Why are plants important?

Plants and their habitats

A young girl walking through a field of flowers — Image caption,
Plants can grow in lots of different habitats

Plants are all around us, from trees to flowers, to fruits and vegetables and even weeds.

In some habitats, such as woodlands and rainforests, the plants are what make the habitat.

In some habitats, such as an urban habitat, plants fit in around everything else.

But why are plants such an important part of our environment?

Here are 10 reasons why plants are amazing:

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1. Plants are producers in food chains
Plants are producers, which means that they produce their own food. Plants are at the start of many food chains and provide food for lots of animals. Without plants, most of the living creatures on Earth would not be able to exist.
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2. Plants are a source of medicine
Many of our medicines come from plants, with lots of those coming from the rainforests. Over 30,000 different plant species are used to create medicines for a variety of treatments. New plants are being discovered all the time, so who knows what medicine might be found next?
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3. Plants provide us with wood
Wood from trees is a useful material that is used for many different things, including fuel to burn for heat, making things such as furniture, pencils and paper. Without trees we wouldn’t have any of these things.
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4. Plants produce oxygen
Plants make their own food in their leaves in a process called photosynthesis. As part of this they produce oxygen – the gas that humans need to breathe in to stay alive. If we didn’t have plants then there wouldn’t be enough oxygen to sustain us and lots of other animals.
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5. Plants help to protect our planet from climate change
As humans have burned fossil fuels (such as coal, oil and gas) to provide us with energy for heating and electricity, it has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. These gases trap heat inside our atmosphere making our planet hotter. The increase in greenhouse gases also traps the heat and makes our weather more unpredictable, which is why we are having much hotter and much wetter days – this is called climate change. Plants are great at taking in carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases, and turning it into oxygen.
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6. Plants help to clean up water
Plants not only help to take carbon dioxide out of the air, but they also take it out of water too! This helps to keep our water, such as lakes and rivers, clean. Their roots also act as little filters, taking out anything that is polluting the soil and water and leaving us with nice, clean water.
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7. Plants give us shade
Trees, particularly those that are large and fully grown, are a great sources of shade when the weather or climate is hot. In desert habitats large plants are a place where animals can hide to get away from the heat, and without these the animals that use them may not survive.
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8. Plants provide habitats for wildlife
In many habitats, animals live in the trees. Birds and squirrels build their nests in trees, a squirrel’s nest is known as a drey. Owls and bats roost inside hollow tree trunks. In a rainforest habitat boa constrictors live in trees and wrap themselves around the branches. Ants make their nests at the base of the trees. Underneath the logs of fallen trees there are microhabitats for insects such as woodlice, slugs and worms.
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9. Plants help to keep the ground stable
The roots of plants help to bind soil together, which is great on a hill or sloping ground where otherwise the soil might slide to the bottom of the hill. This is called a landslide and can be really dangerous. Plants also stop rain from hitting the ground hard by protecting it with their leaves, which stops the soil being moved around.
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10. Plants are great for wellbeing
Being around plants makes people feel calm and happy. It can reduce stress and lower peoples blood pressure which can keep them healthier.

Watch: A song about the importance of plants

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Listen to this plant as it sings about why plants are important.

Fascinating plant facts

A dandelion flower — Image caption,
A dandelion

All animal life relies onplants for either oxygen, habitat, shelter or food.
Planting more trees means that there will be more plants producing oxygen, which can help combat climate change.
Trees boost the biodiversity of living things in a habitat.
Wood is a renewable resource, meaning that we can regrow the trees to replace the wood that was used or burnt.
There are over 30,000 different plant species used in modern medicine.
Trees can live for many thousands of years.
In deserthabitats, large plants are a place where animals can shelter from the heat.

Important words

Important words you need to know about plants!

Climate change - A change in the usual weather conditions of a particular area, becoming either regularly warmer or colder than it would normally be.

Environment - The environment is the world, including plants and animals, the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives.

Habitats - A habitat is the home of an animal or a plant.

Food chain - A food chain shows how energy and nutrients pass from one organism to another.

Plants - Living things that grow from the soil and turn light from the Sun into food.

Producers - Producers are living things that produce their own food. They are the base of every food chain and provide food for the other animals.

Urban habitat – Where an animal or plant lives in human cities, towns and villages.

Tree stumps in a field — Image caption,
Trees cut down in a field

Did you know?

It is estimated that around 15 billion trees are cut down each year.

Now that we know how important plants and trees are, imagine the effect that cutting down so many trees is having on our planet.

Activities

Activity 1 – The importance of plants quiz

Activity 2 – Tree spotting

An illustration of dead leaves. — Image caption,
Dead leaves

The next time you take a walk around your garden, the countryside or your local park, why don’t you look for as many different plants as you can find? Trees make a good starting point.

You could: