Thus, communities in landscapes, species, and genes are the components of biological diversity. The Global Life Support System. The conversion of carbon dioxide and water into living material via the process of photosynthesis in green plants, is the basis for every other life process-the growth of plants, the production of crops, and the transfer of this energy along food chains to animals, including humans. The building and maintenance of soil fertility. The decomposition of organic matter and the recycling of key nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur in the soil is driven by animals, microbes, and fungi.
Plants protect the soil from excess erosion.
The regulation of the hydrologic cycle. Fresh water is recirculated among living material, the soil, the atmosphere, and the surface and ground water reserves. This is both a biological and physical process. The control and amelioration of climate. The participation of plants in the hydrologic cycle stimulates local and regional rainfall, and the vegetation creates microclimates in which other species can live.