Biological resources and people. Biological resources of the world and their protection. What are biological resources? What type of biological resources?

At school my favorite subjects were geography and biology. Therefore, as in those years, now I love to study these disciplines, as well as conduct conversations on relevant topics. And so, when I saw this question, I simply could not pass it by.

What are biological resources

We humans love to categorize everything. Therefore, we divide our entire planet into spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, etc.). One of these areas is the biosphere. So, biological resources are that part of the biosphere that is important and/or suitable for human use. That is, almost all of it.

There are 2 main indicators that characterize bioresources: biomass and bioproductivity. The first reflects the total volume of biological resources. The second is the speed of their reproduction.

Why are these indicators so important? Of course, to ensure people's lives. Without taking these indicators into account, it is impossible to adequately distribute resources among the population.

The amount of biological resources varies from country to country. It, in turn, is determined by determining the ratio of the volume of fertile land to the number of people living on the territory. This figure is very high in Australia, and low in Japan. And there are places where it is almost zero (states located in deserts).

What are biological resources?

As we found out above, biological resources are all living things that are suitable for human consumption. Namely:

• all kinds of plants (including trees);
• plant fruits (vegetables, fruits, cereals, etc.);
• animals (their meat and skin);
• microorganisms.

Resources from each of the above categories are very important for the normal existence of a person. Even microorganisms are necessary for us. For example, humanity has learned to use them to treat infectious diseases (antibiotics).

Biological resources are extremely important to humanity and are even more important than almost all others. The general well-being of people largely depends on their volume in the country, although in the modern world this is not always the case (for example, Japan).

Of course, the indicator of resource security is primarily influenced by the richness or poverty of a territory in natural resources. But since resource availability also depends on the scale of their extraction (consumption), this concept is not natural, but socio-economic.

Example. Global geological reserves of mineral fuel are estimated at 5.5 trillion tons of standard fuel. This means that at the current level of production they could last for about 350,400 years! However, if we take into account the reserves available for extraction (including taking into account their placement), as well as the constant increase in consumption, such provision will be reduced many times.

It is clear that in the long term the level of security depends on which class of natural resources one or another type of resource belongs to: exhaustible (non-renewable and renewable) or inexhaustible resources. (creative task 1.)

2. Mineral resources: are there enough of them?

Even in ancient times, people learned to use some of these resources, which was expressed in the names of historical periods in the development of human civilization, for example, the Stone Age. Today, more than 200 different types of mineral resources are used. According to the figurative expression of Academician A.E. Fersman (1883-1945), now the entire periodic system of Mendeleev is laid at the feet of humanity. .

From this video lesson on the topic “Biological Resources and People” you will learn what biological resources are, get acquainted with their distribution throughout Russia and the problems associated with their conservation and protection.

Topic: Flora and fauna of Russia. Biological resources

Lesson: Biological Resources and People

The purpose of the lesson: to get acquainted with the role of living organisms, to find out what biological resources are, what types of them exist on the territory of Russia.

Biological resources are the living nature of the Earth, plants, animals and other living beings that are used or can be used by humans.

Biological resources, in fact, represent the most ancient type of resource that began to be used by humans.

To assess biological resources, the following concepts are used:

1. Biomass is the mass of all living organisms
2. Phytomass - the total mass of plants
3. Zoomass - total mass of animals
4. Bioproductivity - increase in biomass per unit of time

Biological resources are classified as exhaustible and renewable.

Those animals that a person breeds and the plants that he cultivates are also classified as biological resources. In general, assessing biological resources is difficult.

Rice. 1. Wheat field ()

The complexity of assessing biological resources can be explained using the example of forest resources. Forest is also a raw material for construction, a source of oxygen, energy, and a place of rest.

Do not forget about the enormous biological resources of the World Ocean. In many countries and some peoples, fish and sea animals are the main sources of food and subsistence.

Rice. 3. Fish catch ()

According to some estimates, there are about 2 million living creatures in the world, or even more.

Rice. 4. Biomass ()

Rice. 5. Total biomass ()

In general, the biomass of plants exceeds the biomass of animals in quantity (weight).

Plant resources:

1. Forest (trees, berries, mushrooms)
2. Forage (grasses)
3. Food plant resources of the seas

Animal resources:

1. Hunting and commercial (game, fur-bearing animals)
2. Fish
3. Marine (sea animals, bottom dwellers)

Russia has unique reserves of biological resources, but they are distributed unevenly, their distribution depends on natural areas and human activities. For example, the largest number of fur-bearing animals, berries, and mushrooms is found in the forest zone.

Among plant resources, forest resources are very important. Russia ranks first in the world in terms of the amount of forest resources. Fruits, seeds, berries, nuts, shoots, etc. also play an important role. All of them find the widest application. Many plants are used in treatment as an aesthetic material.

Rice. 6. Map of forest resources of Russia ()

Hunting and other types of animal resources are very diverse in Russia. They use fat, horns, meat, wool, skins and other living organisms. These resources are used in various sectors of the economy and areas of human activity, from medicine to the food industry.

