Additionally, plants can house animals or provide prey animals with cover and camouflage to prevent them from being over-hunted. They also help create a more sustainable ecosystem. The presence of plants moderates the temperature and mitigates the effects of the wind and sun. The plants in the rainforest keep the rainfall patterns in balance with the rest of the earth's ecosystem ("The Biology of Plants," Missouri Botanical Gardens, 2009).

Even when plants are not directly consumed for food, they can help sustain human beings. Plants hold the soil together and guard against erosion. Plant compost acts as fertilizer for the soil. Plants can be used as medicine in the form of herbs and other medicinal plant derivatives, or as products in the form of rubber, burlap, and cotton. Plants were and are the first source of warmth -- wood is necessary to heat an old-fashioned stove and to build a...
[ View Full Essay]