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The Earth's Biosphere : Evolution, Dynamics, and Change
The Earth's Biosphere Evolution Dynamics and Change Author:Vaclav Smil In his latest book, Vaclav Smil tells the story of the Earths biosphere from its origins to its near- and long-term future. He explains the workings of its parts and what is known about their interactions. With essay-like flair, he examines the biospheres physics, chemistry, biology, geology, oceanography, energy, climatology, and ecology, as we... more »ll as the changes caused by human activity. He provides both the basics of the story and surprising asides illustrating critical but often neglected aspects of biospheric complexity.
Smil begins with a history of the modern idea of the biosphere, focusing on the development of the concept by Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky. He explores the probability of life elsewhere in the universe, lifes evolution and metabolism, and the biospheres extent, mass, productivity, and grand-scale organization. Smil offers fresh approaches to such well-known phenomena as solar radiation and plate tectonics and introduces lesser-known topics such as the quarter-power scaling of animal and plant metabolism across body sizes and metabolic pathways. He also examines two sets of fundamental relationships that have profoundly influenced the evolution of life and the persistence of the biosphere: symbiosis and the role of lifes complexity as a determinant of biomass productivity and resilience. And he voices concern about the future course of human-caused global environmental change, which could compromise the biospheres integrity and threaten the survival of modern civilization.« less