BRAINCAKEDepletion of Biological Resources
A biological resource is any living thing, or product of one, that humans use: timber, fish, crops, medicines, fibres, and ecosystem services such as soil fertility. Biological resources are renewable because they can regrow or reproduce, but they are only sustainable if they are used no faster than they are replaced.
A resource is depleted when it is harvested faster than it can regenerate. As the human population and consumption per person rise, demand increases and many resources are over-exploited:
• forests are cleared for timber, farmland and settlements faster than they regrow;
• fish stocks fall when too many fish are caught for the population to recover;
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More in Human Influence on Ecosystems
- Human Population Explosion
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- The Burden of Proof
- Evaluating Studies
- Greenhouse Effect
- Evidence for the Global Temperature Increase
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All 29 lessons in Human Influence on Ecosystems · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics