E.V. Balatsky THEORY OF LIFE RESOURCES: MODELS AND EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENTS
Within the framework of economic science, there are many microeconomic models that describe individual behavior. They involve mainly two human resources: money and time. Sometimes another resource appears in a purely abstract form - human capital. It will not be an exaggeration to say that a person’s whole life is a manipulation of the basic resources that he has. What is the set of these resources that determine the place of the individual in society; what is the quantitative assessment of the degree of endowment with them, as well as their relative importance? Let's consider these interrelated problems facing economists and sociologists today.
An individual's behavior model, in accordance with our hypothesis, is determined by his target function. It's about about some integral indicator of achieving the goals set by him. It is the movement towards a goal that makes a person’s life meaningful, and it is the degree to which goals are achieved that determines the level of one’s satisfaction with life. This criterion acts in our model as a kind of utility function, widely used in microeconomic models.
The role of functional restrictions that form the space of possible actions is performed by two “production functions” that describe the dependence of the subject’s goals and his real achievements on the volume of his life resources and the state of the external environment. The set of vital resources of the proposed model of individual behavior (MPI) is very limited, it includes money (income); energy (vitality); time (daily time, which includes sleep, working hours and leisure); knowledge (information). These resources are qualitatively heterogeneous and not reducible to each other, but at the same time they can be partially interchangeable. All people have them, the difference is only in the degree of endowment and in their subjective significance.
Resource limitations, which assume that the availability of each of the four vital resources for a person is not unlimited, but has strictly defined quantitative limits, represent additional limitations of the model.
In formalized form, the MPI can be described as follows:
BALATSKY Evgeniy Vsevolodovich - doctor economic sciences, professor, head of department of the Russian Research Institute of Economics, Politics and Law in the Scientific and Technical Sphere (RIEPP).
F o,.,^,2,., 1 = 1, t
u[AST =y (x, y, g, gi, O,), 1 = 1, tn
where I is the index of the goal (good, need); t - number of goals (benefits, needs); y, is a parameter that records the importance of the 1st goal (goods, needs); Ts™0 - planned level of achievement of the 1st goal (benefits, needs); Ts™1 - actual level of achievement of the 1st goal (benefits, needs); x, y, 7, and d, - volume cash(x,), energy (y,), time (7,) and knowledge (d,), which are necessary for the implementation of the th goal; x0, y0, 70 and d0 - the total amount of funds, energy, time and knowledge that the subject has; f - the quality of institutions necessary for the implementation of the th goal, and the influence of the external environment;<р и \р - производственные функции, связывающие жизненные ресурсы с получаемыми с их помощью жизненными благами.
Criterion (1) specifies the objective function, relations (2) and (3) - functional restrictions, inequalities (4)-(7) - resource restrictions. In principle, the default objective function of the constructed model assumes that the coefficient of achieving the set goals reaches one in the limit. Criterion (1) can be rewritten in an equivalent, more general form:
In accordance with the MPI, four vital resources are spent by a person in order to carry out the process of goal setting with the subsequent achievement of the set goals. These, in our opinion, can be the fundamental values of human life: personal and family security; material well-being; family well-being; creative self-realization; fruitful leisure time; decent social status; the presence of effective informal social contacts; good health, etc. All these factors are subject to
quantitative assessment (see, for example). Of course, for each person the set of values and their relative importance is different.
The four life resources included in the MPI deserve special comment. Time is a fixed and fundamentally non-renewable resource. Each person has 24 hours a day, and lost time cannot be restored. Life energy is a partially renewable resource. Its amount varies for different people, sometimes wasted energy can be restored and even increased, sometimes not. Money is a renewable resource. Each person is endowed with a financial resource to varying degrees, and spending money, as a rule, is compensated by subsequent earnings. Knowledge is a renewable resource. Like money, information can be accumulated and spent. Money is a classic capital, capable of expanding and decreasing. Knowledge is part of human capital, which can also grow and collapse.
The life resources considered are closely related to the fundamental attributes of the world. Thus, time and energy, which play a fundamental role in almost all sciences, are taken into account by us explicitly, information is taken into account through the knowledge variable, space - through the income variable.
Skillful manipulation of these resources allows you to set goals and achieve them with varying efficiency. Of course, the more of each resource, the greater the chances that a person will individually correctly formulate his life tasks and successfully solve them. Of course, there is also feedback between a person’s achievements and his life resources.
The results of a person’s activities determine the subsequent dynamics of his life resources, which can be formalized in the most general form as follows:
<&„ / А = Ф(х0 (О, П(0, Щ (0, г = 1, т)
<1у0 / = Щу0(!),СН!),иГ (0, i = 1 ,т)
<к0 / Л = 3(г0 (0,0(0, и.А (О, I = 1, т)
dg0 /A = Ch "(8oC), SC!), and?LST (O, I = 1t)
where 1 is time; F, 0, E and ^ are production functions that connect the dynamics of vital resources with the vital benefits obtained with their help in the previous period.
If we consider the total daily time of a person as a time variable (u0), then equation (11) is eliminated, since this value is a constant.
Relations (9)-(12) serve as a mechanism of communication between static MPIs (1)-(7) in different periods. This achieves a description of the entire trajectory of a person’s life.
