![]() The actual thickness of the biosphere on earth is difficult to measure. 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. Xenophyophore, a barophilic organism, from the Galapagos Rift.Įvery part of the planet, from the polar ice caps to the equator, features life of some kind. then it could be common in the universe." Extent According to biologist Stephen Blair Hedges, "If life arose relatively quickly on Earth. ![]() In 2017, putative fossilized microorganisms (or microfossils) were announced to have been discovered in hydrothermal vent precipitates in the Nuvvuagittuq Belt of Quebec, Canada that were as old as 4.28 billion years, the oldest record of life on earth, suggesting "an almost instantaneous emergence of life" after ocean formation 4.4 billion years ago, and not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 billion years ago. More recently, in 2015, "remains of biotic life" were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. The earliest evidence for life on Earth includes biogenic graphite found in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks from Western Greenland and microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone from Western Australia. Stromatolite fossil estimated at 3.2–3.6 billion years old Others may include the creation of artificial non-Earth biospheres-for example, human-centered biospheres or a native Martian biosphere-as part of the topic of biospherics. The Second International Conference on Closed Life Systems defined biospherics as the science and technology of analogs and models of Earth's biosphere i.e., artificial Earth-like biospheres. This term was coined during the 1960s and encompasses both biological and physical components of the planet. When these four component spheres are combined into one system, it is known as the Ecosphere. In this sense, the biosphere is but one of four separate components of the geochemical model, the other three being geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Geochemists define the biosphere as being the total sum of living organisms (the " biomass" or " biota" as referred to by biologists and ecologists). It is an interdisciplinary concept for integrating astronomy, geophysics, meteorology, biogeography, evolution, geology, geochemistry, hydrology and, generally speaking, all life and Earth sciences. Vernadsky defined ecology as the science of the biosphere. Vernadsky), preceding the 1935 introduction of the term " ecosystem" by Sir Arthur Tansley (see ecology history). The biosphere's ecological context comes from the 1920s (see Vladimir I. While the concept has a geological origin, it is an indication of the effect of both Charles Darwin and Matthew F. The term "biosphere" was coined by geologist Eduard Suess in 1875, which he defined as the place on Earth's surface where life dwells. Ī beach scene on Earth, simultaneously showing the lithosphere (ground), hydrosphere (ocean) and atmosphere (air) This includes artificial biospheres such as Biosphere 2 and BIOS-3, and potentially ones on other planets or moons. In a general sense, biospheres are any closed, self-regulating systems containing ecosystems. The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning with a process of biopoiesis (life created naturally from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds) or biogenesis (life created from living matter), at least some 3.5 billion years ago. By the most general biophysiological definition, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. However it is a self-regulating system close to energetic equilibrium. With regard to energy, it is an open system, with photosynthesis capturing solar energy at a rate of around 130 Terawatts per year. The biosphere is virtually a closed system with regard to matter, with minimal inputs and outputs. It can also be termed the zone of life on Earth. The biosphere (from Greek βίος bíos "life" and σφαῖρα sphaira "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος oîkos "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE. A false-color composite of global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance, from September 2001 to August 2017.
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