• Question: What plant is effected most by humans and how ??

    Asked by anon-218621 to Richard, johnpaterson, Emma, Anna on 21 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Emma Markham

      Emma Markham answered on 21 Jun 2019:


      That’s a tricky question, it depends if you mean it in a negative or positive way. There are lots of plants which we farm and grow, which benefit from humans distributing their seeds and watering them and providing nutrients, we remove competition from weeds and other plants so that it can get enough sunlight, etc. This would include almost all fruit and nut trees, almost all crops, grasses and garden flowers.
      If we thing about plants we have had a negative impact on, this would probably include all weeds and plants we don’t think of as ‘useful’ or plants which are just in the way. For example, moss which is well adapted to growing on open rocks with no soil. So it finds tile roofs and patios a perfect habitat but we put chemicals on it to kill the moss. We are also cutting down large parts of the rainforest to plant Palm Oil plantations, so all those species, some probably unknown to science are being lost. The rising ocean temperatures and acidification is killing corals and phytoplankton. It’s hard to know which plant is most impacted.

    • Photo: Anna Gardner

      Anna Gardner answered on 21 Jun 2019:


      Human behaviour (e.g. deforestation or building of houses) can be very damaging to plants especially if they are very sensitive plants or only live in a specific area.
      A plant that is currently being quite damaged by humans is the Corpse Lily (called Rafflesia).
      This is a very smelly plant but it needs to be to attract insects to its flower.
      It lives in the Philippines. It used to be widespread all across the islands but now there is only a small population. This is because of people building houses and also building roads. This plant is sensitive and it requires insects and animals to pollinate it. However, due to the habitat fragmentation the flower is finding it hard to get the pollinators it needs. Luckily, a group of scientists have realised this and are trying to find ways to help this species get back to a healthy population size.

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