ASSIGNMENT
Topic:
natural resources
Submitted to : radha miss
Submitted by : nabina sainu
Submitted on : 23 -06-2014
INDEX
|
SL
No.
|
Content
|
Page No.
|
|
1
2
3
4
|
Introduction
Content Development
Conclusion
Reference
|
3
4
14
15
|
INTRODUCTION
Natural
resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by
humanity, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by
amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems. A natural resource is anything that people can use which
comes from nature. People do not make
natural resources, but gather them from the earth. Examples of natural resources
are air, water, wood, oil, wind
energy, hydro-electric
energy, iron, and coal. Refined oil is not a natural resource because people
make it.
Natural
resources are derived from the environment. Some of them are essential for our
survival while most are used for satisfying our wants. Natural resources may be
further classified in different ways.
There
is much debate worldwide over natural resource allocations, this is partly due
to increasing scarcity (depletion of resources) but also because the
exportation of natural resources is the basis for many economies (particularly
for developed nations such as Australia).
Some
natural resources such as sunlight and air can be found everywhere, and are
known as ubiquitous resources. However, most resources only occur in small
sporadic areas, and are referred to as localized resources. There are very few
resources that are considered inexhaustible (will not run out in foreseeable
future) – these are solar radiation, geothermal energy, and air (though access
to clean air may not be). The vast majority of resources are exhaustible, which
means they have a finite quantity, and can be depleted if managed improperly.
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
A natural
resource is anything that
people can use which comes from nature
such as pond, lake. Sea, river, forest, wet land, mangroves, sacred grooves
etc..
POND
Humans
also make ponds. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as
ponds. Some ponds are created specifically for habitat restoration, including
water treatment. Others, like water
gardens, water features and koi ponds are designed for aesthetic ornamentation
as landscape or architectural features. Fish
ponds are designed for commercial
fish breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy.
Standing
bodies of water such as puddles,
ponds, and lakes are often categorized separately from flowing water courses,
such as a brook, creek, stream or river. Nutrient levels and water quality in
natural or man-made ponds can be controlled through natural process such as
algal growth, or man-made filtration such as an algae scrubber.
LAKE
A lake is a body of relatively still liquid
(prototypically water) of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land
apart from a river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes
lie on land and are not part of the ocean,
and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are also larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,
which are usually flowing. However most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and
streams.
Natural
lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers.
In some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage
patterns left over from the last Ice
Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly
fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin contain
ing them.
Many
lakes are artificial and are constructed for industrial or agricultural use,
for hydro-electric power generation or domestic water supply,
or for aesthetic or recreational purposes.
SEA
The sea, the world ocean, or simply the ocean, is the connected body of salty water that covers over 70 percent of the
Earth's surface. It moderates the Earth's climate and has important roles in
the water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle. Although the sea has
been travelled and explored since ancient times, the scientific study of the
sea—oceanography—dates broadly from the voyages of Captain James Cook who explored the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and 1779. In geography, "sea" is used in
the names of smaller, partly landlocked sections of the ocean, for example the Irish Sea, while "ocean" is
used in the names of the five
largest sections, such as the Pacific
Ocean.
Winds
blowing over the surface of the sea produce waves,
which break when they reach shallow water. Winds
also create surface currents through friction, setting up slow but stable
circulations of water throughout the oceans. The directions of the circulation
are governed by factors including the shapes of the continents and the rotation
of the earth (the Coriolis
effect). Deep-sea currents, known as the global
conveyor belt, carry cold water from near the poles to every ocean. Tides, the generally twice-daily rise
and fall of sea levels, are caused by the rotation of the Earth and the
gravitational effects of the orbiting Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun.
Tides may have a very high range in bays or estuaries. Destructive tsunamiscan be caused by submarine earthquakes arising from tectonic plate movements under the oceans, volcano
eruptions, huge landslides, or the impact of large meteorites.
RIVER
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a rare cases
a river could flow into the ground and dry up completely at the end of its
course, without reaching another body of water.
Small rivers may be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official
definitions for generic terms, such as river, as applied to geographic
features, although in some
countries or communities a stream may be defined by its size. Many names for
small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run"
in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and northeast
England, and "beck" in northern England. Sometimes a river is defined
as being larger than a creek, but
not always: the language is vague.
