Mankind and plants: the need to conserve biodiversity

Only green plants can convert the single carbon units of atmospheric carbon dioxide into the multi-carbon organic molecules on which all forms of life depend. Only green plants can provide the oxygen required by man and other aerobic organisms. In addition to his basic need for preformed organic molecules and oxygen, man also depends on plants to provide him, directly or indirectly, with an array of specific compounds such as vitamins and essential amino acids. Inadequate supplies of these may hinder growth and development or give rise to well defined deficiency diseases. At the present time information concerning the distribution and concentrations of such essential nutrients in plants is largely restricted to those plants that are already used as human foods. Nothing or virtually nothing is known about the chemical composition of approximately 250 000 wild and little-used species. Amongst these there may be many that could provide us with cheap and plentiful new sources of essential nutrients that could be of enormous benefit to those suffering not only from full-blown deficiency diseases but also suffering sub-normal health due to partial deficiencies. The destruction of much of the world's wilderness areas has already deprived us of the opportunity to evaluate the contributions that a great many plant species might have made towards the elimination of deficiency diseases. Many plants used as human foods contain compounds that are toxic to man. If intake is sufficiently high, these toxins may cause disease. Breeding programmes designed to eliminate toxins from crops species or reduce their concentrations to acceptable levels depend on genetic variability within the species or the possibility of producing hybrids with the desired characteristics.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)