The main game animals of Russia: squirrel, hare, sable, mink, fox, nutria, wolves, wild boars, deer, etc.

Rice. 7. Mink scarf ()

For many residents of our country, hunting is not only entertainment and pastime, but also a tradition and a means of livelihood. But we must not forget that, despite the ability to renew biological resources, their excessive destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences and the extinction of certain species.

Homework

Paragraph 27, 30.

Bibliography

Main

1. Geography of Russia: Textbook. for 8-9 grades. general education institutions / Ed. A.I. Alekseeva: In 2 books. Book 1: Nature and population. 8th grade - 4th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, 2009. - 320 p.

2. Geography of Russia. Nature. 8th grade: textbook. for general education institutions/ I.I. Barinova. - M.: Bustard; Moscow textbooks, 2011. - 303 p.

3. Geography. 8th grade: atlas. - 4th ed., stereotype. - M.: Bustard, DIK, 2013. - 48 p.

4. Geography. Russia. Nature and population. 8th grade: atlas - 7th ed., revision. - M.: Bustard; Publishing house DIK, 2010 - 56 p.

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books and statistical collections

1. Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia / A.P. Gorkin - M.: Rosman-Press, 2006. - 624 pp..

Literature for preparing for the State Exam and the Unified State Exam

1. Thematic control. Geography. Nature of Russia. 8th grade: textbook. - Moscow: Intellect-Center, 2010. - 144 p.

2. Tests on Russian geography: grades 8-9: textbooks, ed. V.P. Dronov “Geography of Russia. Grades 8-9: textbook. for general education institutions”/ V.I. Evdokimov. - M.: Publishing house "Exam", 2009. - 109 p.

3. Getting ready for the State Examination. Geography. 8th grade. Final testing in exam format./auth.-comp. T.V. Abramova. - Yaroslavl: Development Academy LLC, 2011. - 64 p.

4. Tests. Geography. 6-10 grades: Educational and methodological manual / A.A. Letyagin. - M.: LLC "Agency "KRPA "Olympus": "Astrel", "AST", 2001. - 284 p.

Materials on the Internet

1. Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements ().

2. Russian Geographical Society ().

Introduction……………………………………………………….………………3

The concept of biological resources, their meaning and varieties.….……..……………..4

How to evaluate biological resources? …………………………………………………………………….……6

Mass and structure of biological resources…………………………………..……….…….8

Man and economy in the Earth’s biomass…………………………………….11

Productivity of the biosphere …………………………………………………….13

Human provision with biological resources…………………………………….15

State of biological resources in Russia……………………………..16

This is interesting…………………………………………………………………………………..17

References…………………………………………………………….19

Introduction

Bioresources are not an unfamiliar concept, but not quite a familiar one. Most often, the phrase “natural resources” is associated with mineral raw materials, although everyone knows what forests, meadows or fish are and often speak, for example, about forest or fish resources. Meanwhile, all living nature can be considered as a complex integral system of interconnected biological resources. A person in his physical form is also a part of it.

The importance of biological resources for human life is obvious and hardly needs separate explanations, and assessing their quantity, ability to reproduce and a person’s place in the system is a vitally important and, finally, simply a very exciting task.

The concept of biological resources, their meaning and varieties.

Biological resources are a type of natural resource and an integral part of the national wealth of any country.

Biological resources mean all living components of the biosphere that form the natural environment.

That is, biological resources are the sources and prerequisites for obtaining the material and spiritual benefits that people need, contained in objects of living nature.

Biological resources are renewable quantitatively (through reproduction, growth, etc.) but practically not renewable qualitatively, since the loss of any living species, and especially a large systematic group, is irreversible.

Biological resources are divided into two large groups:

1. Plant resources;

2. Animal resources.

Sometimes an intermediate group is identified - soils, although more often soils are considered as an independent resource

Currently on the planet there are:

· more than 500 thousand plant species,

· about 1.5 million species of animals, 2/3 of them are insects.

The diversity of flora and fauna is one of the most important features of the planet. The role and importance of plants and animals in human life and activity is difficult to overestimate, but one of their features must be highlighted in a separate line:
they are the most important genetic resource used by man to improve various areas of his life and activity.

Plants are the basis of life on Earth, a necessary and essential component of the habitat of humans and animals. They constitute the main biomass of the planet and ensure the circulation of substances in the biosphere. They carry out photosynthesis, without which the existence of the biosphere is impossible: 6CO2 + 6H2O ’ C6H12O6 + 6O2. They contribute to the formation of soil cover, affect the chemical composition of soils and fertility. They have soil-protective, climate-regulating, sanitary, hygienic, cultural and aesthetic significance. They are the main stabilizer of the carbon-oxygen balance of the atmosphere. (Plants annually extract 160 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release about 100 billion tons of oxygen). They are a source of food for people and animals. They are a source of technical and medicinal raw materials, a subject of aesthetic pleasure and relaxation. They are a source of building materials and other various things necessary for humans.

Among the huge number of plants, there are 2 main types:

· woody and herbaceous vegetation (sometimes also shrubs).

