A false-color composite of global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. A false-color image is an image that depicts a subject in Colors that differ from those a faithful full-color photograph would show Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE. SeaWiFS stands for Sea -viewing Wi de '''F'''ield-of-view S ensor The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program The Goddard Space Flight Center ( GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight GeoEye ( (formerly Orbital Imaging Corporation or ORBIMAGE) is a commercial Satellite imagery company based in Dulles Virginia

The biosphere is the part of the Earth, including air, land, surface rocks, and water, within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 Temperature and layers The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude the mathematical relationship between temperature and altitude varies among five The lithosphere (IPA, from the Greek λίθος for "rocky" + σφαίρα for "sphere" is the solid outermost shell of a rocky Planet. Water is a common Chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of Life. Life is a state that distinguishes Organisms from non-living objects such as non-life and dead organisms being manifested by growth through Metabolism From the broadest biophysiological point 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. Geophysiology ( Geo, Earth + Physiology, the study of living bodies is the study of interaction among living organisms on the Earth operating Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of The lithosphere (IPA, from the Greek λίθος for "rocky" + σφαίρα for "sphere" is the solid outermost shell of a rocky Planet. A hydrosphere (from Greek ύδωρ - hydor, " Water " + σφαίρα - sphaira, " Sphere " Temperature and layers The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude the mathematical relationship between temperature and altitude varies among five This biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning through a process of biogenesis or biopoesis, at least some 3. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Biogenesis is the process of Lifeforms producing other lifeforms e In the Natural sciences, Abiogenesis, or origin of life, is the study of how Life on Earth emerged from Inanimate Organic 5 billion years ago.

Biomass accounts for about 3. Biomass, in Ecology, is the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or Ecosystem at a given time 7 kg carbon per square meter of the earth's surface averaged over land and sea, making a total of about 1900 gigatonnes of carbon. This article is about the tonne or metric ton For other tons see Ton.

Origin and use of the term

The term "biosphere" was coined by geologist Eduard Suess in 1875, which he defined as:^[1]

While this concept has a geological origin, it is an indication of the impact of both Darwin and Maury on the earth sciences. Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life Matthew Fontaine Maury ( January 14, 1806 &ndash February 1, 1873) USN was an American Astronomer, Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth Sciences) is an all-embracing term for the Sciences related to the planet 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). Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (Володимир Іванович Вернадський/Владимир Иванович Вернадский ( - January 6 1945 An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( Sir Arthur George Tansley ( August 15, 1871 - November 25, 1955) was an English Botanist who was a pioneer in the science Ecology is generally spoken of as a new science having only become prominent in the second half of the 20th Century Vernadsky defined ecology as the science of the biosphere. Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of It is an interdisciplinary concept for integrating astronomy, geophysics, meteorology, biogeography, evolution, geology, geochemistry, hydrology and, generally speaking, all life and earth sciences. In Academia, Pedagogy, Physical sciences, Earth sciences, Human sciences and Social sciences Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study Geophysics, a major discipline of Earth sciences, is the study of the Earth by quantitative physical methods especially by seismic, electromagnetic Meteorology (from Greek grc μετέωρος metéōros, "high in the sky" and grc -λογία -logia) is the Interdisciplinary Biogeography is the study of the distribution of Biodiversity over Space and Time. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other Planets chemical processes and reactions that govern the composition Hydrology (from Greek Yδωρ hudōr, "water" and λόγος logos, "study" is the study of the movement distribution and quality of

Narrow definition

A familiar scene on Earth which simultaneously shows the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.

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). Biomass, in Ecology, is the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or Ecosystem at a given time Biota is the total collection of Organisms of a geographic region or a time period from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet 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 lithosphere (IPA, from the Greek λίθος for "rocky" + σφαίρα for "sphere" is the solid outermost shell of a rocky Planet. A hydrosphere (from Greek ύδωρ - hydor, " Water " + σφαίρα - sphaira, " Sphere " Temperature and layers The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude the mathematical relationship between temperature and altitude varies among five 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 of Earth's biosphere; i. Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, Graphical and or mathematical models. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 e. , artificial Earth-like biospheres. Others may include the creation of artificial non-Earth biospheres — for example, human-centered biospheres or a native Martian biosphere — in the field of biospherics.

Gaia's biosphere

The concept that the biosphere is itself a living organism, either actually or metaphorically, is known as the Gaia hypothesis. The Gaia hypothesis is an ecological Hypothesis proposing that the Biosphere and the physical components of the Earth ( Atmosphere

James Lovelock, an atmospheric scientist from the United Kingdom, proposed the Gaia hypothesis to explain how biotic and abiotic factors interact in the biosphere. Dr James Ephraim Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS (born 26 July 1919) is an independent scientist author researcher environmentalist and This hypothesis considers Earth itself a kind of living organism. Its atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere are cooperating systems that yield a biosphere full of life. in the early 1970s, Lynn Margulis, a microbiologist from the United States, added to the hypothesis specifically noting the ties between the biosphere and other Earth systems. Lynn Margulis (born March 5, 1938) is an American Biologist and University Professor in the Department of Geosciences For example, when carbon dioxide levels increase in the atmosphere, plants grow more quickly. Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single As their growth continue, they remove more and more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Many scientists are now devoting their careers to organizing new fields of study, such as geobiology and geomicrobiology, to examine these intriguing relationships . Broadly defined geobiology is an Interdisciplinary field of Scientific research that explores interactions between the Biosphere and the Lithosphere Geomicrobiology is a subset of the scientific discipline Microbiology.

