Plants feed us, dress, warm, delight the eye in room collections, bouquets and floral arrangements. The species that make up the green decoration of our planet are capable of forming organic compounds with the release of oxygen into the Earth’s atmosphere. Great importance of plants in human life, in nature, the economic activities of the population. Consider the main areas of practical use and the cognitive role of this large group of living organisms.
Green miracle of nature
Plants can be found everywhere: in a forest, field, at the bottom of the ocean, in a drop of water and on top of a mountain. Among this group of living creatures, unicellular and multicellular organisms stand out. The science that studies plants, their structure, distribution, and systematics is botany. The totality of all plant species that are found in a certain area is flora.
There are three life forms. They differ in appearance: trees, shrubs and grasses. Different life spans are characteristic for annuals, biennials, and perennials. There is a large group of spore-forming organisms on Earth - these are algae, mosses, moths, ferns. Seeds include gymnosperms and flowering. These plants have been used by man since time immemorial.
Russian scientist K. A. Timiryazev wrote that green cells act as "Prometheus who stole fire from heaven." The rays of the Sun seem to be preserved in the energy created by plants of organic substances. Timiryazev, who studied chlorophyll and the role of plants in nature and human life, called the green inhabitants of the planet "intermediaries between heaven and earth." The scientist implied the process of formation of sugar and starch in green cells - photosynthesis. This Greek word in translation means "connection in the world" and refers to a special way of eating - autotrophic. Autotroph living creatures create organic compounds from inorganic substances using the energy of light (the Sun or artificial light). Organisms of humans and animals are not adapted to such a process, therefore, they need plants.
Photosynthesis
The roots absorb water and mineral salts from the soil, carbon dioxide from the air penetrates through microscopic holes in the leaves. These inorganic substances as a result of chemical reactions of photosynthesis are part of sugar and starch. The process determined the enduring importance of plants in nature and human life. The essence of photosynthesis is reflected in the scheme: 6CO 2 + 6H 2 O → C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6O 2 . Other chemical reactions occur in plants, various substances are formed (starch, cellulose, proteins, fats, lignin, vitamins, resins, and many others). They are consumed by the plant itself, are important in the diet and treatment of man, his four-legged friends - animals.
The role of plants in nature and human life
Autotrophic creatures are important for all life on Earth. The value of plants is determined by the following features of chemical processes in green cells:
- the way in which it is absorbed is used for the reaction of light energy;
- the release of oxygen necessary for the respiration of humans, animals and the plants themselves;
- the formation of organic substances;
- carbon dioxide absorption, the high content of which is harmful to humans and animals.
On Earth, there is an exchange of substances and energy in individual communities and on a global scale. There are short and long food chains, they form a food network:
- forest grass → hare → fox;
- nectar and pollen of flowers → bees → beetle (bird);
- clover → calf → man.
The importance of green plants in nature and human life is participation in the cycles of water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other compounds. For example, multicellular living things are not capable of assimilating nitrogen molecules from air and soil. The element is necessary to create protein - the most important “building material” and nutrient.
Nodules are formed on the roots of legumes, consisting of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. They absorb nitrogen, which is contained in the air that fills the voids in the soil, turn it into compounds available for legumes. This symbiosis is a useful collaboration between different living things. When plants die off, the soil is enriched with nitrogen compounds, they can be absorbed by living roots. For humans, legumes are an important source of protein. In agriculture, they are used as green fertilizer.
Green plants and air composition
The importance of plants in nature and human life is very diverse. Thus, photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and transpiration (the release of water vapor by leaves) affect the composition of the air. Evaporation helps the green body protect itself from overheating. Thanks to plants, the air is more fresh, clean, cool and humid:
- green cells in the light absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen;
- leaves are capable of transpiration, regulate the content of water vapor in the ambient air;
- plants retain dust, soot and other impurities harmful to humans;
- volatile leaves secreted by pathogens.
The cognitive value of plants in human life
Fossil remains of spores, pollen, leaf prints and petrified wood allow scientists to find out what nature was like millions of years ago, to draw conclusions about changes in life on Earth. The tree rings can be used to judge the climate in different years. There are barometer plants, they bloom in sunny weather and close the flowers before a bad weather. Drops of water appear on the leaves of calla lilies, balsam before rain. Plants are often used in experiments by representatives of various branches of science. For example, environmentalists, studying the chemical composition of cells and tissues, judge the environmental pollution.
Plants serve as material for breeding work, for the study of methods of transmission of hereditary information. There are curious cases when plants were inadvertently used in experiments and made important discoveries. For example, the Englishman Robert Boyle accidentally opened the indicators by dropping chemicals on garden violets in a vase. Plants serve as a prototype for the creation of complex technical devices, engineering structures (bionics).
