The Dynamics of the Biosphere

Abstract

The biosphere is the thin, interconnected system of all living things and three environmental matrices of atmosphere, ocean, and soil. Organisms are coupled to each other in the traditional ecological interactions, such as the food webs. But organisms are also coupled by nutrient intakes from the matrices and waste inputs to the matrices. All together, these intakes and inputs create a global metabolism. The result is a biosphere system in which wastes from certain biochemical guilds of organisms are nutrients for other guilds, and in which free by-products from different guilds have affected the large-scale chemistry and thus habitability of the biosphere‘s environmental matrices. Today, humans, through the combustion of fossil fuels and the waste emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, are altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and the other environmental matrices, faster than the global carbon cycle can adjust. We are responsible for these changes, which will cause ever more global warming and other effects, and therefore we must look for ways to create a more sustainable future.