Biology for Christians essays

Biology for Christians essays The Plantae includes all land plants: mosses, ferns, conifers, flowering plants, and so on-an amazing range of diverse forms. With more than 250,000 species, they are second in size only to the arthropoda. The most striking, and important, feature of plants is their green color, the result of a pigment called chlorophyll. Plants use chlorophyll to capture light energy, which fuels the manufacture of food-sugar, starch, and other carbohydrates. Without these food sources, most life on earth would be impossible. There would still be mushrooms and algae, but there would be no fruits, vegetables, grains, or any animals (which ultimately rely on plants for their food too!) Another important contribution of plants is their shaping of the environment. Think of a place without plants. The only such places on earth are the arctic wastelands, really arid deserts, and the deep ocean. Everywhere else, from the tundra to the rainforest to the desert, is populated by plants. In fact, when we think of a particular landscape, it is the plants which first come to mind. Try to picture a forest without trees, or a prairie without grasses. It is the plants which produce and maintain the terrestrial environment as we know it. The ferns are an ancient lineage of plants, dating back to at least the Devonian. They include three living groups Marattiales, Ophioglossales, and leptosporangiate ferns as well as a couple of extinct groups. An additional group, the Psilotales, is tentatively included in the ferns, though the group is so vastly different from living ferns that no one is really certain of its relationships. If you have ever stopped to smell the roses, then you are familiar with the largest group of plants, the Anthophyta. The distinctive feature of this group is the flower, a cluster of highly-specialized leaves which participate in reproduction. Not all flowers are as conspicuous as the Magnolia blosso ...