of the overall food chain. Predators feed on the tissues of herbivorous animals, as well as weak carnivores. Parasites exist at the expense of other organisms, and they, in turn, are used by superparasites. Based on this, it follows that parasites belong to consumers. Reducing microorganisms complete the food chain, returning organic matter to a mineral state. The energy flow in this case gradually loses its strength.
Reducers
This is a special group of microorganisms and fungi that destroy the remains of dead plants and animals, turning them into water and carbon dioxide. Thus, parasites belong to microorganisms that complete this cycle and return the destroyed substances back to the atmosphere, but in a new state. This is how food chains form , which from producers go to consumers and reducers.
Parasites belong to reducers, since they are fully consistent with their description and lifestyle. All components of the food chain are closely related. They interact clearly: some absorb various substances, while others emit them. Oxygen and organic matter are synthesized by producers, and consumers and reducers eat and breathe them.
Heterotrophs
These are organisms that are not able to synthesize organic matter from inorganic. Therefore, other organisms produce it, and heterotrophs only get ready-made. Heterotrophs in communities are consumers and reducers of various orders. Parasites belong to heterotrophs, which are also: people and animals, plants and fungi that are not capable of photosynthesis of microorganisms. In some heterotroph plants, chlorophyll is completely absent. These include rafflesia and broomrape, and some have retained some of it. For example, a dodger.
Parasite plants
What are they like? To parasitic plants are those that have lost the ability to independently form organic compounds, that is, to the process of photosynthesis. They do not produce chemical energy for their nutrition, but suck out the juice from the host plants, which they feed on. To survive, parasites attach to the roots and stems of cultivated and wild plants. Losing nutrients, host plants are greatly weakened and cannot develop normally. They begin to lag behind in growth and wither away. On such plants, the fruits do not ripen.
Parasitic plants include some species of dodger, such as clover and alfalfa. These weeds have no chlorophyll and no roots. They, with their long, flexible stems, completely wrap around the host plant and invade it. Stem parasites, which include the dodger, suck the juice until the plant is completely dried. There are root parasites, which include broomrape. She attacks the roots of sunflower, tomatoes, tobacco, hemp.
Semi-parasite plants
Their diet is also the nutrients of the host plant, to which the parasites are absorbed by the roots or stems. But semi-parasites have the ability to photosynthesis. And yet, if the host plant dies, the semi-parasite weeds continue to live on it independently. An example is a mistletoe that has chlorophyll, and it has the ability to photosynthesize. This semi-parasite extracts some part of the food on its own, releasing the sucker into the host plant tissue.
Mistletoe has many varieties, and almost all of them parasitize on trees. Moreover, the mistletoe of the same species lives quietly on different trees. But in nature there are subspecies that are adapted to any one species of tree. For example, if a pine mistletoe sprout settles on a pear and begins to destroy it, the tissues of the host tree will die, and the mistletoe will die.
Parasite mushrooms
There are two thousand species in nature. In order to survive, parasite fungi use donors. They are insects, animals, fish, plants. Mushrooms can be found in dead trees, animals, or fallen leaves. To mushroom parasites include rust fungi, smut, ergot. They infect potatoes, wheat, oats and other plants. This leads to lower yields.
Aspergillus and cordyceps belong to parasitic fungi, the place of settlement of which are insects. In an infected bee, the aspergillus mycelium grows rapidly. This leads to the coating of the insect chitinous cover with a white shell. The bee is dying. As for the cordyceps fungus, it works even better: it settles inside the caterpillar, feeds on its insides and grows outward. As soon as this happens, the caterpillar dies. The most harmful cap mushrooms are the mushrooms and flakes.
Classification of parasites
It is based on various criteria. Let's consider some of them. According to the habitat, parasites are:
- Internal, settling inside the host organism.
- External living on the surface of the host body.
By the time of parasitism during the development period:
- Permanent - have a detrimental effect throughout life. For example, it is Trichomonas.
- Periodic - appear in separate periods. For example, flatworms.
- Short-term - one or several times collide with the host organism for a short time. It can be fleas, leeches, bugs, mosquitoes.
By the relationship of the parasite with the host:
- Unconditional - the process of development of the parasite cannot be completed without an intermediary.
- Relative - parasitize at a certain stage of development and life.