PLANTS LIFE MATTER | By: Dr. OG OKON

No Plants, No LIFE!!

The importance of plants to humans and just about all other life on Earth is staggering. Life as we know it would not be possible without plants.

Why are plants so important?

Plants supply food to nearly all terrestrial organisms, including humans. We eat either plants or other organisms that eat plants. Plants maintain the atmosphere. They produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. Oxygen is essential for cellular respiration for all aerobic organisms. It also maintains the ozone layer that helps protect Earth’s life from damaging UV radiation. Removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere reduces the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Plants recycle matter in biogeochemical cycles. For example, through transpiration, plants move enormous amounts of water from the soil to the atmosphere. Plants such as peas host bacteria that fix nitrogen. This makes nitrogen available to all plants, which pass it on to consumers.
Plants provide many products for human use, such as firewood, timber, fibers, medicines, dyes, pesticides, oils, and rubber.
Plants create habitats for many organisms. A single tree may provide food and shelter to many species of insects, worms, small mammals, birds, and reptiles.

More than 100,000 natural compounds come from plants, and most of these have yet to be explored. Some of the most powerful and useful compounds come from plants. Who knew they could help us unlock some of the biology’s mysteries – all using an approach of mapping biological pathways.