Evolutionary history is a powerful means to evince significant levels of plant services for humankind

Abstract The divergent nature of evolution suggests that securing the human benefits that are directly provided by biodiversity may require counting on disparate lineages of the Tree of Life. However, quantitative evidence connecting evolutionary history to human well-being is still surprisingly tenuous. Here, we drew on a global review of plant-use records and the most comprehensive vascular plant phylogeny available demonstrating that, at any sample size, maximum levels of phylogenetic diversity captured significantly greater numbers of plant-use records than random selection, both globally and across the main continental regions of the world. Our study establishes an empirical foundation that links evolutionary history to human well-being, and it will serve as a discussion baseline to promote better-grounded accounts of the services that are directly provided by biodiversity.