Biosphere

The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed (apart from solar and cosmic radiation and heat from the interior of the Earth), and self-regulating system.[1] From the broadest biophysiologicalpoint of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning through a process of biogenesis or biopoesis, at least some 3.5 billion years ago.[2] In a broader sense; biospheres are any closed, self-regulating systems containing ecosystems; including artificial ones such asBiosphere 2 and BIOS-3; and, potentially, ones on other planets or moons.[3]

Origin and use of the term[edit]

The term "biosphere" was coined by geologist Eduard Suess in 1875, which he defined as:[4] "The place on Earth's surface where life dwells." While this concept has a geological origin, it is an indication of the impact of both Charles Darwin and Matthew F. Maury on the Earth sciences. The biosphere's ecological context comes from the 1920s (see Vladimir I. Vernadsky), preceding the 1935 introduction of the term "ecosystem" by Sir Arthur Tansley (see ecology history). Vernadsky defined ecology as the science of the biosphere. It is an interdisciplinary concept for integrating astronomy, geophysics, meteorology, biogeography, evolution, geology, geochemistry, hydrology and, generally speaking, all life and Earth sciences.

Narrow definition
Some life scientists and Earth scientists use biosphere in a more limited sense. For example, geochemists define the biosphere as being the total sum of living organisms (the "biomass" or "biota" as referred to by biologists and ecologists). In this sense, the biosphere is but one of four separate components of the geochemical model, the other three being lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The narrow meaning used by geochemists is one of the consequences of specialization in modern science. Some might prefer the word ecosphere, coined in the 1960s, as all encompassing of both biological and physical components of the planet. The Second International Conference on Closed Life Systems defined biospherics as the science and technology of analogs and models ofEarth's biosphere; i.e., artificial Earth-like biospheres. Others may include the creation of artificial non-Earth biospheresfor example, human-centered biospheres or a native Martian biospherein the field of biospherics.

Gaia hypothesis[edit]
In the early 1970s, the British chemist James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, a microbiologist from the United States, added to the hypothesis, specifically noting the ties between the biosphere and other Earth systems. For example, when carbon dioxide levels increase in the atmosphere, plants grow more quickly. As their growth continues, they remove more and more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Many scientists are now involved in new fields of study that examine interactions between biotic and abiotic factors in the biosphere, such asgeobiology and geomicrobiology. Ecosystems occur when communities and their physical environment work together as a system. The difference between this and a biosphere is simple, the biosphere is everything in general terms.