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GLOBAL BIOMASS. "Apart from bacteria, the total live biomass on Earth is about 560 billion tonnes C, and the total annual primary production of biomass is just over 100 billion tonnes C/yr. The total live biomass of bacteria may be as much as that of plants and animals or may be much less." And viruses? https://lnkd.in/dZ36EmZ) View in LinkedIn

TWENTY ONE PERCENT. "Plants, mushrooms, lichens, brown algae represent 359,297 species out of a known total of 1,730,725 or about 21% by number. Note that we have no idea of the majority of bacteria and viral species, and are still counting plants and animal species." https://lnkd.in/dAy6Fk6 View in LinkedIn

TRANSPIRATION. "A new study estimates that 80 to 90 percent of the atmospheric water vapor originating from Earth's continents comes from plant transpiration rather than simple physical evaporation. This process uses up almost half of the solar energy absorbed by our landmasses and represents a major piece of our terrestrial climate system." https://lnkd.in/dKcjbbW View in LinkedIn

Marly limestone sculpture, Girona. View in LinkedIn

GLOBAL PHOTOSYNTHESIS. "The team revised the rate of global photosynthesis upward. The rate is expressed in terms of how much carbon is processed by plants in a year. From the previous estimate of 120 petagrams of carbon a year, the team set the annual rate between 150 and 175 petagrams.” (One petagram equals one trillion kilograms). https://lnkd.in/dzpW9-Q View in LinkedIn

INEVITABLE. "Swiss Government's Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology concludes that plants have rights, and we have to treat them appropriately. A majority of the panel concluded that "living organisms should be considered morally for their own sake because they are alive." https://lnkd.in/dgH-auZ View in LinkedIn

DIFFERENT TIME SCALES. "Midwinter, and the countryside is so still, it seems almost lifeless. But these trees and bushes and grasses around me are living organisms just like animals. And they have to face very much the same sort of problems as animals face throughout their lives if they're to survive. They have to fight one another, they have to compete for mates, they have to invade new territories. But the reason that we're seldom aware of these dramas is that plants of course live on a different time-scale." (David Attenborough). https://lnkd.in/dUFDzhT View in LinkedIn

IT IS INTERESTING how often we need to re-read Thomas Khun's book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Scientists never have liked innovative and disruptive thinking, and Copernicus, Kepler, Darwin and Einstein are not alone. The list grows. A new way of looking at plants is emerging, challenging the old perception that these are essentially unsophisticated life forms. Enjoy the ride. https://lnkd.in/d5XhCtX View in LinkedIn

CONNECTION through nature. " "“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower " "Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees " "Is my destroyer.”" "Dylan Thomas https://lnkd.in/dEkmDe2 View in LinkedIn