BIOSPHERE

BIOSPHERE
from the Greek bios, "life",
and sphaira, "sphere"
self-supporting and self-
regulating system
global sum of all
ecosystems
BIOSPHERE
global ecological system
integrating all living
beings and their
relationships, including
their interaction with the
elements of the
lithosphere, geosphere,
hydrosphere, and
atmosphere
ORIGIN
has existed about 3.5
billion years
"biosphere" was coined
by geologist Eduard
Suess, which he
defined as the place on
Earth's surface where
life dwells (1875)
ORIGIN
The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning
with a process of biopoesis (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.
ORIGIN
the biosphere's earliest life-
forms, prokaryotes, survived
without oxygen
some prokaryotes developed
unique chemical process:
photosynthesis
over a long period of time, the
atmosphere developed a mix of
oxygen and other gases that
could sustain forms of life
ORIGIN
the addition of oxygen allowed more complex life-forms to
evolve
millions of different plants and photosynthetic species
developed
bacteria and other organisms evolved to decomposed, or
break down, dead animals and plants
BIOSPHERE
divided into a number
of biomes, inhabited by
fairly similar flora and
fauna
on land, biomes are
separated primarily by
latitude
BIOSPHERE
Biosphere 1, the planet Earth
Biosphere 2, laboratory in Arizona, United States, which
contains 3.15 acres (13,000 m2) of closed ecosystem
BIOS-3, a closed ecosystem at the Institute of Biophysics in
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in what was then the Soviet Union
Biosphere J (CEEF, Closed Ecology Experiment Facilities), an
experiment in Japan
The biosphere is sometimes thought of as one large ecosystem-
a complex community of living and non-living things functioning
as a single unit. More often, however, biosphere is described as
having many ecosystems.