Rivers
are part of the hydrological
cycle. Water generally collects in a river from precipitation through a drainage basin from surface
runoff and other sources such as groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored
water in natural ice and snowpacks (e.g. from glaciers). Potamology is the scientific study of rivers while limnology is the study of inland waters in
general.
Extraterrestrial
rivers have recently been found on Titan. Channels may indicate past rivers on other planets, specifically outflow channels on Mars and are theorised to exist on planets
and moons in habitable zones of stars.
FOREST
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high
density of trees. As with cities,
depending on various cultural definitions, what is considered a forest may vary
significantly in size and have different classifications according to how and
of what the forest is composed. A
forest is usually an area filled with trees but any tall densely packed area of
vegetation may be considered a forest, even underwater vegetation such as kelp forests, or non-vegetation such
as fungi, and bacteria. Tree forests cover
approximately 9.4 percent of the Earth's
surface (or 30 percent of total land area), though they once covered much more
(about 50 percent of total land area). They function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers,
constituting one of the most important aspects of the biosphere.
A
typical tree forest is composed of the overstory (canopy or upper tree layer) and the understory. The understory is further
subdivided into the shrub layer, herb layer, and also the moss layer and soil
microbes. In some complex forests, there is also a well-defined lower tree
layer. Forests are central to all human life because they provide a diverse
range of resources: they store carbon, aid in regulating the planetary climate,
purify water and mitigate natural hazards such as floods. Forests also contain
roughly 90 percent of the world's terrestrial biodiversity.
A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water,
either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of
a distinctecosystem. Primarily,
the factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is
the characteristic vegetation that is adapted to its unique soil
conditions. Wetlands consist primarily of hydric
soil, which supports aquatic
plants.
The
water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater, or brackish.Main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs and fens.Sub-types include mangrove, carr, pocosin, and varzea.
Wetlands
play a number of roles in the environment, principally water purification, flood
control, and shoreline stability. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to
a wide range of plant and animal life
Wetlands
occur naturally on every continent except Antarctica.They can also be constructed artificially as a water management tool, which may
play a role in the developing field of water-sensitive
urban design.
The
largest wetlands in the world include the Amazon
River basin and the West Siberian Plain.Another large
wetland is the Pantanal, which
straddles Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay in South
America.
The
UN Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment determined that environmental degradation is more prominent within wetland
systems than any other ecosystem on Earth.
International conservation efforts are being used in conjunction
with the development of rapid assessment tools to inform people about wetland
issues.
MANGROVES
Mangroves are various types of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The
remaining mangrove forest areas of the world in 2000 was 53,190 square miles
(137,760 km²) spanning 118 countries and territories. The word is used in at least three
senses: (1) most broadly to refer to the habitat and entire plant assemblage or mangal, for which the terms mangrove forest biome, mangrove swamp and mangrove forest are also used, (2) to refer to all
trees and large shrubs in the mangrove swamp, and (3) narrowly to refer to the
mangrove family of plants, the Rhizophoraceae, or even more
specifically just to mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora. The term
"mangrove" comes to English from Spanish (perhaps by way of
Portuguese), and is likely to originate from Guarani.
It was earlier "mangrow" (from Portuguese mangue or Spanish mangle), but this word was corrupted via folk etymology influence of the word
"grove".
The
mangrove biome, or mangal, is a distinct saline woodland or shrubland habitat characterized by depositional coastal environments, where fine
sediment
s (often with high organic content)
collect in areas protected from high-energy wave action. Mangroves dominate
three-quarters of tropical coastlines.The saline conditions tolerated by
various mangrove species range from brackish
water, through pure seawater (30 to 40 ppt(parts per thousand)), to water
concentrated by evaporation to over twice the salinity of ocean
seawater (up to 90 ppt).
SACRED
GROVES
A sacred grove or sacred woods are any grove of trees of special religious
importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves were most prominent in the Ancient Near East and prehistoric
Europe,but feature in various cultures throughout the world.
They
were important features of the mythological landscape and cult practice of Celtic, Baltic, Germanic, ancient Greek, Near Eastern,Roman, and Slavic polytheism, and were also used in India, Japan, and West Africa. Examples of sacred groves
include the Greco-Romantemenos, the Norse hörgr, and the Celtic nemeton, which was largely but
not exclusively associated with Druidic practice. During the Northern
Crusades, there was a common practice of building churches on the sites of
sacred groves.Ancient holy trees still exist in the English countryside and are
mentioned often in folklore and fairytales.
