The Biosphere

The Earth System

Lineage of the Concept

• Eduard Suess (1831-1914), Austrian geologist, introduced ``biosphere''
• Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (Vernadskii, 1863-1945), Russian mineralogist, introduced and described modern concept
• Evelyn Hutchinson (1903-1991), US ecologist, introduced Vernadsky to the English-speaking world (Smil, 2002)

Modern concept of the biosphere

• Physical domain of life
• Geological force
• Irreducible whole, complex adaptive system

Meet the Biosphere

``Laws of ecology''

1. Everything is connected to everything else
2. Everything must go somewhere
3. Nature (usually) knows best
4. There is no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAFL)

From Commoner (1971)