Importance of PLANTS, BIODIVERSITY, SUCCESSION and SUSTAINABILITY

A plant is a living thing that grows in the earth and has a stem, leaves, and roots.

Plants are really important for the planet and for all living things. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen from their leaves, which humans and other animals need to breathe. Living things need plants to live. They eat them and live in them. Plants help to clean water too.

The three main parts are the roots, the leaves, and the stem. Each part has a an important job to do to keep the plant healthy. The roots absorb water and minerals from the soil and anchor the plant in the ground.

Like humans and animals, plants need both water and nutrients to survive. Most all plants use water to carry moisture and nutrients back and forth between The roots and leaves

Plants provide all basic forms of life with food, water, medication, clothing, and shelter. They are the major source of oxygen and water on Earth, the main things needed for organisms to survive.

Plants provide humans, and other animals as well, with food. Fruits, vegetables, and grains all come from different plants. Livestock mostly consume cereal plants and grass, therefore, providing us with our meat as well.

One of the by-products produced by plants during photosynthesis is oxygen. Oxygen is essential for the survival of all living organisms.

The water cycle is also regulated by plants. Plants play the important role of purifying and distributing the water of the planet. Plants also aid in the movenment of water from the soil to the atmosphere through a process commonly known as 'transpirattion'.

One fourth of the medications prescribed include plants in their ingredients or come directly from plant sources. Medicines acquired from plants include aspirin, quinine, morphine, taxol, and many more. As well, there are thousands of herbal suplements available which are completely derived from plants such as Saint John’s wort, feverfew, ginkgo, and so on.

Biodiversity is the variety of living things in a given area.

Without Biodiversity, ecosystems grow unstable. For example, if there are only 2 species in an ecosystem, they will not have food sources, proper resources, and everythng will fall apart, as there is no way to maintain if an ecosystem is so plain.

Everything that lives in an ecosystem is part of the web of life, including humans. Each species of vegetation and each creature has a place on the earth and plays a vital role in the circle of life. Plant, animal, and insect species interact and depend upon one another for what each offers, such as food, shelter, oxygen, and soil enrichment.

In a healthy ecosystem, you need biodiversity especially in Food Webs. With more species, Food Webs can thrive because more biodiversity= more food sources.

Primary Succession: the establishment of a community in the area of exposed rock that does not have any topsoil.

when primary succession begins, there is no soil, and there are very few nutrients that are available to the organisms.

as organisms die, soil starts to build, and so does soil nutrients.

organisms from different species can then use the nutrients from the soil. they may also change the composition of the soil

the first organism to appear in primary succession was the pioneer species

bacteria

algae

lichens

plants

Ecological succession: the change in an ecosystem that happens when one community replaces another. it results in changes in abiotic and biotic factors.

climax community: the final stage of ecological succession

plant succession is important because the composition of plants within plant communities has three important influences:

How landscapes function for example, water cycle, nutrient cycle, soil formation,

The type and amount of products or resources and services society can develop and produce, and

Identification of management opportunities and hazards.

Secondary succession: the changes that take place in an ecosystem that has been damaged or in communities that have been destroyed but the soil has remained intact.

the stages of succession may occur over weeks in an area recovering from a flood or a natural disaster. in other areas succession may continue for over 150 years.

Sustainability is the ability to be maintained to a certain level or rate.

Sustainability is important now because now there's a lot more humans on earth, there's a lot more industries that put to much wastes in the earth. we also keep building more cities and roads witch take away our agriculture lands. another reason that changes have occurred is that we transfer a lot of foods/products from other countries witch is bad for the environment we need to use more regional products.

if clean water and good soil become rare enough all life on earth can become extinct. if sustainability does not happen, then ecosystems will change and alter in negative ways. some of our resources such as water may not be there. we rely on the earth if we cant make it sustain, generations to come will have a harder time living till there's nothing to live of anymore.

we need to use different energy sources that don't harm the environment. use every bit of energy we produce and not let it get lost. but even small things we can do for the environment would help a lot. if we could do more and different kinds of recycling and not put as many wastes in the earth it would make a big difference.

when plants are removed from ecosystems, their importance as the anchor for an ecosystem becomes evident.

when plants are removed from there ecosystems, their importance as the anchor for an ecosystem becomes evident.

soil erosion increases, water cycling changes and the habitats and and food sources for many animals are destroyed.

clear cutting, removing of forest or trees to make room for other uses

green house gas release

Greenhouse gas, any gas that has the property of absorbing infrared radiation (net heat energy) emitted from Earth's surface and reradiating it back to Earth's surface, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect.

pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change.

Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants

natural disasters

a natural event such as a flood, earthquake, or hurricane that causes great damage or loss of life

Hurricane, Typhoons & Cyclones

Earthquakes

floods

avalanches

agriculture

Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and raising livestock.

It includes the preparation of plant and animal products for people to use and their distribution to markets.

Agriculture provides most of the world's food and fabrics

maintaining natural ecosystems, such as forests wetlands and coral reefs and human made ecosystems such as agricultural systems is critical to the health of the biosphere.

Extinction is taken importantly because it can lead to ownfall for everyone.

As species disappear, infectious diseases rise in humans and throughout the animal kingdom, so extinctions directly affect our health and chances for survival as a species