These figures represent a tremendous loss to the health of the world's people, to agriculture, to industry, to grazing, not to mention the sheer beauty lost forever. When we think of saving endangered species from severe population loss or even from extinction, we usually think of endangered animals - birds such as the whooping crane, mammals such as the giant panda, or reptiles such as the crocodile. Yet many species of plants are struggling to survive as well. Wherever we look today, rare and potentially valuable plants are in danger of extinction. When we consider the benefits we derive from plants, it is clear that their needs for survival merit our attention, too.
Humans are among the many species whose food chain begins with plants.
We consume food in order to provide energy for our bodies. Like most other creatures on earth, we depend on energy captured from the sun's rays. Most of the energy we get this way comes to us by way of plants. They capture it in the process of photosynthesis and use it to grow. We then meet our energy needs and our nutritional requirements from the plants, either directly, when we eat the plants, or indirectly, when we consume animals who themselves have plants at the beginning of their food chains.