CG: n
CT: The firm, generative connection between life and the gases of the biosphere is more profound than it seems at first sight. The gases of the biosphere are generatively linked with living matter which, in turn, determines the essential chemical composition of the atmosphere. We dealt earlier with this phenomenon, in speaking of gaseous exchange in relation to the creation and control of multiplication and the geochemical energry of organisms.
S: VIV – https://bit.ly/3oayhfQ (p. 87) (last access: 8 January 2021)
N: 1. 1899, “Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere as the realm of living organisms,” from German Biosphäre (1875), which was coined by German geologist Eduard Suess.
2. The biosphere is the regions of the surface and atmosphere of the Earth or another planet occupied by living organisms.
3. The biosphere has existed for about 3.5 billion years. The biosphere’s earliest life-forms, called prokaryotes, survived without oxygen. Ancient prokaryotes included single-celled organisms such as bacteria and archaea.
4. The addition of oxygen to the biosphere allowed more complex life-forms to evolve. Millions of different plants and other photosynthetic species developed. Animals, which consume plants (and other animals) evolved. Bacteria and other organisms evolved to decompose, or break down, dead animals and plants. The biosphere benefits from this food web since the remains of dead plants and animals release nutrients into the soil and ocean. These nutrients are reabsorbed by growing plants. This exchange of food and energy makes the biosphere a self-supporting and self-regulating system.
5. The biosphere extends from the deepest root systems of trees to the dark environment of ocean trenches, to lush rain forests and high mountaintops. It measures about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from top to bottom, almost all life exists between 500 meters (1,640 feet) below the ocean’s surface to about 6 kilometres (3.75 miles) above sea level.
6. Scientists describe the Earth in terms of spheres. The solid surface layer of the Earth is the lithosphere. The atmosphere is the layer of air that stretches above the lithosphere. The Earth’s water (on the surface, in the ground, and in the air) make up the hydrosphere. Since life exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water, the biosphere overlaps all these spheres.
7. Biosphere reserves play an important role in preserving the biosphere due to the fact that people and the pollution we create have many negative impacts such as; oxygen levels decreases and carbon dioxide levels increases which occur when forests are cleared or when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burnt. Oil spills and industrial wastes threaten life in the hydrosphere. The future of the biosphere will depend on how people interact with it.
8. In the early 1970s, the United Nations established a project called Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), which promotes sustainable development. A network of biosphere reserves exists to establish a working, balanced relationship between people and the natural world. Currently, there are 563 biosphere reserves all over the world. The first biosphere reserve was established in Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo, in the fertile Congo River Basin, has 32,000 species of trees and such endemic species as forest elephants and red river hogs. The biosphere reserve at Yangambi supports activities such as sustainable agriculture, hunting, and mining. One of the newest biosphere reserves is in Yayu, Ethiopia.
S: 1. OED – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=biosphere&ref=searchbar_searchhint (last access: 8 January 2021). 2. OD – https://www.lexico.com/definition/biosphere (last access: 8 January 2021). 3 to 8. NatGeo. – https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/biosphere/ (last access: 8 January 2021).
SYN: ecosphere
S: MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecosphere (last access: 8 January 2021)
CR: air pollution, biome, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, climate change, CO2 emissions, ecology, environment, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, ionosphere, life cycle, mesopause, mesosphere, methane, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxide, nitrous oxide, ozone layer, preservation of biodiversity, stratosphere, stratospheric ozone, tropospheric ozone.
