Plants and Life on Earth

Plants helps us in many ways..

Plants make food

Plants are the only organisms that can convert light energy from the sun into food.  And plants produce ALL of the food that animals, including people, eat.  Even meat.  The animals that give us meat, such as chickens and cows, eat grass, oats, corn, or some other plants.

Food: Everything we eat comes directly or indirectly from plants. Throughout human history, approximately 7,000 different plant species have been used as food by people.

Plants make oxygen

One of the materials that plants produce as they make food is oxygen gas.  This oxygen gas, which is an important part of the air, is the gas that plants and animals must have in order to stay alive.  When people breathe, it is the oxygen that we take out of the air to keep our cells and bodies alive.  All of the oxygen available for living organisms comes from plants.

Plants provide habitats for animals

Plants are the primary habitat for thousands of other organisms.  Animals live in, on, or under plants.  Plants provide shelter and safety for animals.  Plants also provide a place for animals to find other food.  As a habitat, plants alter the climate.  On a small scale, plants provide shade, help moderate the temperature, and protect animals from the wind.  On a larger scale, such as in tropical rainforests, plants actually change the rainfall patterns over large areas of the earth's surface.

Habitat: Of course, aside from humans' myriad uses, plants make up the backbone of all habitats. Other species of fish and wildlife also depend on plants for food and shelter.

Plants help make and preserve soil

In the forest and the prairie, the roots of plants help hold the soil together.  This reduces erosion and helps conserve the soil.  Plants also help make soil.  Soil is made up of lots of particles of rocks which are broken down into very small pieces.  When plants die, their decomposed remains are added to the soil.  This helps to make the soil rich with nutrients.

Plants provide useful products for people

Many plants are important sources of products that people use, including food, fibers (for cloth), and medicines.  Plants also help provide some of our energy needs.  In some parts of the world, wood is the primary fuel used by people to cook their meals and heat their homes.  Many of the other types of fuel we use today, such as coal, natural gas, and gasoline, were made from plants that lived millions of years ago. 

Medicine: One-quarter of all prescription drugs come directly from or are derivatives of plants. Additionally, four out of five people around the world today rely on plants for primary health care.

Plants beautify

Plants, because of their beauty, are important elements of out human world.  When we build houses and other buildings, we never think the job is done until we have planted trees, shrubs, and flowers to make what we have built much nicer.

Climate: Plants store carbon, and have helped keep much of the carbon dioxide produced from the burning of fossil fuels out of the atmosphere. shailesh kr shukla 167shailesh.bot@gmail.com