Let's discuss the next point. The fact is that vital resources determine the mechanism of goal setting itself (dependence (2)). If the set goals are achieved, and the person approaches complete satisfaction with life (absolute happiness), then, in accordance with the MPI, the mechanism for setting new goals will most likely be activated, and the process of choosing a life strategy will continue. Thus, a “break” in the MPI decision-making trajectory is not expected.
The constructed model is presented in the most abstract form. However, even this is enough to draw some conclusions about human behavior. For example, criterion (1) contains many life benefits, the number of which is different for everyone. It is easy to see that a decrease in target settings (t), other things being equal, leads to an increase in overall life satisfaction (0), i.e.<ЗШт < 0. Это вполне естественно, так как все жизненные ресурсы человека оказываются направлеными на достижение меньшего числа целей, что и позволяет реализовать их в более полной мере. Именно данным эффектом объясняется, на наш вгзляд, весьма распространенный факт, когда примитивные люди с ограниченным кругом намерений достигают большей удовлетворенности жизнью, нежели высокоразвитые личности с разнообразными целевыми установками.
Focus on Life Resources: An Empirical Analysis
First of all, we will give a classification of four resource aggregates (time, energy, money and knowledge) in two directions: degrees of objectivity (“cosmological” and “social”) and degrees of roughness (“material” and “intangible”) (Table 1).
Now let us turn to the method of assessing the degree of endowment of vital resources of various subjects. To do this, we will use the model of sociological surveys, which involves qualitative identification of the volume of living resources. The design of the question addressed to respondents and the options for possible answers are shown in Table 2, the data of which are based on sociological surveys conducted by VTsIOM on June 24-25, 2006 in 46 regions of Russia; sample size - 1.5 thousand people.
Along with assessing the level of endowment of individuals with vital resources, it is necessary to set a scale of their importance. To do this, we used the design of the question and the options for possible answers given in Table 3. The information content in Table 3 is similar to Table 2 and is based on the specified VTsIOM array.
We aggregate the obtained information using the resource endowment index (I) and the resource importance index (i), which have the following form:
Table 1.
Classification of life resources according to the degree of objectivity and materiality
"Tangible" factors "Intangible" factors
"Cosmological" factors Energy Time
"Social" factors Money Knowledge
/ = scD +a2/)2 +a3£>3 +a4D, +a5£)5
J = a1C1+a2C2+a3C3+a4C^+a5C5 (14),
To calculate the index (13), share estimates regarding the endowment of resources (E^) are used (Table 2), to calculate the index (14), share estimates regarding the importance of resources (th]) (Table 3). The weighting coefficients are as follows: a1 = 1.0; a2 = 0.6; a3 = 0.4; a4 = 0; a5 = 0.5.
Let us note once again: all assessments are based on self-assessment and are subjective. For example, we can assume that, in the opinion of a person leading an extremely active lifestyle, he lacks energy, and a person quietly “floating” with the flow of life believes that he has enough energy. However, something else is important here: each of them understands life satisfaction differently. Therefore, subjective assessments, ultimately, quite objectively record a person’s lack of energy to achieve the same global goal - complete satisfaction with life. And in this sense they are all comparable.
The results of calculations using formulas (13) and (14) are given in tables 2-3, which allow us to draw a number of interesting conclusions.
First of all, it turned out that, contrary to the opinion of Western economists and sociologists who consider time the most valuable resource, for Russians it is the least
Table 2.
Distribution of respondents' answers to the question: "To what extent do you lack the following resources in your life?" %
Answer option
Resource type
Quite enough f-,)
F2 is more likely enough)
Rather there is not enough f3) Absolutely not enough f4) Difficult to answer f5) Resource endowment index (I)
36.8 29,3 10,5 0,7
Table 3.
Distribution of respondents' answers to the question: "Indicate the degree of importance for you of the following resources?" %
Answer option Type of resource
Time Energy Money Knowledge
Very important ^) 55.9 74.1 73.0 53.8
Rather important ^2) 34.8 22.8 22.2 34.4
Probably not important ^3) 7.6 2.1 3.1 8.9
Doesn't matter at all ^4) 1.3 0.4 1.1 2.2
Difficult to answer ^5) 0.4 0.7 0.6 0.8
Resource importance index ^) 80.0 88.9 87.9 78.3
a scarce life resource with which Russian residents are endowed to the maximum extent. It is followed by information and energy resources, and the financial resource closes the system (Table 2).
In our opinion, the identified system of ranking the level of endowment of vital resources indicates a certain primitiveness of Russian society. In developed communities, money and energy come last, and time and knowledge come first. In other words, for more developed communities, the importance of “intangible” life resources is higher than “material”.
In Russia, the exact opposite situation is observed, which allows us to talk about the relatively low social and intellectual development of its citizens. Noteworthy is the fact that the lack of money has a significant gap for them compared to the lack of other resources. For example, the index of endowment with financial resources for residents of Russia is 2.1 times lower than the index of endowment with time. Such significant discrepancies confirm their non-random nature.
Russian citizens compensate for the acute lack of money and knowledge with time and vital energy. This model of social existence means that they lack the resources characteristic of developed civilizations (money and knowledge), the compensation of which is carried out by resources of purely natural origin (energy and time). Consequently, with some degree of convention, we can conclude that Russia is currently dominated by a rather primitive socio-economic model, characteristic of civilizations of a low level of development.
