	In recent years, more and more people have become interested in preventing extinction of plants and animals and maintaining the health of the environment, both for reasons of personal interest and because ecosystems provide many valuable services to humans (providing oxygen and fresh water, clean air, etc.). There are many threats to wildlife which an understanding of vegetation distribution can help to mitigate. For example, when setting aside habitat for a particular species of animal, knowing what vegetation types are required is critical. Protecting a large tract of sagebrush won't necessarily benefit game birds unless it is interspersed with shrubland or woodland to provide seasonal cover and food, which vary by species. Understanding how an area may be expected to respond to grazing can improve management; the southern mixed prairie vegetation type is adapted to grazing, but long-term heavy grazing is likely to alter the balance of short and tall grasses, which in turn affects the quality of habitat for any species of wildlife that requires tall grass for cover. 
	Additionally, the susceptibility of an ecosystem to invasive species is partly determined by vegetation type, which in turn is largely determined by climate. If there is going to be development in an area that includes both Ponderosa pine and shortgrass steppe, disturbance could be concentrated in the more invasive-resistant grassland. Similarly, fire suppression activities could be increased in ecosystems like sagebrush steppe which become more vulnerable to invasive grasses when fire return interval is too short, while decreasing fire suppression in Great Basin sage to help prevent its conversion to pinon-juniper woodland. A greater understanding of vegetation type and climate helps land managers to maximize benefits to native wildlife and target habitat protection to the most critical areas.
	There are few certainties about the climate change associated with increased global temperature, but one thing is for sure: any change in climate will impact vegetation type and distribution. We currently have a fairly good idea of what to expect in terms of precipitation and temperature in crop-growing areas, but that will change. As the human population increases, ever more food needs to be produced. It is thought that the global population will top 8 billion by 2030, and as standards of living improve throughout the world and people consume more food (especially meat), food production will need to keep up. However, most of the arable land in the world has already been cultivated. What remains is marginal for crops, or is currently covered by rainforest, and most countries are now attempting to limit the destruction of their forest resources. Therefore, food production needs to become more efficient so greater yields can be gotten from the same amount of land, or even less land,  as a growing population takes up more living space. But with climate change, land that is productive may become too arid or too warm for the crops currently grown there. 