This article will familiarize you with the concept of “biosphere”, it will talk about what the structure of the biosphere is.
The term "biosphere" literally translates as "sphere of life." It was first introduced into science by the Austrian scientist Eduard Suess in 1875. The biologist J. B. Lamarck later emphasized that all the elements that form the crust on the surface of the globe were formed due to the activity of living organisms. The modern interpretation of the concept of “biosphere” implies a peculiar shell of the Earth, in which all living organisms exist and fragments of the planet’s substance that continuously interact with them. Its formation began about 3.8 billion years ago, during the origin of the first organisms on Earth. The biosphere and its structure are one of the elements of the hierarchical structure of nature. The composition of this shell includes the upper part of the lithosphere, the entire hydrosphere and the lower segment of the atmosphere.
The structure of the biosphere suggests the presence of:
- Living matter made up by living organisms that inhabit our planet.
- The biogenic substance created during the functioning of organisms resulting from the processing and creation by organisms (atmospheric gases, oil, peat, coal, limestone, etc.). Since the inception of the first living organisms, they have passed thousands of times through their organs, cells, blood, tissues, the entire world ocean, a considerable part of the atmosphere, a significant amount of mineral substances.
- Inert substance formed without the assistance of living organisms.
- Biocosal substance, which is the result of the interaction of non-biological processes and the vital activity of living organisms, being dynamically equilibrium complexes of one and the other (silt, soil, weathering crust, etc.). Organisms occupy a leading position in them.
- A substance that is in a state of radioactive decay.
- Scattered atoms, constantly arising from any terrestrial substance, as a result of exposure to cosmic radiation.
- Substances of an unearthly, cosmic nature.
Separately, it is necessary to describe in more detail the first point of such a concept as the structure of the biosphere. Living matter is a complex of bodies of living organisms. Its mass is small, compared with other components of the structure, only 2.4 - 3.6 · 1012 tons of dry weight. This is one millionth of the mass of the biosphere as a whole, which in turn is less than one thousandth of the mass of the planet. Despite such insignificance in weight, it is very significant as the geochemical power of the Earth, because organisms not only conduct their life in this shell, but also affect the transformation of the appearance of the planet, which is inhabited completely unevenly. Less commonly, they are found in the depths of the lithosphere and lithosphere, at a considerable height, and often live in soil, on the surface of the Earth and in the upper layers of the hydrosphere. The area of their distribution is largely determined by geographical latitude.
The structure of the biosphere, according to V.I. Vernadsky, who was the first to create the doctrine of the biosphere, has three components: the aerobiosphere, hydrobiosphere and geobiosphere.
Organisms live in the aerobiosphere, for the life of which the main element is air moisture. Drops of water in the air and aerosol components rising from the earth serve as necessary energy sources for the vital activity of microorganisms in this subsphere. In turn, it is divided (conditionally) into sub-spheres - the altobiosphere and tropobiosphere.
The hydrobiosphere is the entire water part of the planet, which is inhabited by hydrobionts. At the same time, the hydrobiosphere comprises the marinobiosphere (oceanic and sea waters) and the aquabiosphere (continental freshwater).
In the geobiosphere, geobionts are vital, for which the earth's earth is the optimal environment.
Humanity every year more and more affects the biosphere and interacts with it, causing irreversible changes. The environment of this process is called the “noosphere”. The biosphere and noosphere have been deeply studied by academicians: Vernadsky, Lysenko, Professor Lepeshinsky and many other outstanding minds of Russia and abroad.