Environmental Issues: Resources Availability

Introduction

Throughout the existence of humanity, people have always tried to make their living easier by incorporating what was in front of them. Prehistoric human beings killed animals, ate wild berries and fruit, and build their homes out of sticks, stones, and other materials that were in their disposal. Millions of years later, people still do the same. However, the approach has changed. Every day, something new is invented, and people make sure to use it for their best. We still incorporate nature into our daily lives, and this is, in fact, the only way we can survive. Some people, though, do not necessarily understand that even with the technological progress, natural resources are precisely the reason we still exist. It has been established by many scientists that rapidly enough, the resources are being drained out. Such vital resources as water, light, air, and others are not only be exhausted but also lead to the dangerous consequences for humanity.

Consequences of the unavailability of resources

Resource availability is among the most critical environmental issues that humanity faces nowadays. Water, air, soil, light – all of these, and more resources are widely used every day by every one of us, and their draining is, unfortunately, inevitable. What is more, Kumar et al. (2017) state that “light is generally considered to be the most limiting resource in forest understorey.” While it seems that the limited light in forest understorey is solely a fundamental problem that is caused by the trees and the forest ecosystem, Kumar et al. (2017) explain that the key reason lies in the forest fires. It is known that, for the most part, humans are the reason that forest fires happen, in the first place. Dantas et al. (2015) explored the way that resource availability affects the fires in savannas. In the research, they state that generally, fires happen as the filters that leave only strong plants on the landscape, however, “soil fertility, water availability and fire frequency are important factors shaping these mosaics” (Dantas et al., 2015) as well.

Resource availability affects much more aspects of the people’s lives than it can seem. “Resource availability can affect the coevolutionary dynamics between host and parasites, shaping communities and hence ecosystem function.” (Gomez et al., 2015) In nature, every component is intertwined with its neighbor. Therefore, every “bug” is important. Pringle (2016) examines the similar issue in the article, stating that “Not only are there many such interactions, but any given interaction of each individual with, say, its neighbor or a nutrient could lead to a different effect on its fitness and on the dynamics of the population of which it is a member.” Pringle (2016) provides the Figure that shows how exactly different species interact in the ecosystem. 

Figure 1. The interaction compass.

Note: Pringle, E. G. (2016). Orienting the Interaction Compass: Resource Availability as a Major Driver of Context-Dependence. PLoS Biology, 14(10), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2000891

In the article about the effect of the resource availability on the biodiversity, Siebenkäs et al. (2016) explore how the lack of specific natural resources can change the way that various microorganisms interact. This issue is extremely important, because, as it was previously mentioned, every interaction in the natural environment is vital for the ecosystem’s healthy function. Siebenkäs et al. (2016) explain that “different species complement each other in the acquisition of resources, thereby decreasing interspecific competition and increasing total resource use in space and time, resulting in higher mixture productivity.” Kumar et al. (2017) argue that the lack of light in the forest ecosystem is dangerous. From the research that Siebenkäs et al. (2016) conducted, we understand that forest is not the only place that is hugely affected by the light unavailability. “Light and nutrient availability are among the most important factors limiting plant productivity in temperate grasslands.” (Siebenkäs et al., 2016) Light is generally, the most “problematic” resource, and without it, many ecosystems are not going to survive. “Light availability is potentially an important resource that may constrain reproduction because light intensity can affect the net photosynthetic rate. Experimental studies have shown that overall plant size is higher for plants grown with sun exposure compared to those grown in the shade.” (Cao et al., 2017) In the article that focuses on how resources affect the female reproduction in Hosta Ventricosa, Cao et al. (2017) explore that “flower and fruit production and the number of seeds that are matured may decrease with decreasing light availability.” The similar argument is presented in the research by Tuller et al. (2018), where scholars state that “Limited resources may result in conflicting demands for such resources, with the result that plants may not be able to invest simultaneously in growth, reproduction, and defense.”

Obviously, light is not the only resource that has a significant effect on the way that our world is living, and may be the reason that it has significant issues in the future. For instance, Preston (1878) explored that temperature plays a very important part in the development and life of plants. In his article, he states that “no doubt normal-temperature heat may be converted into work through diffusion in this way.” (Preston, 1878) An incredibly interesting point was made in the research by Lucas et al. (2009), where scholars explore how the issue of resource unavailability affects the predation between certain species. In the article, they state that Intraguild Predation (IGP) is a “predation between species that share a similar resource” (Lucas et al., 2009) is common among the species, however, it is directly affected by resources, as the individuals within the species have the same nutritional requirements. Lucas et al. (2009) argue that “it has been observed that IGP intensity usually decreases as the quantity and/or quality of the extraguild (shared) resource increases.” Therefore, when some individuals lack the nutrients to survive, they hunt the representatives of the similar group.

What can cause the lack of resources

It is essential to understand what consequences can resources unavailability bring, however, it is also valuable to understand what leads to such an issue. For example, Versini et al. (2016) dedicated the research to find out what causes the unavailability of the water resources. On the example of the Llobergat basin in Spain, scholars conducted a research that states that climate change can be the reason why the water availability changes for worse. Versini et al. (2016) explain that “climate change could severely impact water resources and exacerbate water availability issues that the Mediterranean basin has already faced in past decades, due to a combination of climatological, hydrological and infrastructural factors.” What is more, in the research scholars used the Llobergat basin in Spain, which has already suffered from several droughts.  As we can see from the last statement, climate change is among the causes. However, it is not the only one.

