4 Natural Resources and Resource Management Free Online FlashCards

What are natural resources?

Materials, energy sources, and living systems from nature that people use, such as water, soil, forests, minerals, sunlight, and wind.

What affects whether a natural material is useful as a resource?

A resource’s usefulness depends on its presence and on whether people can access and use it with available knowledge and technology.

What makes a resource renewable?

A renewable resource can be replenished by natural processes on a timescale relevant to human use.

Why are renewable resources not necessarily unlimited?

Renewable does not mean unlimited: use can exceed replenishment, as when a forest is cleared faster than it regrows or fish are harvested faster than they reproduce.

What makes a resource nonrenewable?

A nonrenewable resource forms so slowly that it cannot be replaced within a human timescale. Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are examples.

Does recycling make a mineral deposit renewable?

Recycling can keep metals in use and reduce the need for new mining, but it does not make the original mineral deposit renewable.

How can groundwater be renewable yet depleted?

Groundwater is replenished by recharge, but rates vary among aquifers. If pumping exceeds replenishment over time, water levels can fall and affect wells, streams, or wetlands.

Which stages make up resource use beyond extraction?

Resource use includes extraction, processing, transport, consumption, and disposal; impacts can occur at every stage.

Why can shared resources be overused?

Without rules or coordination, competing users can overuse a shared resource because each user’s actions affect everyone else.

What is resource management?

Resource management plans and oversees how resources are accessed, used, conserved, and renewed.

What should managers assess before setting resource limits?

Measure the resource’s quantity, condition, location, rate of renewal, and ecological role before deciding how to manage it.

What does resource efficiency aim to achieve?

Efficiency reduces avoidable losses and provides the same service with less material, water, or energy.