The foregoing leads to the following hypothesis: as society develops, a very definite pattern is visible in the increase in the endowment of resources - first, financial and energy resources reach a certain level of saturation, then information and time. Of course, some deviations from this evolutionary line are possible, but they cannot be fundamental. Russia does not yet fall under this pattern.
The conclusion about the natural “primitivist” model of Russian society is also confirmed by data on the importance of vital resources. Thus, the most important resource for Russians is energy, firstly money, and only then time and knowledge (Table 3). Such a hierarchy of the importance of vital resources indicates the low level of civilization at which Russian society is located.
It should be noted that we are not talking about any intellectual deficiency or inferiority of Russians. The dominance of this model is rather due to the breakdown of the socio-economic system that has occurred in the country over the past two decades. Many people found themselves faced with the need for physical survival, which predetermined the drift of the system towards primitive, purely material life resources. It is possible that as the negative consequences of systemic reforms are overcome, there will be a restructuring of the endowment and importance of the considered life resources in the direction of strengthening the role of time and knowledge.
Differentiation of life resources by socio-demographic groups
Calculations of indices of endowment with vital resources and indices of their importance, taking into account gender differences, are shown in Table 4. They allow us to draw a number of conclusions.
Indices Gender
Men Women
Endowment indices: Time 60.7 60.1
Energy 61.5 53.1
With money 29.0 27.9
Knowledge 58.4 57.3
Indices of importance: Time 80.7 79.5
Energy 88.3 89.4
Money 88.0 87.8
Knowledge 79.0 77.8
Firstly, the differences in the life resources of men and women are generally insignificant, some of them are at the level of statistical error.
Secondly, in general, men’s endowment with vital resources is still higher than that of women. Although this advantage is small, it cannot be ignored, because it is consistently observed in relation to all four resources. In addition, the importance of life resources for men is also higher than for women (with the exception of energy). In other words, men attach somewhat greater importance to life resources, which partly explains their greater endowment with them.
Thirdly, the most significant difference between men and women is the endowment of vitality. The advantage for men is 8.4 percentage points, which looks really huge compared to the advantage in other resources of 0.6-1.1 percentage points. On the other hand, the importance of vital energy is higher for women than for men. That is, compared to men, women are least endowed with precisely that vital resource that is of greatest importance to them.
In this regard, let us pay attention to the following circumstance. Some anthropologists, relying on the traditions of ancient cultures, argue that men are energy-rich subjects, and women are energy-deficient. This conclusion is reached, for example, by K. Castaneda, who studied the philosophy and worldview of North American Indians, who share the active masculine principle and the passive feminine principle and the Chinese dualistic concept of Yin-Yang. Our quantitative results confirm these postulates.
By the way, a high endowment of energy in particular and resources in general, supported by their high importance, all other things being equal, leads to a more active waste of these resources. As a result, the intensity of men’s lives increases, experiences become more intense, and the body wears out faster, which can provoke a reduction in their life expectancy. It is possible that the relative resource abundance of men is, if not the main, then one of the important factors in why they live less than women.
No less interesting conclusions follow from calculations of indices of endowment with vital resources and indices of their importance depending on age (Table 5).
First, clear age-related patterns in the level of resource endowment are visible only for energy and time. For example, as one would expect, vitality levels decrease markedly with age. So,
Age groups of respondents
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-59 60 and older
Endowment indices:
Time 59.8 56.2 53.5 56.7 75.5
Energy 70.8 68.0 60.0 54.6 37.8
Money 29.7 30.6 26.7 27.8 27.9
Knowledge 57.3 55.9 56.7 59.3 58.9
Importance indexes:
Time 82.4 83.6 83.2 79.6 72.9
Energy 88.3 89.2 89.7 89.0 88.2
Money 91.0 88.5 89.8 87.4 83.9
Knowledge 86.7 83.2 80.8 76.9 67.9
at retirement age (60 years and older), people retain only 53.4% of vital energy compared to youth (18-24 years). At the same time, the uniform tendency towards a reduction in strength as a person increases in age is highly stable. The time endowment index has a more complex, but equally predictable trajectory. Thus, until the period of maturity (35-44 years), when the activity and employment of an individual, as a rule, reaches a maximum, there is a drop in the time allocation index, after which it begins to increase and by the time a person retires it reaches 75.5%. This value is a record; Not a single resource at any age interval reaches such values. We can say that with age there is a gradual replacement of a person’s vital energy with a temporary resource.
Secondly, the variability of resource endowment indices for “cosmological” factors (time and energy) is much higher than for “social” ones (money and knowledge). The difference between the maximum and minimum values of the energy and time endowment indices for different age groups reaches 33.0 and 22.0 percentage points. respectively, while the same indicator for money and knowledge is only 3.9 and 3.4 percentage points. Thus, more significant shifts in the values of endowment indices are observed for those resources that practically do not depend on a person, and for social resources that subjects acquire during the life cycle, the shifts are subtle. This once again testifies to the immobility and, therefore, “underdevelopment” of the social factors of Russian existence: financial and information capital is not subject to dissipation, but also does not accumulate.
