Assignment on BIOSPHERE

Assignment-1
Course Title: BIOGEOGRAPHY
Course Code: 2203

Submitted By
Name: ARAFAT HOSSAIN
ID: B170602018
Session: 2017-18
Dept. of Geography & Environment

Submitted To
Name: MD. MOHIUDDIN
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Geography & Environment
Jagannath University
Dhaka

Submission Date: 24th June, 2021

 1

THE BIOSPHERE
What is Biosphere?

 Biosphere is where life exists on Earth. Where ever there is life on earth, it’s a part
of the Biosphere.
 The biosphere is unique. So far there has been no existence of life elsewhere in
the universe.
 Life on Earth depends on the sun. Energy, provided as sun light, is captured by
plants, some bacteria and protests, in the marvelous phenomenon of
photosynthesis.
 The captured energy transforms carbon dioxide into organic compounds such as
sugars and produces oxygen.
 The vast majority of species of animals, fungi, parasitic plants and many bacteria
depend directly or indirectly on photosynthesis.
 2

Definition and concept

The part of the earth system comprising all ecosystem and living organisms in the
atmosphere, on the land or in the oceans including derived dead organic matter, such as
litter, soil organic matter and oceanic detritus, is known as biosphere.

Biosphere, relatively thin life-supporting stratum of Earth’s surface, extending from a few
kilometers into the atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the ocean. The biosphere is a
global ecosystem composed of living organisms (biota) and the abiotic (nonliving) factors
from which they derive energy and nutrients.
The biosphere is made up of the parts of Earth where life exists. The biosphere extends
from the deepest root systems of trees, to the dark environment of ocean trenches,
to lush rain forests and high mountaintops.
Scientists describe the Earth in terms of spheres. The solid surface layer of the Earth is
the lithosphere. The atmosphere is the layer of air that stretches above the lithosphere.
The Earth’s water—on the surface, in the ground, and in the air—makes
up the hydrosphere.
Since life exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water, the biosphere overlaps all these
spheres. Although the biosphere measures about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from top to
bottom, almost all life exists between about 500 meters (1,640 feet) below the ocean’s
surface to about 6 kilometers (3.75 miles) above sea level.
 3

Origin of the Biosphere

The biosphere has existed for about 3.5 billion years. The biosphere’s earliest life-
forms, called prokaryotes, survived without oxygen. Ancient prokaryotes included
single-celled organisms such as bacteria and archaea.

Some prokaryotes developed a unique chemical process. They were able to use sunlight
to make simple sugars and oxygen out of water and carbon dioxide, a process called
photosynthesis. These photosynthetic organisms were so plentiful that they changed the
biosphere. Over a long period of time, the atmosphere developed a mix of oxygen and
other gases that could sustain new forms of life.

The addition of oxygen to the biosphere allowed more complex life-forms to evolve.
Millions of different plants and other photosynthetic species developed. Animals,
which consume plants (and other animals) evolved. Bacteria and other organisms
evolved to decompose, or break down, dead animals and plants.

The biosphere benefits from this food web. The remains of dead plants and animals
release nutrients into the soil and ocean. These nutrients are re-absorbed by growing
plants. This exchange of food and energy makes the biosphere a self-supporting and
self-regulating system.

The biosphere is sometimes thought of as one large ecosystem—a complex community

of living and nonliving things functioning as a single unit. More often, however, the
biosphere is described as having many ecosystems.

Sub systems of biosphere

The biosphere consists of two major systems viz.,
(i) Terrestrial biomes systems and
(ii) Aquatic biomes systems.

The terrestrial biomes systems are further comprised of three subsystems viz.
1. plant system,
2. animal system and
3. soil system.
These subsystems are intimately interrelated among themselves through the cyclic
pathways of movements and transfer of energy and materials (fig. 40.2) whereas the
aquatic biomes systems are also composed of three sub-systems viz.
1. plant system,
2. animal system and
3. nutrients.
 4

These three sub-systems of aquatic biomes system of the bio sphere are also intimately
interrelated through cyclic pathways of movements of energy and matter among
themselves.
systems through temperature changes, water flow, fire, excavation (mining),
constructional works etc. The chemical factors affect the composition of the atmosphere
which in turn affects climate which ultimately affects the ecosystems. Water and soil
composition is highly modified by chemical elements and thus modified soil and water
affect the ecosystems. The biological factors like cropping patterns, population
characteristics, manipulation of species density and distribution and species genetics also
affect the ecosystems.

