Our planet is inhabited by people, animals, trees, herbs, mushrooms grow on it. But in addition to beneficial organisms, there are also harmful ones, such as parasites. Why are they harmful in some cases and beneficial 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 beings capable of producing organic substances, using inorganic ones. These include plants, the process of photosynthesis of which occurs with the help of light energy. Plants, using carbon, water and certain minerals, when exposed to chlorophyll, are able to synthesize organic substances.
Consumers
These are organisms that feed on ready-made organic matter. These include animals, humans, some microorganisms, plants. What are parasites? Based on lifestyle, they areconsumers. And they come in different types.
- Primary or first order. These include animals whose food is plants.
- Secondary or second and subsequent orders. They feed on animal food, but their diet also includes plant organisms, that is, primary consumers. This means that the parasites belong to them. Animals that consume organic matter are also consumers. They get most of their energy from the plants they eat. This is the beginning of the common food chain. Predators feed on the tissues of herbivorous animals, as well as weak carnivores. Parasites exist at the expense of other organisms, and these, in turn, are used by superparasites. Based on this, it follows that parasites are consumers. Microorganisms-reducers complete the food chain, returning organic matter to a mineral state. The energy flow at the same time gradually loses its strength.
Decomposers
This is a special group of microorganisms and fungi that break down the remains of dead plants and animals, turning them into water and carbon dioxide. Thus, parasites are microorganisms that complete this cycle and return the destroyed substances back into the atmosphere, but in a new state. This is how food chains are formed, which go from producers to consumers and decomposers.
Parasites are decomposers, as they fully correspond to their description and lifestyle. All food ingredientscircuits are closely related. They interact clearly: some absorb various substances, while others release them. Producers synthesize oxygen and organic substances, and consumers and decomposers feed and breathe them.
Heterotrophs
These are organisms that are unable to synthesize organic matter from inorganic matter. Therefore, other organisms produce it, and heterotrophs only receive it in finished form. Heterotrophs in communities are consumers and decomposers of various orders. Parasites are heterotrophs, which are also: humans and animals, plants and fungi, microorganisms incapable of photosynthesis. Some heterotrophic plants lack chlorophyll completely. These include rafflesia and broomrape, and some have retained some of it. For example, dodder.
Plants-parasites
What are they? Parasitic plants include 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 the juice from the host plants, which they feed on. To survive, parasites attach themselves to the roots and stems of cultivated and wild plants. By losing nutrients, host plants are severely weakened and unable to develop normally. They begin to lag behind in growth and wither away. Fruits do not ripen on such plants.
Parasitic plants include some varieties of dodder, such as clover and alfalfa. These weeds don't havechlorophyll and roots. With their long, flexible stems, they completely wrap around the host plant and penetrate into it. Stem parasites, which include dodder, suck out the juice until the plant is completely dried up. There are also root parasites, which include broomrape. It attacks the roots of sunflowers, tomatoes, tobacco, hemp.
Semi-parasitic plants
Their diet is also the nutrients of the host plant, to which the parasites attach themselves by roots or stems. But semi-parasites have the ability to photosynthesis. And yet, if the host plant dies, semi-parasitic weeds continue to live on it on their own. An example is mistletoe, which has chlorophyll and has the ability to photosynthesize. This semi-parasite obtains some part of the food on its own, letting suckers deep into the tissue of the host plant.
Mistletoe has many varieties, and almost all of them parasitize trees. Moreover, the mistletoe of the same species lives quietly on different trees. But in nature there are such subspecies that are adapted to any one type of tree. For example, if a pine mistletoe sprout settles on a pear tree and begins to destroy it, the tissues of the host tree will die, and the mistletoe will die.
Parasitic mushrooms
There are two thousand species in nature. In order to survive, parasitic fungi use donors. They are insects, animals, fish, plants. Mushrooms can be found in dead trees, animals, or fallen leaves. Parasitic fungi arerust fungi, smut, ergot. They infect potatoes, wheat, oats and other plants. This results in lower yields.
Parasitic fungi include Aspergillus and Cordyceps, which are inhabited by insects. In an infected bee, the mycelium of the Aspergillus fungus germinates quickly. This leads to the coating of the chitinous cover of the insect with a white shell. The bee is dying. As for the cordyceps fungus, this is even better: it settles inside the caterpillar, feeds on its insides and grows out. As soon as this happens, the caterpillar dies. The most harmful mushrooms are mushrooms and flakes.
Classification of parasites
It is based on various criteria. Let's consider some of them. By habitat, parasites are:
- Internal, settling inside the host organism.
- External, living on the surface of the host's body.
According to the time of parasitism during the development period:
- Permanent - have a detrimental effect throughout life. For example, this is Trichomonas.
- Periodic - appear in separate periods. For example, flatworms.
- Short-term - one or more times they encounter the host organism for a short time. It can be fleas, leeches, bedbugs, mosquitoes.
According to the relationship of the parasite with the host:
- Unconditional - the development of the parasite cannot be completed without an intermediary.
- Relative - parasitic at a certain stagedevelopment and life.