Thirdly, the variability of the indices of the importance of life resources for time and knowledge is significantly higher than for money and energy. The difference between the maximum and minimum values of the knowledge and time importance indices for different age groups is 18.8 and 10.7 percentage points. respectively, the same indicator for money and energy is 7.1 and 1.5 percentage points. Consequently, more significant shifts in importance index values are observed for more “ephemeral” resources that do not have tactile properties. This fact reveals the inhibition of the value system in relation to “coarse” life resources and, conversely, the chaotic nature of the system of preferences in relation to “fine” resources.
Fourthly, as follows from the analysis of the depth of differences in the value of the corresponding indices for different age groups, the process of mastering life resources involves greater age variability compared to the process of forming a system of resource preferences. This means that
a person’s value system evolves noticeably throughout the life cycle, but not as much as the system of focusing on life resources. As for the financial situation, as it worsens, the endowment with vitality, money and knowledge decreases (Table 6). This is compensated by an increase in the availability of temporary resources to low-income people. This empirically confirms the axiom: more energetic and more knowledgeable people achieve success in life. The “payback” for such success is an increasing lack of time. However, in any case, the main conclusion is true: material success means greater endowment with life resources.
Next. Wealthy people place greater value on time, energy and knowledge than poor people, and for time and knowledge these preferences are most clearly visible. This confirms our hypothesis, according to which civilizational development, accompanied by an increase in the material well-being of the population, leads to an increased role of “intangible” factors of life. Accordingly, the meaning and subjective value of money decreases slightly as wealth increases.
Fifthly, it turns out that the endowment of knowledge for the middle class is higher than for the “rich” (first column of Table 6) and the “poor” (third column of Table 6). Along with this, the importance of the energy resource for the middle class is less than for the other two groups of the population. In other words, the maximum information load of society falls precisely on the middle class, while from the point of view of energy expenditure, the middle class niche is quite comfortable. This correlates with the data of experimental ethology and introduces new aspects into the understanding of the place and social role of the middle class.
Let us note an interesting result of the intergroup analysis of the data obtained. As it turns out, the difference between men and women is smaller than between rich and poor, and the difference between rich and poor is smaller than between young and old. This pattern applies both to the system of people’s value, described by indices of the importance of vital resources, and to the system of resource provision, described by indices of endowment with vital resources. The maximum variation in endowment indices by gender is 8.4 p.p., financial status - 29.3 p.p., age - 33.0 p.p. Accordingly, the maximum variation in importance indices by gender is 1.2 percentage points, financial status is 9.1 percentage points, and by age is 18.8 percentage points. Therefore, a physiological difference such as gender is of less importance compared to a social difference such as income. At the same time
Table 6.
Differentiation of social indices by financial status, %
Indices Family financial situation
Very good, good Average Very bad, poor
Endowment indices:
Time 55.7 59.5 63.7
Energy 63.6 59.7 49.5
Money 46.0 31.3 16.7
Knowledge 58.3 59.1 55.2
Importance indexes:
Time 84.3 80.5 77.9
Energy 89.6 88.8 89.1
Money 84.8 87.9 89.0
Knowledge 84.1 79.1 75.0
cial differences in income are less important compared to age. This creates a hierarchy of social differences that should be taken into account when pursuing social policy.
Efficiency of life resources
Quantitative assessments of the level of endowment of people with various life resources require a certain averaging to obtain an integral index of resource endowment (I*). To do this, you can use a simple formula:
/* = (L /LK + (/2 / L)/2+(/3 //0)/3 + (L /L)/4 (15),
where all the designations are the same, J0 = ^ + J2 + J3 + J4, and four indices denote the corresponding life resources (time, energy, money, knowledge).
The calculations show that the integral index of resource endowment (15) in Russia in June 2006 was 50.5%. This value in itself is symptomatic, since it indicates the low saturation of Russian society with basic life resources. Of particular interest is the comparison of this assessment with the integral index of life satisfaction. If the latter is designated as 0*, then the efficiency of vital resources (k) can be assessed using the formula: k = 0*/I*.
The value of the life satisfaction index in July 2005 in Russia was 53.1%. Despite the time gap in the 0* and I* ratings, they can be compared. In this case, the value of the efficiency of vital resources (k) is 1.05, i.e. a value very close to unity. It follows that the level of life satisfaction is almost completely determined by the level of endowment of life resources.
Here it is appropriate again to draw an interesting analogy with some anthropological data. Thus, in the works of C. Castaneda there is a classic formula of North American Indians, according to which happiness is an excess of energy (strength). In our case, this formula is generalized, since in addition to energy, other resources should be taken into account, and is somewhat modified: the category of happiness is replaced by a more operational concept of life satisfaction. Thus, sociological and anthropological research are quite well matched and, at least, do not contradict each other.
Of course, the theory of vital resources does not pretend to explain the entire variety of behavioral strategies of people, but in many cases its use can be quite fruitful and contribute to a more correct understanding of various social phenomena.
LITERATURE
1. Balatsky E.V. Factors of life satisfaction: measurement and integral indicators // Monitoring of public opinion. 2005. No. 4.
2. Castaneda K. Fire from within. The power of silence. The art of dreaming. M. 2003.
3. Ross L., Nisbett R. Man and situation. Perspectives on social psychology. M. 1999.
A description of a special methodology of analysis of life resources of population.
