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Concept
Hemerochory
Summary
Hemerochory (Ancient Greek ἥμερος, hemeros: 'tame, ennobled, cultivated, cultivated' and Greek χωρίς choris: separate, isolated) is the distribution of cultivated plants or their seeds and cuttings, consciously or unconsciously, by humans into an area that they could not colonize through their natural mechanisms of spread, but are able to maintain themselves without specific human help in their new habitat.
Hemerochory is one of the main propagation mechanisms of a plant. Hemerochoric plants can both increase and decrease the biodiversity of a habitat.
Hemerochoric plants are classified according to the manner of introduction into, for example:
Ethelochory: the conscious introduction by seed or young plants.
Speirochoria: the unintentional introduction by contaminated seed. Examples are the true chamomile and the cornflower.
Agochory: the introduction by unintentional transport with, among other things, ships, trains and cars. These plants are common in port areas, roadsides, stations and railways.
Chronologically the hemerochoric plants are divided in:
Archaeophytes: plants that were introduced before the onset of world trade around the year 1500, or before the year 1492 (discovery of America).
Neophytes: plants that were introduced later.
Anthropochory is often used synonymously but does not mean exactly the same. Anthropochory is the spread by humans. The spread through domestic animals does not belong to the anthropochoric, but to the hemerochoric, because domestic animals belong to the human culture. Strictly speaking, anthropochoric means the spread through humans as a transport medium. These can also be native species that were either adapted from the outset to locations created by human cultural activity or have adapted to them afterwards; As a result, their area of distribution has often, but not always, increased.
The term adventitious plants is sometimes used synonymously with hemerochory, but is often restricted to species that were intentionally brought into the area and then naturalized, sometimes also for species that have not (yet) firmly established themselves in their new habitat.
Official source
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