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CHAPTER 15 – END QUESTIONS • One of your friends says that we should stop using all paper and other wood products in order to preserve the environment, another friend says that we need to increase our consumption of them and especially during a bad economy – is there a balancing act between the competing demands of ecology and economy? if so, how might it work? • You are out in the ocean and you get caught in some seaweed, as you’re cursing what a rotten plant it is you suddenly remember that it isn’t a plant at all – what is it and how are plants different? • Imagine that you are a big bed of kelp floating in an ancient ocean – if you’re going to one day live on land how will you need to adapt? • You are admiring the beauty of a decorated pine tree during the holiday season and you get to thinking about the evolution of plants – what stage is a pine tree? how is it more advanced than the stage before it? how is it less advanced than the stage after it? • You visit Alaska and notice that in your location there are no trees growing, no bushes growing. There is some plant life there, however – what is it and why? • As you pump gas into your car you start wondering about where oil and gas come from – what kinds of fuels are these and what period is most responsible for their formation? • You’re in a garden store and you pick up a packet of seeds – why are seeds so remarkable? how did their evolution confer advantages to seed plants? • Flowers smell nice, fruit tastes good and both are brightly colored – why is this? what advantages are there to the plant in having flowers and/or fruit? • In addition to the moral and ethical reasons for conservation of plant diversity, what are some economic and ecological reasons that directly impact all of us humans?