Each person has vital resources that he can manage and ensure certain processes. Thanks to personal resources, the needs for survival, safety, comfort, socialization and self-realization are met. In other words, we can say that a person’s external and internal resources are his life support.
Characteristics of personal resources
Resources are divided into personal (internal) and social (external).
Internal resources are a person’s mental and personal potential, as well as the skills and character that support people from the inside.
External resources are those values that are expressed in social status, connections, material security and everything else that helps a person in the outside world and society.
This article will tell you how important internal resources are and how they should be developed and used to achieve success.
Internal human resources include:
Health (physical and psychological);
Character;
Intellectual abilities;
Skills, abilities, experience;
And emotions;
Self-esteem and identification;
Self-control;
Spirituality.
To achieve success and harmony with the world, it is these internal human resources that must be developed to the maximum level. Many experts in the field of social psychology note that people who engage in self-improvement, in most cases, achieve their goals. They have the ability to control themselves first, and only then take control of the situations around them. It is precisely this algorithm of behavior that is correct for influencing various social processes.
Health (physical and psychological)
A healthy human body, which receives the required amount of rest and food, and also expends its internal sexuality and energy in the required amount - these are the internal resources of a person, on which most of the success in life depends.
The psychological component (mental processes and its functions) are also regarded as fundamental resources. The internal components of the personality psyche are erudition and erudition, imaginative and abstract thinking, intelligence, the ability to use information, the ability to analyze and synthesize, attention, quick switching from one object to another, will and imagination.
Emotions and positive thinking
Various emotional states are inexhaustible resources. Internal moods can set the rhythm of both the physical body and the psyche as a whole. In this case, the resources are both a feeling of favorable emotions, such as joy, happiness, fun, peace, and a feeling of grief, sadness, anger, rage. But each emotion must have a creative function. For example, rage and anger in defending your rights can indicate and will not allow your opponent to violate them. But rage aimed at destroying (moral or psychological) another person already has a destructive function.
A creative perspective will allow you to develop the ability for positive thinking, which very often becomes an assistant in resolving many problems and troubles in life.
Character
Character refers to not only those traits that are highly moral and attractive to society as a whole, but also those that help an individual move toward achieving certain results. For example, anger and irritability are not very welcome in society, but thanks to them a person will always be able to stand up for himself in a difficult situation. That is why such traits are also resources. The internal resources of the individual, consisting of character, of course, must be close to the ideals of society. It is worth remembering that all character traits must manifest themselves at the right time and in the right place, in which case they will only benefit the person himself and those around him.
Skills, abilities, experience
A skill is what a person has learned to do, and a skill is the automation of a skill. Thanks to this, a person can help the people around him. In this way, the internal resource that lies in skill is manifested.
Experience, processed and experienced, is an important human resource. Everything that a person was able to realize and feel is already experience, and in the future the person can consciously use it in similar situations to overcome any difficulties.
Self-esteem and identification
Identity is what we identify and identify with. The last characteristic can be professional, social-role, or gender. It is also an internal resource that allows us to perform those functions and responsibilities that we consciously accept. Self-esteem plays an important role in a person’s life and the correct use of this resource. We can say that it is a real assessment of one’s position in society and one’s attitude towards oneself that allows one to weigh one’s own actions and failures, draw conclusions and continue to achieve one’s life goals.
Self-control
The ability to react correctly to current situations is an extremely important component of any personality. Using the resource of self-control allows a person to analyze and correctly choose a model of behavior that will not harm either others or himself.
Spirituality
Spirituality in the field of internal resources means not only faith in a higher power, but also values that are associated with justice, love, faith in magic and energy. It is these intangible values that lift a person above earthly chaos and allow him to become more intelligent.
Light is one of the most important abiotic factors, especially for photosynthetic green plants. The sun emits enormous amounts of energy into outer space. At the boundary of the earth's atmosphere with space, radiation ranges from 1.98 to 2 cal/cm^in, or 136 MW/cm2 (“solar constant”).
Rice. 4.1. Balance of solar radiation on the earth's surface
in the daytime (from T.K. Goryshina, 1979)
As can be seen in Fig. 4.1, 42\% of all incident radiation (33 + 9\%) is reflected by the atmosphere into space, 15\% is absorbed by the thickness of the atmosphere and goes to heat it, and only 43\% reaches the earth's surface. This fraction of radiation consists of direct radiation (27\%) - almost parallel rays coming directly from the Sun and carrying the greatest energy load, and scattered (diffuse) radiation (16\%) - rays coming to the Earth from all points of the sky, scattered molecules of air gases, droplets of water vapor, ice crystals, dust particles, and also reflected down from clouds. The total sum of direct and diffuse radiation is called total radiation.
Light for organisms, on the one hand, serves as a primary source of energy, without which life is impossible, and on the other hand, the direct effect of light on protoplasm is fatal to the organism. Thus, many morphological and behavioral characteristics are associated with solving this problem. The evolution of the biosphere as a whole was aimed mainly at “taming” incoming solar radiation, using its beneficial components and weakening harmful ones or protecting against them. Consequently, light is not only a vital factor, but also a limiting one at both the minimum and maximum levels. From this point of view, no factor is as interesting for ecology as light!
Among the solar energy penetrating into the Earth's atmosphere, visible light accounts for about 50% of the energy, the remaining 50% is thermal infrared rays and about 1% is ultraviolet rays (Fig. 4.2).
