What Is Vegetation ?
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants, and is, by far, the most abundant biotic element of the biosphere. Vegetation serves several critical functions in the biosphere, at all possible spatial scales.
What Is Wildlife?
Wildlife" is a term that refers to animals that are not normally domesticated. They are a living resource that will die and be replaced by others of their kind. Individual animals cannot be kept beyond their life span. Wildlife include all plants, fungi, and other organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans.
Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands, and other areas including the most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. The term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, but much of wildlife is affected by human activities
Importance Of Plants
•Have you ever pondered
a life without our fellow plants? The ones that supply us with oxygen to
breathe, food to eat, and shelter to live in.
•Without plants we
wouldn’t even exist in this huge, busy world. In this fast growing world, with
rapid modernization, industrialization and the new developing technology, not
everyone seems to care for our green friends anymore.
Food:
We all require food to eat. But how do we get it? Plants are the main source of food for humans. Plants unlike humans and animals manufacture their own food .They do so by the process known as photosynthesis by use of sunlight.
Reduce Gaseous Pollution :- With the amount of automobiles we use today, its no surprise that the pollution level is extremely high. Without trees, the pollution level would be so high that it would be extremely difficult for us to breathe. In cities and towns, there is rise in gaseous pollution like (CO2, CO, SO2 etc.).
Clothing:- Plants are the largest providers of textile and fabric material. These materials are Eco-friendly, compatible and less expensive. They are extremely soft and easy to wear.
Medicines:- Plants are a great source of medicine even for life threatening diseases.For example drugs like
♦ Ginseng for vitality and immunity enhancement.
♦ Digoxin for heart failure (from digitalis plant)
♦ Vincristine for cancer (from vinca rosea)
Economic contribution:- Plants are contribute a lot to the economy. Many countries rely on agriculture for their economic growth.
Plants are responsible for production of food , cosmetics, drugs , cloth, honey gum, tannins, essential oils (perfumes), alkaloids, resins etc. which are all money yielding. So plants provide a great contribution to economic growth.on:
Importance of animals
Animals provide milk: Milk is the daily essential which is obtained only from animals. Animal that are used to extract milk are the cows, buffaloes, goat, camel and donkey. Milk obtained is used as a pat of daily diet, to make tea, coffee, ice creams, chocolates, sweets and also other products like baby food.
Animal hair: Animal hair has a great demand. The hair from goat and sheep is used for making woolen clothing, shawls and blankets. Similarly Horse hair can be used for bristles in small paint brushes
Medicine extraction: Animals are used to extract useful medicinal molecules. Though in the recent times mostly replaced by biotechnology, still there are some drugs which are especially obtained from animals. Example:- Heparin an anti-coagulant is used to control clots in blood is obtained from ox lungs and pig intestines. Even insulin was previously isolated for diabetics from buffalo and pigs.
Cultivation: In developing countries still they are used in large numbers for transport by bullock carts by farmers, for tilling the land etc. They are also used for pumping the water from river and ponds into the farms.
Meat: We consume many animals’ meat in the part of our diet. Though vegetarian diet is good for health, still we consume animal meat for individual reasons. Some of the animals used for the purpose are goats, sheep, camels, buffaloes (beef), pigs (pork), rabbits and many more.
Drug Manufacture: Animals like horses, mice are used for production of essential medicines. Horses are used to produce snake anti-venom which can rescue life of human when there is snake bite. Similarly, mice are used to produce variety of monoclonal anti-body production.
Environment: Animals help maintain the Earth's natural environments by predating upon plants and other animals, pollinating various plants, and exhaling carbon dioxide, which green plants require to live. Once they die, animals also serve as food for microorganisms and supplemental minerals for plants.Therefore, because of the above mentioned advantages we humans need to strive for animal welfare.
How Are Plants and
Animals Affected?
Acid rain harms living things:When acidic air pollutants combine with water droplets in clouds, the water becomes acidic. When those droplets fall to the ground, the acid rain can damage the environment. Damage due to acid rain kills trees .
The thinning ozone layer harms living things:
Air pollutants like chlorofluorocarbons(CFC's) have destroyed the ozone layer. The ozone layer located in the stratospheric layer of the Earth's atmosphere,shields our planet from the Sun's ultraviolet radiations. The areas of thin Ozone are called ozone holes .Ultraviolet radiation causes skin cancer damages plants.
Eutrophication: Rain can carry and deposit the Nitrogen in some pollutants on rivers and soils. This will adversely affect the nutrients in the soil and water bodies. This can result in algae growth in lakes and water bodies, and make conditions for other living organism harmful.
Disruption of food-chains:- Pollution disrupts the natural food chain as well. Pollutants such as lead and cadmium are eaten by tiny animals. Later, these animals are consumed by fish and shellfish, and the food chain continues to be disrupted to all higher levels.
CONSERVATION OF PLANTS
Conservation of biological diversity leads to conservation of essential ecological diversity to preserve the continuity of food chains. The genetic diversity of plants and animals is preserved. It ensures the sustainable utilization of life support systems on earth. It provides a vast knowledge of potential use to the scientific community. A reservoir of wild animals and plants is preserved, thus enabling them to be introduced, if need be, in the surrounding areas. Biological diversity provides immediate benefits to the society such as recreation and tourism. Biodiversity conservation serves as an insurance policy for the future.