DEPLETION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
The planet's natural ecosystems and
regenerating bio-capacity are being severely degraded and, as a result, this
compromises the ability of the planet to sustain life. Forests, fisheries,
oceans, rangeland, fresh water systems (lakes, wetlands, rivers) and other
natural ecosystems are all threatened while many are on the verge of collapse.
Water, land and air are getting increasingly polluted, water tables are
falling, soil erosion is leading to desertification, global warming is well
underway, and species are dying out 1000 times faster than their natural rate
of extinction.
Deforestation is the clearing of natural forests by logging or burning
of trees and plants in a forested area. As a result of deforestation, presently
about one half of the forests that once covered the Earth have been destroyed. It occurs for many different reasons,
and it has several negative implications on the atmosphere and the quality of
the land in and surrounding the forest.
CONSERVATION OF
NATURAL RESOURCES
Conservation
of natural resources, the wise use of the
earth's resources by humanity. The term conservation came into use in the late 19th century. and referred to the management,
mainly for economic reasons, of such valuable natural resources as timber,
fish, game, topsoil, pastureland, and minerals, and also to the preservation of
forests (see forestry),
wildlife (see wildlife
refuge), parkland, wilderness, and watershed areas. In recent years the science of ecology has clarified the workings of the biosphere; i.e., the complex interrelationships
among humans, other animals, plants, and the physical environment. At the same
time burgeoning population and industry and the ensuing pollution have demonstrated how easily delicately
balanced ecological relationships can be disrupted .
Conservation of natural resources is now usually
embraced in the broader conception of conserving the earth itself by protecting
its capacity for self-renewal. Particularly complex are the problems of
nonrenewable resources such as oil and coal (see energy,
sources of) and other minerals in
great demand. Current thinking also favours the protection of entire ecological
regions by the creation of "biosphere reserves." Examples of such
conservation areas include the Great Barrier Reef off Australia and Adirondack
State Park in the United States. The importance of reconciling human use and
conservation beyond the boundaries of parks has become another important issue
CONCLUSION
A natural resource is anything that people can use which
comes from nature
such as pond, lake. Sea, river, forest, wet land, mangroves, sacred grooves
etc. CONSERVATION OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES-
water, wood, coal, electricity Natural resources are materials supplied by
nature, such as forests, minerals, soil, water, and wildlife. They cannot be
created or manufactured by us like other man made products like plastic. The
main cause for worry is that our natural resources are getting depleted
(getting over) fast because of our increasing population and overuse. The way
we are wasting water, a day will soon come when there will not be a drop of
water to drink. Imagine what will happen then! We cannot survive. Similarly we
are chopping trees and using too much wood to make furniture for our homes.
What will happen if we lose all our forests
this way, by clearing them to make homes for us or use wood? Without forests we
will not get food to eat, fresh air to breathe. We will be suffocated to death,
as you all know that green plants give us more oxygen. Coal is used as fuel for
our various activities. What will happen if we use too much coal? We will run
short of it. So we must instead use renewable source of energy like solar
energy for operating our devices. The energy from the sun is not likely to get
over. Nowadays special solar devices like solar heaters and solar cookers are
available. Even traffic signals on the roads are powered by solar energy.
REFERENCE
1.
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=WET+LAND&tbm=isch&ei=vwanU9DoFZOwuATewoKQDw#q=pollution&revid=384420262&tbm=isch&facrc=0%3Bwater%20pollution&imgdii=_&imgrc=_
2.
http://www.shvoong.com/exact-sciences/biology/375676-conservation-natural-resources/
3.
https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=cr&ei=HHQwUvLNA4WKrQe2nYHQCw#q=forest
4.
https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=cr&ei=HHQwUvLNA4WKrQe2nYHQCw#q=sacred+groves
5.
https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=cr&ei=HHQwUvLNA4WKrQe2nYHQCw#q=MANGROVE
6.
https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=cr&ei=HHQwUvLNA4WKrQe2nYHQCw#q=natural+resources
7.
https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=cr&ei=HHQwUvLNA4WKrQe2nYHQCw#q=LAKE
8.
https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=cr&ei=HHQwUvLNA4WKrQe2nYHQCw#q=SEA
9.
https://www.google.co.in/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=cr&ei=HHQwUvLNA4WKrQe2nYHQCw#q=RIVER
No comments:
Post a Comment