Rice. 4.2. Factors of cosmic impact on Earth
Visible rays (“sunlight”) consist of rays of different colors and have different wavelengths (Table 4.1).
Table 4.1
Spectrum of sunlight
Rays Wavelength in micrometers (µm)
Ultraviolet 0.06-0.39
Violet 0.39-0.45
Blue 0.45-0.48
Blue 0.48-0.50
Green 0.50-0.56
Yellow 0.56 -0.58
Orange 0.58-0.62
Red 0.62-0.78
Infrared 0.78 - up to 4 mm
In the life of organisms, not only visible rays are important, but also other types of radiant energy that reach the earth's surface: ultraviolet, infrared rays, electromagnetic (especially radio waves) and some other radiations. Thus, ultraviolet rays with a length of 0.25-0.30 microns contribute to the formation of vitamin D in animal organisms, with a wavelength of 0.326 microns a protective pigment is formed in human skin, and rays with a wavelength of 0.38-0.40 microns have greater photosynthetic activity. These rays in moderate doses stimulate the growth and reproduction of cells, promote the synthesis of highly active biological compounds, increasing the content of vitamins and antibiotics in plants, and increasing resistance to diseases.
Infrared radiation is perceived by all organisms, for example, influencing the thermal centers of the nervous system of animal organisms, thereby regulating their oxidative processes and motor reactions both towards and away from preferred temperatures.
Visible light is of particular importance in the life of all organisms. With the participation of light, the most important processes occur in plants and animals: photosynthesis, transpiration, photoperiodism, movement, vision in animals, and other processes (Table 4.2).
Table 4.2
The most important processes occurring in plants
and animals involving light
Photosynthesis. On average, 1-5% of the light falling on plants is used for photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the source of energy for the rest of the food chain.
Transpiration. Approximately 75% of solar radiation falling on plants is spent on water evaporation and thus enhances transpiration.
Photoperiodism. Important for synchronizing the life and behavior of plants and animals (especially reproduction) with the seasons.
Movement. Photoperiodism and photonasty in plants are important in order to provide the plant with sufficient light. Phototaxis in animals and unicellular plants is necessary to find suitable habitats.
Vision in animals. One of the main sensory functions.
Other processes. Vitamin D synthesis in humans. Long-term exposure to ultraviolet rays can cause tissue damage, especially in animals. Protective devices have been developed - pigmentation, behavioral reactions of avoidance, etc.
In the light, chlorophyll is formed and the most important process in the biosphere, photosynthesis, occurs. The photosynthetic activity of green plants provides the planet with organic matter and solar energy accumulated in it - the source of origin and factor in the development of life on Earth. The basic reaction of photosynthesis can be written as follows:
where H2 X is the “donor” of electrons; H - hydrogen; X - oxygen, sulfur or other reducing agents (for example, sulfobacteria use H2S as a reducing agent, other types of bacteria use organic substance, and most green plants that carry out chlorophyll assimilation use oxygen).
Among all the rays of sunlight, rays are usually distinguished that in one way or another affect plant organisms, especially the process of photosynthesis, accelerating or slowing down its progress. These rays are commonly called physiologically active radiation (PAR for short). The most active among the PARs are orange-red (0.65-0.68 µm), blue-violet (0.40-0.50 µm) and near ultraviolet (0.38-0.40 µm). Yellow-green (0.50-0.58 microns) rays are absorbed less and infrared rays are practically not absorbed. Only far infrared rays take part in the heat exchange of plants, having some positive effects, especially in places with low temperatures.
The rate of photosynthesis varies slightly with changes in the wavelength of light. In terrestrial living environments, the qualitative characteristics of sunlight are not so variable that this greatly affects the rate of photosynthesis, but when light passes through water, the red and blue regions of the spectrum are filtered out, and the resulting greenish light is weakly absorbed by chlorophyll. However, sea-dwelling red algae (Rhodophyta) have additional pigments (phycosrythrins) that allow them to harness this energy and live at greater depths than green algae.
Rays of different colors are distinguished by animals. For example, when visiting plant flowers, butterflies prefer red or yellow ones, while dipterous insects choose white and blue ones. Bees show increased activity to yellow-green, blue-violet and violet rays, do not react to red, perceiving it as darkness. Rattlesnakes see the infrared part of the spectrum. For humans, the range of visible rays ranges from violet to dark red.
Each habitat is characterized by a certain light regime, the ratio of intensity (strength), quantity and quality of light.
The intensity, or strength, of light is measured by the number of calories or joules per cm2 of horizontal surface per minute. For direct sunlight, this indicator practically does not change depending on geographic latitude. It is significantly influenced by the features of the relief. Thus, on the southern slopes the light intensity is always greater than on the northern ones.
The amount of light, determined by the total radiation, increases from the poles to the equator.
To determine the light regime, it is necessary to take into account the amount of reflected light - albedo. It is expressed as a percentage of total radiation and depends on the angle of incidence of the rays and the properties of the reflecting surface.
For example, snow reflects 85% of solar energy, the albedo of green maple leaves is 10%, and the albedo of yellowed autumn leaves is 28%.
In relation to light, the following ecological groups of plants are distinguished: light (light-loving), shady (shade-loving) and shade-tolerant. Light species (heliophytes) live in open places with good lighting; they are rare in the forest zone.
