NATURAL RESOURCES

Submitted by

Brhamyaja h j

Natural science

INTRODUCTION

• Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form.

• A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geo-diversity existent in various ecosystem.

• Natural resources are derived from the environment.

• Every man-made product in an economy is composed of natural resources to some degree.

• Forest , wetland ,mangroves, sacred grooves etc are all examples of natural resources.

FOREST

• A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is anarea with a high density of trees.

• A forest is usually an area filled with trees but any talldensely packed area of vegetation may be considered aforest, even underwater vegetation such as kelp forests,or non-vegetation such as fungi, and bacteria.

• Tree forests cover approximately 9.4 percent of theEarth's surface.

• They function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flowmodulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of themost important aspects of the biosphere.

Types of Forests Tropical rainforests Hugely dense, lush forest with canopiespreventing sunlight from getting to the floor of the forest.

. Sub-tropical forests Located at the south and north of thetropical forests. Trees here are adapted to resist the summerdrought.

Mediterranean forests Located at the south of the temperateregions around the coasts of the Mediterranean, California,Chile and Western Australia.

Temperate forests Located at Eastern North America,Northeastern Asia, and western and eastern Europe.

Coniferous forests Located in the cold, windy regions aroundthe poles.

WETLANDS

A wetland is a land area that is saturated withwater, either permanently or seasonally, such that ittakes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem.

Wetlands are areas where water is the primaryfactor controlling the environment and theassociated plant and animal life.

They occur where the water table is at or near thesurface of the land, or where the land is covered bywater.

Five major wetland types are generally recognized:

Marine (coastal wetlands including coastal lagoons, rockyshores, and coral reefs)

Estuarine (including deltas, tidal marshes, and mangroveswamps)

Lacustrine (wetlands associated with lakes)

Riverine (wetlands along rivers and streams)

Palustrine (meaning “marshy” - marshes, swamps and bogs).

MANGROVES

•Mangroves (or more correctly mangal forests) are a distinctive vegetation type occupying the intertidal areas of much of the Northern Territory coast and lower reaches of many rivers.

•Much of the ecology of mangrove areas is dictated by the pattern of tidal movement.

•Mangroves provide nursery habitat for many wildlife species, including commercial fish and crustaceans, and thus contribute to sustaining the local abundance of fish and shellfish populations .

•Many animals find shelter either in the roots or branches of mangroves.

•Mangroves maintain coastal water quality by abiotic and biotic retention, removal, and cycling of nutrients, pollutants, and particulate matter from land-based sources, filtering these materials from water before they reach seaward coral reef and seagrass habitats.

• Mangrove root systems slow water flow, facilitating the deposition of sediment. Toxins and nutrients can be bound to sediment particles or within the molecular lattice of clay particles and are removed during sediment deposition.

SACRED GROVES

• Sacred groves have existed in India from the time immemorial. These are densely wooded area left one the religious ground for the purpose of conserving and protecting biological diversity in-situ.

•In Kerala these islands of greenery are called “kavu”. They are also referred to as “sarpakavu” denoting hat they are the habitats o snakes.

•Often these are seen in association with temples and the deities generally are Bhagwati or Naga-the snake god.

•These forests have along been conserved in the name of religion.

•They aptly called the groves ‘safety forests’.

• The sacred groves are so well preserved that many wild animals and birds find safe shelter here.

• These groves also play a major ecological role by retaining water and soil in difficult terrain.

•Sacred groves have a great significance from the point of view of biodiversity conservation because they contain some important species of flora and fauna that have been lost in the surrounding .