Lecture notes
GD317 managing natural resources
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- The University Of Warwick (UoW)
GD317 managing natural resources notes
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GD317 – Managing natural resourcesWeek 1
The 3 pillars of sustainable development
1. Economy
2. Environment
3. Society
These pillars aren’t valued equally by everyone. But the image
shows them to be equally valued.
This model was developed in the 1990s to explain the new term
‘sustainable development.’
Everything that we have has been produced by the natural
extraction of resources in our planet; we haven’t actually made
anything ourself. So, we are 100% dependnent on our environment.
What are natural resources?
Materials or substances occurring in nature which can be exploited for economic gain.
Things that are already in existence e.g., minerals, coal, water, soil, oil, food, animals, aggregate,
medicine
Why do we need to manage natural resources?
Because our economy is built on natural resources and because of wind, extreme weather, over-
fishing, air pollution, biodiversity loss, melting ice caps, ocean acidification, forest fires, freshwater
loss, ocean currents, global warming
Shifting baselines: shifting expectations to what you find acceptable. Slowly overtime, expectations
start to shift, e.g., before it was 1.5 degrees to stay alive, now it is 2 degrees.
What links society and nature?
Controlling resources leads to war and conflict when scarce resources are involved WW3 could be
need because we are running out of resources for the human population.
When did natural resource management begin?
Henry VIII implemented forest management to ensure there was enough wood to build naval ships
for many years to come, and to manage corruption in forestry.
Systems map
How the 3 pillars structure the systems map: people, what are the variables/issues/conflicting
elements, what could make the problem worse/better.
The map would be a representation on your perception of the problem in a way that you can
communicate it to others.
The assessment has 2 parts: a visual map and an 800-word accompaniment that tells the reader how
to read it. And a rational explaining why you used the colours you used, and why you used dotted
lines for some interactions, and solid lines for others. E.g., green to show good, and red for bad
,GD317 – Managing natural resources
The assessment can be on the computer, or it can be drawn by hand. But the written bit must be
submitted on tabula.
In the group presentation, you need to use a different resource and find an example of that resource
being managed e.g., the overfishing in Mexico Cao, or comparing the Netherlands with good flood
management to Pakistan with no flood management; tear apart the case studies, look at the
interconnecting variables and drivers, indirect/direct effects, and how the management has worked/
not worked.
What approach should we never use/always
use, which variables are the easiest/hardest
to manage
For the policy review, you need to choose a
massive policy, and only apply it to one
place. Watch end of lecture for more
detailed explanation
Lecture notes W16
Ecology
1. The environment is always changing – always have always will especially at the moment.
2. Restoring natural habitats:
3. Attempts to manage natural resources involve altering the way that humans interact with their
environment we are trying to change human behaviour.
If we want to change the way people interact with the environment, we need to change 1000s of
years of behaviour.
What are we restring it to, and what are we protecting it from.
What is the world supposed to look like? What would it have looked like in the past without us.
4. No one can agree on the best way to design protected areas because they are so complex and
individual.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity gives us resilience.
Definition: “Biological Diversity” means the variability among living organisms from all sources
including: a) terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems; and b) diversity within species,
between species and of ecosystems” (CBD, 1992)
,GD317 – Managing natural resources
We have a few measures of biodiversity; species richness (how many species in a particular place –
but this doesn’t tell you how many of each species are in the area, and what the variation and
evenness is)
despite biodiversity declines, species richness, is not always indicative of biodiversity, and often this
simple metric misses a lot of the intricacies involved in determining biological diversity! (Hillebrand
et al., 2017)
functional diversity vs genetic diversity
Niches
Niche: The functional position of an organism in it’s environment; How an animal is capable of
surviving
- This includes both the habitat that they live in
- The resources it uses
- It’s activity patterns
- How it interacts with other individuals and species.
- Niche differentiation is directly linked to resource competition
- This can also drive several different adaptations
Fundamental niche: the entire span of the animal’s capacity
Realised niche:
Species compete over the space that they take up and the resources that they use. When a species is
living at the extreme of the niches, the more likely that species is to genetically change overtime
leads to speciation
Competition – intra specific and inter specific
Intra specific: Competition over resources between individuals of the same species
- Individuals of the same species have the same resource needs
- In many systems, those resources are limited, and individuals must compete for resources.
- Different species have different ways of managing this… but it varies depending on aspects
such as how mobile species are.
What do individuals of the same species fight over: mates, food, territory, water, shelter, light,
nutrients
Inter specific: competition between individuals of different species
2 species competing for the same resource can’t coexist if all ecological factors are constant
- Interspecific competition can often be more obvious and often violent than intraspecific
competition
- But intraspecific competition is always worse, because of niche overlap.
- Normally results in different species adapting to alternative options… known as resource
partitioning as a result of competitive exclusion.
- This can even lead to speciation
, GD317 – Managing natural resources
Gause’s Law: Two species competing for the same resource cannot coexist if all ecological factors
are constant
In this graph we’re talking about 2 species,
and 1 variable, space.
But realistically there are 100s of species and
variables.
- Niche breadth also has a part to play
here.
- Niche specialists and generalists will
adapt to things differently.
- Driving the strength in competition,
and an individuals ability to adapt
Succession
How we went from a ball of rock flying through space to a habitat that supports life
Succession: The natural development in an ecosystem. The decomposition of plants leads to the
development of soil
At the climax community, we start to see a decline in biodiversity because species are so good at
living there that they don’t have any competition.
Secondary succession: Similar to primary succession, but does not need soil forming
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