Extent of Earth's biosphere

Nearly every part of the planet, from the polar ice caps to the Equator, supports life of some kind. Earth's polar regions are the areas of the globe surrounding the poles also known as frigid zones. The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth 's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Recent advances in microbiology have demonstrated that microbes live deep beneath the Earth's terrestrial surface, and that the total mass of microbial life in so-called "uninhabitable zones" may, in biomass, exceed all animal and plant life on the surface. Microbiology (from Greek grc μῑκρος mīkros, "small" grc βίος bios, " Life " and grc -λογία

The actual thickness of the biosphere on earth is hard to measure. Birds typically fly at altitudes of 650 to 2000 meters, and fish that live deep underwater can be found down to -8,372 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench. The Puerto Rico Trench is an Oceanic trench located on the boundary between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

There are more extreme examples for life on the planet: Rüppell's Vulture has been found at altitudes of 11,300 meters; Bar-headed Geese migrate at altitudes of at least 8,300 meters (over Mount Everest); Yaks live at elevations between 3,200 to 5,400 meters above sea level; mountain goats live up to 3,050 meters. Rüppell's Vulture ( Gyps rueppellii) is a large Vulture that ranges across much of central Africa, including Ethiopia, the The Bar-headed Goose ( Anser indicus) is a Goose which breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes Mount Everest, also called Sagarmatha (सगरमाथा meaning Head of the Sky) or Chomolungma, Qomolangma or Zhumulangma (in Herbivorous animals at these elevations depend on lichens, grasses, and herbs but the biggest tree is the Tine palm or mountain coconut found 3,400 meters above sea level.

Microscopic organisms live at such extremes that, taking them into consideration puts the thickness of the biosphere much greater. Culturable microbes have been found in the Earth's upper atmosphere as high as 41km (Wainwright et al, 2003, in FEMS Microbiology Letters). It is unlikely, however, that microbes are active at such altitudes, where temperatures and air pressure are extremely low and ultraviolet radiation very high. More likely these microbes were brought into the upper atmosphere by winds or possibly volcanic eruptions. Barophilic marine microbes have been found at more than 10km depth in the Marianas Trench (Takamia et al, 1997, in FEMS Microbiology Letters).

Microbes are not limited to the air, water or the Earth's surface. Culturable thermophilic microbes have been extracted from cores drilled more than 5km into the Earth's crust in Sweden (Gold, 1992, and Szewzyk, 1994, both in PNAS), from rocks between 65-75C. Temperature increases rapidly with increasing depth into the Earth's crust. The speed at which the temperature increases depends on many factors, including type of crust (continental vs. oceanic), rock type, geographic location, etc. The upper known limit of microbial is 121C (Kashefi & Lovely, 2003, in Science), and it is likely that the limit of life in the "deep biosphere" is defined by temperature rather than absolute depth.

Our biosphere is divided into a number of biomes, inhabited by broadly similar flora and fauna. A biome is a climatically and geographically defined area of ecologically similar climatic conditions such as communities of Plants Animals and In Botany, flora ( Plural: floras or florae has two meanings The first meaning flora of an area or of time period, refers to all Fauna is all of the Animal life of any particular region or time On land, biomes are separated primarily by latitude. Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi ( Φ) gives the location of a place on Earth (or other planetary body north or south of the Terrestrial biomes lying within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles are relatively barren of plant and animal life, while most of the more populous biomes lie near the equator. The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles (or parallels of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth 's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Terrestrial organisms in temperate and Arctic biomes have relatively small amounts of total biomass, smaller energy budgets, and display prominent adaptations to cold, including world-spanning migrations, social adaptations, homeothermy, estivation and multiple layers of insulation. In Biology, a warm-blooded Animal species is one whose members maintain thermal Homeostasis; that is they keep their body temperature at a roughly constant Estivation or aestivation (from Latin aestas, summer also known as "summer sleep" is a state of Dormancy somewhat similar

Specific biospheres

When the word Biosphere is followed by a number, it is usually referring to a specific system. Thus:

• Biosphere 1 - The planet Earth
• Biosphere 2 - A laboratory in Arizona which contains 3. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 Biosphere 2 is a 314-acre (127 ha) structure originally built to be an artificial closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona ( USA 15 acres (13,000 m²) of closed ecosystem.
• BIOS-3 was a closed ecosystem at the Institute of Biophysics in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in what was then the Soviet Union. BIOS-3 was a closed ecosystem at the Institute of Biophysics in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in what was then the Soviet Union.
• Biosphere J - An experiment in Japan.

Hyperbaric biosphere

In 1999, Carl Baugh patented a small "hyperbaric biosphere" chamber, designed to emulate the conditions thought by him to exist on the early earth, providing double atmospheric pressure, enhanced oxygen, and protection from ultraviolet radiation, while magnetic coils attempt to make up for earth's reduced magnetic field;^[2] a much larger hyperbaric biosphere is currently under construction in the same location. Carl Edward Baugh (born 1936 is an American Young earth creationist who with others claims to have discovered Human alongside Dinosaur A diving chamber or submersible chamber has two main functions as a simpler form of submersible vessel to take divers Underwater Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the Ultraviolet ( UV) light is Electromagnetic radiation with a Wavelength shorter than that of Visible light, but longer than X-rays Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy In Physics, magnetism is one of the Phenomena by which Materials exert attractive or repulsive Forces on other Materials. A coil is a series of loops A coiled coil is a structure where the coil itself is in turn also looping Earth 's magnetic field (and the surface magnetic field) is approximately a Magnetic dipole, with one pole near the North pole (see ^[3]

See also

References

External links

• GLOBIO.info, an ongoing programme to map the past, current and future impacts of human activities on the biosphere
• Paul Crutzen Interview Freeview video of Paul Crutzen Nobel Laureate for his work on decomposition of ozone talking to Harry Kroto Nobel Laureate by the Vega Science Trust.