Plants and industry
Green cells act as storage batteries for solar energy. It is stored in the chemical bonds of organic molecules. Forests that covered the earth in distant geological epochs gave rise to coal deposits. Fossil products of photosynthesis also include oil, peat, natural gas, oil shale.
The variety of plants, the importance of plants in human life are associated with widespread use in the food, forest chemical, pulp and paper, textile, pharmaceutical and other industries. Logging products are valuable raw materials for the production of furniture, building materials, hydrolysis alcohol, camphor and other substances. According to conservative estimates, mankind knows 20 thousand ways to use wood. The most ancient ones are burning for heat, construction of buildings, fences, and paper production.
Valuable raw materials for industry are fibrous crops (cotton, flax, jute, hemp and others). The source of natural rubber is the tropical tree of Hevea. Perfumes, cosmetics can not do without essential oil plants.
Agriculture and landscaping
The importance of plants in human life is associated with the use in food, for food production, decoration of settlements and premises. The following groups are distinguished by types of agricultural use:
- cereals (wheat, rice, barley, rye, corn and others);
- legumes (peas, soybeans, beans, beans);
- fruit and berry (apple tree, cherry, currant, raspberry and others);
- sugar (sugarcane, sugar beets);
- vegetable (tomato, cucumber, pepper and others);
- oilseeds (sunflower, rapeseed, flax);
- decorative (lilac, rose, chrysanthemum, aster and others).
Cereals and legumes
The nutritional value of plants in human life is difficult to overestimate. Scientists estimate that about 2/3 of the diet of the population of different countries are products of plant origin. Useful substances include proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, organic acids.
Plants are eaten fresh or processed whole or only parts of them. A significant concentration of nutrients is observed in cereal grains. It is a universal source of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. From grains get flour for baking bakery products, produce pasta and cereal products. Leguminous seeds are valued in cooking and dietary nutrition.
Vegetables, fruit and sugar crops
Plants accumulate organic compounds in reserve in fruits, bulbs and tubers, less often in stems, leaves and rhizomes. The importance of plants in human life and nutrition is determined by the set of compounds that are stored in juicy parts. Most cellular juice with vitamins and other dissolved substances is found in fruits, bulbs, tubers and leaves of vegetables, fruit trees and berry crops.
During heat treatment, some valuable compounds are destroyed, such as vitamins. Therefore, dietitians recommend consuming more fresh vegetables and fruits. There are groups of people who have completely switched to eating plants - vegetarians and vegans.
The value of plants in human life lies in the richness of the vitamin set. Fruits, leaves, rhizomes and seeds contain many important compounds. Most of all in plants are vitamins, which belong to groups A, B, C, E, K. These are substances that regulate the metabolism in the green body, as well as in the human body, animal. The absence or lack of biological catalysts leads to disease. For example, the lack of vitamin C, which is rich in fresh vegetables and fruits, causes damage to the gums and the entire human body - scurvy. It is difficult to deal with hypo- and vitamin deficiencies, it is easier to prevent these unwanted conditions by consuming fresh plant products.
They grow cultures that accumulate a significant amount of sweet juice in organs; it is concentrated, evaporated and sugar is obtained. Fatty acids of seeds and fruits are important as components of edible oils. Wine, beer, tea, coffee, cocoa and fruit juices are obtained from fruits, berries, vegetables, seeds and leaves.
Medicinal plants
In addition to the above areas that characterize the role of plants in human life, there is an alternative medicine that uses wild and cultivated species. Medicinal plants contain medically important compounds:
- alkaloids and glycosides - have a regulatory effect on the activity of organs and systems;
- tannins - have astringent and antimicrobial properties;
- vitamins and minerals - indispensable for metabolism;
- essential oils - have anti-inflammatory and disinfectant effects;
- organic acids - affect digestion, skin condition, hair;
- flavonoids - regulate the strength of blood vessels;
- volatile - act against microbes.
Thus, the role of plants in human life lies in the ability to synthesize substances necessary for life. Medicines derived from plant materials are softer, rarely have side effects, compared with synthetic substances. The healing properties are inherent in hundreds of representatives of the flora, the following types are especially valued:
- European birch (buds, leaves, birch bark, juice);
- cinnamon rose hips (false fruits);
- large plantain (leaves);
- Valerian officinalis (root);
- pharmaceutical chamomile (inflorescences);
- small-leaved linden (flowers).
Without plants, the existence of mankind is unthinkable, therefore the green decoration of the planet needs rational use, respect and renewal.