How to evaluate biological resources?

Bioresources are the living matter of the Earth, mainly flora and fauna.

To assess biological resources at the most general level, the following concepts are most often used:

· Biomass – the mass of all living organisms;

· Phytomass – the total mass of plants;

· Zoomass – total mass of animals;

· Bioproductivity – increase in biomass per unit of time.

Bioresources are probably the most difficult object to evaluate.

Firstly, bioresources are fundamentally different in terms of their use, and the assessment of total biomass in itself provides little information (unlike, for example, the assessment of oil reserves or even hydrocarbons in general). For example, forest is a building material, fuel and at the same time a source of oxygen and the main natural purifier of the atmosphere. Finally, it is a place of rest, i.e. recreational resource.

In addition, in some regions - both Russia and other countries - the economic importance of hunting, fishing, picking berries, mushrooms, medicinal herbs and other crafts still remains. The natural environment continues to feed humans. The biological resources of the World Ocean, primarily fish, are also mainly a source of food. It turns out that on 70% of the Earth’s surface occupied by the ocean, a “primitive”, “appropriating” type of economy dominates, albeit with the use of modern technical means.

Secondly, it is difficult to distinguish between bio and agricultural resources. The expansion of agricultural areas can only occur at the expense of living nature - forests, steppes, peat bogs. In this case, do we consider it as a biological resource in the form in which it exists now, or as an agricultural resource - potential or already existing (for example, natural pasture)? Now more than a third of the earth's land surface is occupied by agricultural land. Agricultural crops can be considered part of the total phytomass of the Earth, and domestic animals can be considered part of its zoomass.

Thirdly, biological resources are renewable and at the same time vulnerable. Their volume is variable and depends on many factors. In addition, the ratio of volume and productivity for different types of biological resources varies sharply.

Therefore, biomass is “interesting” for economic activity only in relation to its quality, possible use and growth rate.

Mass and structure of biological resources

The total amount of biomass on Earth in terms of dry matter (i.e., excluding water, which makes up most of the mass of living organisms) is estimated at 1.3 trillion. tons Moreover, from the point of view of statistics (but not economics, not biology, not ecology), one could assume that all of it is located on land.

The entire biomass of the World Ocean is about 35 billion tons (less than 3% of the Earth's biomass), of which fish, which accounts for 85% of our seafood consumption, is only 0.5 billion tons. It would probably be interesting to compare, at least by mass, the resources of water, air and living matter on Earth.

Thus, per 1 kg of living matter there are almost 4000 cubic meters. m of air and more than 100 liters of surface water only in the liquid phase, which, in turn, constitutes an insignificant share of all water resources.

And to a first approximation, we can say that living matter on Earth is provided with the air and water it needs with a significant supply - naturally, subject to careful handling of natural resources.

In the structure of biomass on land, the main part belongs to phytomass, in other words, plants. In terms of dry matter, this is almost 1.24 trillion. tons In the same way, from the point of view of “global” statistics (but not real life, which requires taking into account many details), we can say that almost all of the Earth’s biomass is the phytomass of land and, mainly, forests. Forests account for 87% of the phytomass (65% are forest zones themselves, 22% are forests and plantings within other natural zones) - more than 1 trillion. tons Zoomassushui accounts for “only” 30 billion tons, or 3×10 13 kg.

The table below shows how unevenly the earth's biomass is distributed.

Resource type	Weight, tons	% of the Earth's biomass	Surface area, ha	Biomass per unit area, t/ha
Biomass of the Earth as a whole	1,300 billion	100,0%	51 billion	25 ,5
Land biomass	1,265 billion	97,7%	15 billion	84 ,4
Phytomass of sushi	1,237 billion	95,5%	15 billion	82,5
incl. forests	1,077 billion	83,1%	4.5 billion	239,3
incl. the rest of the land	160 billion	12,4%	10.5 billion	15, 2
Zoomass sushi	28 billion	2,2%	15 billion	1,9
Biomass of the world's oceans	35 billion	2,7%	36 billion	1,0
incl. fish	0.5 billion	0,04%	0.014 (14 kg)

Tab.2. Structure of the Earth's biomass and its distribution over the earth's surface

Simply put, for 1 kg of meat on Earth there are 50 kg of trees, grass and leaves. A particular example with a bull in a meadow quite accurately illustrates the global relationship.

The most “significant” of biological resources is forest, which is most often considered as a source of wood. We partially covered this issue in an article devoted to land resources.

The total forest area on Earth is estimated at 4.5 billion hectares (45 million sq. km, or 30% of the earth's land area), and timber reserves at 350 billion cubic meters. m, in other words, on average - 75-80 cubic meters. m per 1 hectare of forest area.

Knowing the density of the tree, you can notice the discrepancy between the phytomass of forests - more than 1 trillion. tons and approximately four times less wood mass. In this case, allowance should be made for the fact that not all forest phytomass, not all parts of a tree, and not even all trees can be classified as “wood,” as well as for the approximate nature of all such calculations in general.