Biological Resources
Biological resources refer to the living organisms and materials derived from them that are utilized by humans for various purposes, such as food, medicine, and raw materials. These resources include plants, animals, microorganisms, and genetic material, and are essential for sustaining life and supporting human activities. They are a key focus in geography due to their significance in shaping ecosystems, economies, and human societies.
5 Key excerpts on "Biological Resources"
eBook - ePubBiodiversity and Conservation
Characterization and Utilization of Plants, Microbes and Natural Resources for Sustainable Development and Ecosystem Management
- Jeyabalan Sangeetha, Devarajan Thangadurai, Goh Hong Ching, Saher Islam, Jeyabalan Sangeetha, Devarajan Thangadurai, Goh Hong Ching, Saher Islam(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Apple Academic Press(Publisher)
...Therefore, the biodiversity provides inputs that including but not limited to (1) natural resources at different categories (food, water, wood, energy, and medicines), i.e., basic material for good life, (2) natural (ecosystem) services, including water purification and storage, soil fertility, waste disposal, removal of carbon dioxide/air filtration, pollination, pest, flood, and landslide control, and (3) environmental and aesthetic pleasure, and so on. Multiple services are produced by ecosystems, and these interact in complex ways that require a general approach to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature, in the long term and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable (MAR, 2005; CBD, 2010a,b,c). Which refers to ecological restoration and monetary value such as Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBD), combinations of CBA and Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), can be a primary component of conservation and sustainable development programmes throughout the world. Martin-Lopez et al...
eBook - ePubEnvironmental Management
Science and Engineering for Industry
- I.V Murali Krishna, Valli Manickam(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Butterworth-Heinemann(Publisher)
...Chapter Three Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Conservation Abstract Natural resources provide fundamental life support, in the form of both consumptive and public-good services. The focus of biodiversity and its conservation and management is through the convention of biodiversity, Nagoya protocol, etc. These international tools of ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation are discussed in Chapter 3 of the book. In addition the codification of the biodiversity resource base, as well as threats to them, are discussed through the issues of bio-prospecting and bio-piracy. Keywords Biodiversity; Bio-piracy; Bio-prospecting; CBD; Ecosystem; Nagoya protocol; Natural resource management 3.1. Introduction Natural Resource Management (NRM) refers to the sustainable utilization of major natural resources, such as land, water, air, minerals, forests, fisheries, and wild flora and fauna. Together, these resources provide the ecosystem services that provide better quality to human life. Natural resources provide fundamental life support, in the form of both consumptive and public-good services. Ecological processes maintain soil productivity, nutrient recycling, the cleansing of air and water, and climatic cycles. Biological diversity (biodiversity) is the occurrence of different types of ecosystems, different species of organisms with the whole range of their variants and genes adapted to different climates, and environments along with their interactions and processes. Biodiversity encompasses the variety of all life on earth. India is one of the 17 mega-biodiversity countries of the world. Although India has only 2.5% of land area, it has a large pool and diverse pool of plants and microbes which accounts for 7.8% of recorded species in the world. Genetic diversity describes the variation in the number and type of genes as well as chromosomes present in different species...
eBook - ePubEnvironment and Society
Human Perspectives on Environmental Issues
- Charles Harper, Monica Snowden(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...If interested, there are many other sources (scholarly writings and professional literatures) to which you may turn—some suggestions are listed at the end of this chapter and the cited references are another place to begin. The Earth is a huge system of natural capital, which also serves as a vast recycling system for living things. In narrow anthropocentric terms, you can conceptualize the planet as a series of sources (from which resources are drawn) and sinks (into which human wastes and effluents go). The chapter discusses the current state and human use of physical resources: soil, water, and biotic resources (forests and species diversity). Later chapters address climate and energy resource issues in greater detail. We also discuss pollution sinks (of solid wastes and chemical pollutants), or the “supply depots” and “waste repositories” depicted in the previous chapter (Dunlap and Catton, 2002). To tie this chapter with the previous one, think about how each particular resource problem is also a social issue and how it connects to the four sociocultural driving forces of environmental and ecological change: Population growth? Social institutions that stimulate economic growth and establish environmental protections? Human culture, attitudes, beliefs, and tastes, such as food preferences? New technologies? Also, an environmental justice frame illuminates how the benefits and costs of current practices that cause environmental harm are distributed as well as who gets to be a part of decision making to address those problems. By using this lens the drivers of ecosystem disruption and opportunities for ecosystem preservation, conservation, and restoration can be clarified...
eBook - ePubPrinciples of Environmental Economics and Sustainability
An Integrated Economic and Ecological Approach
- Ahmed Hussen(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Some representative examples of natural resources are arable land, wilderness areas, mineral fuels and non-fuel minerals, watersheds, and the ability of the natural environment to degrade waste and absorb ultraviolet light from the sun. Exhibit A explains the conventional classification of natural resources into two major categories: renewable and non-renewable natural resources. It is important to understand the difference between these two concepts from the outset as, it will be observed throughout this book, they convey important implications for environmental and resource management. Exhibit A Renewable versus non-renewable resources Natural resources are generally grouped into two major categories: renewable and non-renewable. Renewable resources are those resources that are capable of regenerating themselves within a relatively short period, provided the environment in which they are nurtured is not unduly disturbed. Examples include plants, fish, forests, soil, solar radiation, wind, tides, and so on. These renewable resources can be further classified into two distinct groups: Biological Resources and flow resources. Biological Resources consist of the various species of plants and animals. They have one distinctive feature that is important for consideration here. While these resources are capable of self-regeneration, they can be irreparably damaged if they are exploited beyond a certain critical threshold. Hence their use should be limited to a certain critical zone. As will be explained later, natural biological processes govern both the regenerative capacities of these resources and the critical zone. Examples of this type of resource are fisheries, forests, livestock, and all forms of plants. Flow resources include solar radiation, wind, tides, and water streams. Continuous renewal of these resources is largely dictated by atmospheric and hydraulic circulation, along with the flow of solar radiation...
eBook - ePub- Danny Hunter, Luigi Guarino, Charles Spillane, Peter C. McKeown, Danny Hunter, Luigi Guarino, Charles Spillane, Peter C. McKeown(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...However, we finally concluded that one cannot sensibly discuss the context in which agricultural biodiversity is used and conserved without appreciating what the term encompasses. Notably, the concept of agricultural biodiversity is broader than may typically be appreciated, and includes wild edible species, microbes, pollinating and seed-dispersing animals, as well as the livestock, fish and crops with which it is classically associated. The understanding of agricultural biodiversity embraces a range of disciplines across both the natural and social sciences: indeed, agricultural biodiversity is managed and governed by different sectors and actors, not all of whom necessarily speak to each other or work together as effectively as they could. The situation is further complicated by the broad range of organizations, agencies and institutions, both governmental and non-governmental, that work directly on agricultural biodiversity, from the local to the global level. Part 1 begins with considerations of crops by Robert Henry (Chapter 1), and livestock by Ceiridwen Edwards and colleagues (Chapter 2), respectively. The latter also including consideration of the processes by which genetic diversity arose via domestication using the authors’ work in cattle as a case study. These chapters both emphasize that current global food production is rooted in a very narrow genetic base, especially for livestock. Forest and tree genetic resources are then considered by David Boshier and colleagues (Chapter 3), and wild plants and animals by Verina Ingram and colleagues (Chapter 4). In Chapter 5, Devin Bartley and Matthias Halwart turn to aquatic genetic resources: this chapter also considers the issue of domestication, which has occurred in some fish species such as carp (but very minimally in other aquatic species)...