They usually form a sparse and low vegetation cover so as not to shade each other. Light affects plant growth. Thus, the growth of two-year-old oaks depending on the relative illumination in summer is shown in Fig. 4.3.
Rice. 4.3. Modifying effect of illumination on growth
and plant morphogenesis (according to V. Larcher, 1978):
A - growth of two-year-old Quercus robus oaks depending on relative illumination in summer;
B - leaf development in Ranunculus ficaria depending on lighting
With light sufficiency up to 13.5\%, the stimulating effect of light predominates (Fig. 4.3A, curve 1), with greater illumination (A, curve 2) - vice versa. The leaves of Ranunculus ficaria (Fig. 4.3B) develop less surface area under greater light.
Shade plants (sciophytes) do not tolerate strong light and live in constant shade under the forest canopy. These are mainly forest herbs. In harsh lighting, for example in clearings, they show clear signs of oppression and often die.
Shade-tolerant plants (facultative heliophytes) live in good light, but easily tolerate slight shading. These are the majority of forest plants. The arrangement of leaf blades in space varies significantly under conditions of excess and lack of light. Thus, the leaves of heliophytes often “dodge” or “turn away” from excess light, while in shade-tolerant plants growing in dim light, on the contrary, the leaves are directed in such a way as to receive the maximum amount of incident radiation. This is especially noticeable in the forest. If there are gaps and “windows” in the dense canopy of the tree, the leaves of plants in the lower tiers are oriented towards this additional light source. The shading of some leaves by others is reduced due to their arrangement in the form of a “leaf mosaic” (Fig. 4.4).
Rice. 4.4. Leaf arrangement in small-leaved linden undergrowth in different lighting conditions (top view):
A - under the forest canopy, B - in an open place (according to T.K. Goryshina, 1979)
Small leaves are located between large ones. This mosaic is characteristic of both woody and herbaceous vegetation of heavily shaded forests.
The optical apparatus of heliophytes is better developed than that of sciophytes, has a larger photoactive surface and is adapted to more complete absorption of light. There is less chlorophyll per dry weight in the leaves of heliophytes, but they contain more pigments of the I pigment system and chlorophyll P700. The ratio of chlorophyll d to chlorophyll b is approximately 5:1. Hence the high photosynthetic capacity of heliophytes. The rate of photosynthesis reaches its maximum in full sunlight.
In a special group of plants - heliophcts, in which CO2 fixation occurs through C-4-dicarboxylic acids, light saturation of photosynthesis is not achieved even under the strongest illumination. These are plants from arid regions (deserts, savannas), belonging to 13 families of flowering plants (for example, bluegrass, sedge, amaranth, goosefoot, carnation, etc.). They are capable of secondary fixation and recycling of CO2 released during light respiration, and can photosynthesize at high temperatures and with closed stomata, which is often observed during hot hours of the day.
Typically, C-4 plants are highly productive, especially corn and sugar cane.
The intensity of light falling on the autotrophic layer controls the entire ecosystem, affecting primary production. In both terrestrial and aquatic plants, the rate of photosynthesis is related to light intensity in a linear relationship up to an optimal level of light saturation, which in many cases is followed by a decrease in the rate of photosynthesis, at high intensities of direct sunlight. Thus, this is where compensation factors come into play: individual plants and entire communities adapt to different light intensities, becoming “shade-adapted” or “direct sunlight-adapted.”
The intensity of lighting affects the activity of animals, determining among them species leading a twilight, nocturnal and diurnal lifestyle. Orientation to light is carried out as a result of “phototaxis”: positive (movement towards the greatest illumination) and negative (movement towards the least illumination). So, at dusk, hawkmoth butterflies fly, and a hedgehog hunts. May beetles begin to fly only at 21-22 o'clock and end after midnight, while mosquitoes are active from evening to morning. The marten is nocturnal. Silently, examining one tree after another, she finds squirrel nests and attacks sleeping animals.
Lighting causes growth movements in plants, which manifest themselves in the fact that due to uneven growth of the stem or root, they bend. This phenomenon is called phototropism.
One-way lighting shifts the flow of the growth hormone auxin to the shaded side, which is usually directed strictly downward. Depletion of auxin in the illuminated side of the shoot here leads to growth inhibition, and enrichment of the shaded side with auxin leads to growth stimulation, which causes curvature.
The movement of the Earth around the Sun causes regular changes in the length of day and night according to the seasons of the year. Seasonal rhythm in the life activity of organisms is determined primarily by a reduction in the light part of the day in the fall and an increase in the spring. The actions of organisms have developed special mechanisms that respond to the length of the day. Thus, certain birds and mammals settle in high latitudes with long polar days. In autumn, when the days shorten, they migrate south. In summer it accumulates in the tundra large number animals, and, despite the general severity of the climate, with an abundance of light they manage to complete reproduction. However, nocturnal predators practically do not penetrate the tundra. During the short summer night they cannot feed themselves or their offspring.
A decrease in daylight hours at the end of summer leads to a cessation of growth, stimulates the deposition of reserve nutrients in organisms, causes molting in animals in the fall, determines the timing of grouping into flocks, migration, transition to a state of rest and hibernation. Increasing the length of daylight hours stimulates sexual function in birds and mammals, and determines the timing of flowering of plants (alder, coltsfoot, etc.).
