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9.1: Why It Matters- Plant Diversity

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    44643
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    Why differentiate between different types of plants?

    A photograph of a thistle before its bloom. The flower bud is surrounded by sharp thorn-like leaves.
    Figure 1. Plant life on earth is diverse

    Land plants evolved from a group of green algae, perhaps as early as 510 million years ago. The evolution of plants has resulted in widely varying levels of complexity, from the earliest algal mats, to bryophytes, lycopods, and ferns, to the complex gymnosperms and angiosperms of today. While many of the groups which appeared earlier continue to thrive, as exemplified by algal dominance in marine environments, more recently derived groups have also displaced previously ecologically dominant ones (for example, the ascendance of flowering plants over gymnosperms in terrestrial environments).

    The establishment of a land-based flora caused increased accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere, as the plants produced oxygen as a waste product. This rise in oxygen likely contributed to the evolution of life as we now know it.

    Plants make our lives possible. Without the glucose they create through photosynthesis, and the oxygen they release into the air, it would be impossible for human life to continue on.

    Contributors and Attributions

    CC licensed content, Original
    • Why It Matters: Plant Diversity. Authored by: Shelli Carter and Lumen Learning. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
    CC licensed content, Shared previously

    9.1: Why It Matters- Plant Diversity is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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