Scientist’s focus on solving the problem

In the reviewed literature, scholars not only examined the issue but provided the possible outcomes of the methods that can be used to solve the problem. For instance, starting with the research by Versini et al. (2016), where they explored the reason for resource unavailability. The authors have used the simulation models to see different variants of the outcomes if the climate change keeps happening. Authors consider using these models as the base to take measures so that there is no lack of water resources. Despite some models having more positive results than other, the overall results are still not the desirable ones. “If these projections are not accurate enough to justify investment in important infrastructure, they could at least help in anticipating and implementing small permanent measures.” (Versini et al., 2016) In the research, Tuller et al. (2018) examined how the use of leaves instead of barks of the Brazillian Cerrado, which is the main source of the medical tannin, will affect the reproduction of the tree. Results of the study did not fully support the hypotheses. However, it was proven that both environment and special features of the species affect the reproduction. The majority of the reviewed researches focused on finding whether the certain species will function better and be more productive if certain aspects of their nutrition are at the higher level. It has been proved that the richness of soil, better-exposed position regarding the lighting and similar factors are, in fact, the reason for the species to be more productive.

Conclusion

Resource availability is a serious ecological issue that exists in the today world. The lack of such essential resources as water, air, light, soil, and others can bring the world dangerous consequences. As the science was developing, scholars always wanted to examine how does the lack of a particular resource may affect the development of the part of the ecosystem. In 1878, Preston examined how the temperature affects the plants, and in 2018, many scientists keep addressing the question of resource availability. It has been established that the environment directly affects the way that resources are operated. However, it has also been established that nature has its own way of vanishing the resources. The example has been found out in the research by Dantas et al. (2015) it has been proved that fires in savannas act as the cleaning system that reduces the level of the “weak plants.” Thus, the environment is not the only reason for the resource unavailability to happen. The statement that has been provided at the beginning of the paper focused on how the person managed to create the issue – resource unavailability. After the research, it has been established that the statement is not fully supported, and the humanity only acts as one of the reasons for the draining of resources. One may still argue thatbefore the human laid his hands on nature’s resources, they functioned healthily on their own. Therefore, the fact that in the relatively small amount of time of humanity’s existence on Earth, people managed to create the environmental problem that may cause the enormous suffering. However, regardless of what exactly causes the resources depletion, this issue has to be addressed and solved as soon as possible. In the last five years, many studies have been conducted, examining the different aspects of the issue of the availability and unavailability of the natural resources. This confirms that the issue is being addressed.

What is more, the various sides of the problem are being explored. The examples are the consequences of the lack of the resources and the initial reason for the resources unavailability. Considering people’s level of the scientific knowledge and the disposal of the technologies, it is possible to solve the issue of the resources unavailability. The reviewed researches can act as the base to see what people can do to build their own future.

References

Cao, G.-X., Wu, B.-X., Xu, X.-J., Wang, X., & Yang, C.-P. (2017). The effects of local variation in light availability on pollinator visitation, pollen and resource limitation of female reproduction in Hosta ventricosa. Botanical Studies, 58(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40529-017-0180-z

Dantas, V. de L., Batalha, M. A., França, H., Pausas, J. G., & Ward, D. (2015). Resource availability shapes fire-filtered savannas. Journal of Vegetation Science, 26(2), 395–403. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12247

Gómez, P., Bennie, J., Gaston, K. J., & Buckling, A. (2015). The Impact of Resource Availability on Bacterial Resistance to Phages in Soil. PLOS ONE, 10(4), e0123752. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0123752

Kumar, P., Chen, H. Y. H., Thomas, S. C., & Shahi, C. (2017). Linking resource availability and heterogeneity to understorey species diversity through succession in boreal forest of Canada. Journal of Ecology, 106(3), 1266–1276. doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12861

Lucas, É., Fréchette, B., & Alomar, O. (2009). Resource quality, resource availability, and intraguild predation among omnivorous mirids. Biocontrol Science and Technology, 19(6), 555–572. doi:10.1080/09583150902883460

Preston, S. T. (1878). On the Availability of Normal-Temperature Heat-Energy. Nature, 18(447), 92–93. doi:10.1038/018092a0

Pringle, E. G. (2016). Orienting the Interaction Compass: Resource Availability as a Major Driver of Context Dependence. PLoS Biology, 14(10), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2000891

Siebenkäs, A., Schumacher, J., & Roscher, C. (2016). Resource Availability Alters Biodiversity Effects in Experimental Grass-Forb Mixtures. PLOS ONE, 11(6), e0158110. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158110

Tuller, J., Marquis, R. J., Andrade, S. M. M., Monteiro, A. B., & Faria, L. D. B. (2018). Trade-offs between growth, reproduction and defense in response to resource availability manipulations. PLoS ONE, 13(8), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201873

Versini, P.-A., Pouget, L., McEnnis, S., Custodio, E., & Escaler, I. (2016). Climate change impact on water resources availability: case study of the Llobregat River basin (Spain). Hydrological Sciences Journal/Journal Des Sciences Hydrologiques, 61(14), 2496–2508. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2016.1154556

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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