Plants that normally develop during long days are called long-day plants. These are plants of our northern zones and the middle zone (rye, wheat, meadow cereals, clover, violets, etc.). Other plants develop normally with reduced daylight hours. They are called short-day ones. These include people from the southern regions (buckwheat, millet, sunflower, asters, etc.).
The ability of birds to navigate has been proven. During long-distance flights, they choose the direction of flight with amazing accuracy, sometimes covering many thousands of kilometers from nesting sites to wintering sites (Fig. 4.5), guided by the sun and stars, i.e., astronomical light sources. During the day, birds take into account not only the position of the Sun, but also its displacement due to the latitude of the area and time of day
Rice. 4.5. Major bird flyways
(according to N. O. Reimers, 1990)
Experiments have shown that the orientation of birds changes when the picture of the starry sky changes in accordance with the direction of the intended flight. The navigational ability of birds is innate, created by natural selection, as a system of instincts. The ability to navigate is also characteristic of other animals. Thus, bees that have found nectar transmit information to others about where to fly for a bribe. The reference point is the position of the sun. A scout bee, having discovered a source of food, returning to the hive, begins a dance on the honeycomb, describing a figure-eight figure, with an inclination of the transverse axis relative to the vertical, corresponding to the angle between the directions to the sun and to the food source (Fig. 4.6). The angle of the figure eight gradually shifts in accordance with the movement of the sun across the sky, although the bees in the dark hive do not see it.
Rice. 4.6. “Wagging” dance of bees (according to V. E. Kipyatkov, 1991)
In cloudy weather, bees are guided by the polarized light of a free part of the sky. The plane of polarization of light depends on the position of the sun. Bioluminescence, or the ability of animal organisms to glow as a result of the oxidation of complex organic compounds luciferins with the participation of luciferase catalysts, has a certain signaling significance in the life of animals, usually in response to irritations coming from the external environment (Fig. 4.7).
Rice. 4.7. Glowing animals:
1 - jellyfish; 2 - dragon fish attacking glowing anchovies; 3 - deep-sea squid; 4 - a deep-sea shrimp, defending itself, throws out a luminous cloud: 5 - a deep-sea anglerfish, luring its prey.
Light signals emitted by animals often serve to attract individuals of the opposite sex, lure prey, scare away predators, for orientation in a school, etc. (fish, cephalopods, beetles of the firefly family, etc.). Consequently, plants need light primarily for photosynthesis, the most important process in the biosphere for the accumulation of energy and the creation of organic matter. For animals it has mainly informational value.
Human life resource Each of us ages faster when we begin to give away our inner resource left and right. Thoughtless distribution contributes to withering, decrepitness, and moral exhaustion. Let's talk a little about how to manage such a concept as a life resource and what can be done to direct your precious energy in the right direction. Olga V. contacted us. She is 42 years old. She describes her life this way: “My whole life is a continuous continuous cycle. In the morning I run to work, at lunchtime I meet with a friend and listen to her complain about her husband, then my mother-in-law calls me and complains about life. I have to talk to her even though I'm at work. In the evening I give advice to my daughter-in-law, then again I listen on the phone to complaints about the life of another friend. In general, I give myself away in parts. And there is no strength left for anything. I just run out of steam and fall. There is simply no strength left for my husband at all. What can I say about myself? A familiar situation for many, isn’t it? Often we do not attach great importance to our inner state, we do not even think about it. We do not find time for our personal needs, for our emotions, personal experiences. We don’t want to just stop for one moment and ask ourselves: “What do I want?” And we are not talking here about those pseudo desires that are imposed on us by society, but about those for which there is a need in our soul and our heart. Olga V. has not yet learned to enjoy solitude with herself, from the life around her, from a sense of respect for herself as an individual, as a Woman. And all her attention, as a rule, is directed not to herself, but to the outside world - to the society that surrounds her. And she wastes herself. She wastes her life resources on things that are absolutely unnecessary for her personally... Don’t you recognize yourself in such a situation? How often do you have to waste your life resource, your potential? It is necessary to understand that a person’s life potential is not unlimited. And over time, you can fizzle out, like old champagne in a never-opened bottle. There is a limit to everything. There are limits to everything... When you invest in situations that don't directly concern you, you just want to be good for others. It's very simple. Deep down in your soul, perhaps even on a subconscious level, you hope that in return these people will be grateful to you and someday repay you in kind. Perhaps you even think: “The more people are grateful to me, the more help I can count on in the future and, if necessary, I can turn to them.” But that's not true. These are your illusions, your ghostly fantasies. Believe me, it rarely occurs to people that they owe something to someone for some past involvement in their personal life. And what do we have in the end? We spend our life resource, which is far from limitless, in vain. Thanks to this, there is no longer any time and energy left for personal life. Even if you think that this is not so, but when you get involved in an extraneous situation, then automatically, absolutely unconsciously, you expect a response from the other side. But she won't be there. And you shouldn't wait for her. And if you were not really asked for help, then never expect a commensurate response. Surprisingly, such “concern” for others is a sign that you do not want to take care of your personal life. It is important to understand that help is nothing more than a targeted action. Help and share life resources only when asked. And in no case to the detriment of yourself personally and your beloved family. Tatiana Vetrova
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