Abstract
This paper explores the relationship of weeds and crop parasites within the domestication of crop-plants within the Old World, drawing predominately on China and the Near East. This relationship is explored using the concept of niche construction in which the act of cultivation sets about chains of feedback in which the ecological worlds of plants and humans became increasingly intertwined resulting in ever increasing spheres of interdependence. Into this domestication entanglement a number of peripheral organisms (termed parasitic domesticoids) were drawn, from the weeds which came to inhabit and arable fields, to the insect pests and rodents that came to settle with the grain stores of the first farmers. The evolution and spread of these organsisms is then outlined against that of the crop itself.
Highlights
There is no doubt that the suite of human activities involved in cultivation created environments that would not otherwise exist, and non-human organisms have adapted to these environments
These categories are not necessarily fixed for all time, as crops can become weeds and viceversa some weeds have become crops. These categories can be applied beyond the plants in the field, in that other organisms, such as rodents and insects can be considered in these terms. While terms such as synanthrope or commensal are often applied to such taxa, we suggest that parasitic domesticoid is more fitting, as these taxa have undergone adaptions that parallel domestication, making them increasingly dependent on the human created niche of agriculture and sedentism, and parasitic in that they derive their nutrients at the expense of the cultural food production
Concluding Remarks: the Agricultural Niche as Battlefield The examples explored above highlight how practices associated with Neolithic subsistence transformations opened up a niche for plants and animals to evolve into
Summary
There is no doubt that the suite of human activities involved in cultivation created environments that would not otherwise exist, and non-human organisms have adapted to these environments. While terms such as synanthrope or commensal are often applied to such taxa, we suggest that parasitic domesticoid is more fitting, as these taxa have undergone adaptions that parallel domestication, making them increasingly dependent on the human created niche of agriculture and sedentism, and parasitic in that they derive their nutrients at the expense of the cultural food production.
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