Limits of biosphere
Biosphere refers to the narrow zone of the earth in which all life forms exist. This is the
zone in which all the three essentials things which are required for sustenance of life are
found in a correct combination land or the lithosphere, air or the atmosphere, and water
or the hydrosphere. This narrow zone is a place where lithosphere, atmosphere and
hydrosphere meet. It extends vertically into the atmosphere to a downward into the ocean
to depths of about 10.4 km and into about 27,000 it of the earth's surface where maximum
living organism have been found. There are some life forms which are found
in extreme Two examples of this type are algae and thermophilic. Algae which are
supposed to be one of the earliest forms of life can exist even in the most hostile
environment such as frozen Antarctica. On the other e thermophilic bacteria usually
 5

inhabit deep sea volcanic vents having a temperature of more than 300°C. In fact, these
bacteria cannot survive in a temperature below boiling point.

However, most living things are confined to a narrow band which permits the capture of
solar energy through the process of photosynthesis, which is essential for any organic
life. This narrow region extends 180-200 feet below sea level to the highest value of
snowline in tropical and sub-tropical mountain ranges i.e., 6.550M above sea levels.

Components of the biosphere

If we consider the whole of the biosphere as an ecosystem at global scale, the
components of the biosphere and the biospheric ecosystem become the same. The total
physical environment at global scale also contains the same components as those of the
biosphere and the ecosystem (biospheric ecosystem). The biosphere, the ecosystem
and the environment consist of three components
• Inorganic or abiotic or physical components,
• Energy component and
• Biotic or organic component.

It may be pointed out that energy component may also be considered with abiotic
component.

1. Abiotic Components

The abiotic or inorganic or physical component of the bisophere or the ecosystem

represents physical environment of the whole biosphere or part thereof. This
component, on an average, includes the lithosphere, the atmosphere and the
 6

hydrosphere. Generally, these are considered as land and or soil, air and water
respectively. If the whole of the biosphere is taken to be an ecosystem at global scale,
these three physical or abiotic components are considered as the sub-systems of
biospheric system (ecosystem).

A. Lithospheric or land components

B. Atmospheric or air components
C. Hydrospheric or water components

(2) Biotic Components

Biotic or organic components of the bio sphere consist of three subsystems

a. Plant system,
b. animal system including man and
c. Micro-organisms.

Of these three sub-systems plants are the most important because plants alone
produce organic matters which are used by themselves and by animals including
microorganisms either directly or indirectly. Plants also make the cycling and recycling
of organic matter and nutrients possible in different components of the biospheric
ecosystem.
 7

The importance of the biosphere

The continued functioning of the biosphere is dependent not only on the maintenance of
the intimate interactions among the myriad species within local communities but also on
the looser yet crucial interactions of all species and communities around the
globe. Earth is blanketed with so many species and so many different kinds of biological
communities because populations have been able to adapt to almost any kind
of environment on Earth through natural selection. Life-forms have evolved that are able
to survive in the ocean depths, the frigid conditions of Antarctica, and the near-boiling
temperatures of geysers. The great richness of adaptation found among different
populations and species of living organisms is Earth’s greatest resource. It is a richness
that has evolved over millions of years and is irreplaceable.

It is therefore startling to realize that our inventory of Earth’s diversity is still so

incomplete that the total number of living species cannot be estimated more closely
than between 3 and 30 million species. Decades of continuous research must be
carried out by systematics, ecologists, and geneticists before the inventory
of biodiversity provides a more accurate count. The research has been slow. Only
recently, as the extinction rate of species has been increasing rapidly, have societies
begun to realize the interdependence of species. To sustain life on Earth, more than the
few animal and plant species used by humans must be preserved. The flow of energy and
the cycling of nutrients through ecosystems, the regulation of populations, and the stability
of biological communities, all of which support the continued maintenance of
life, rely on the diversity of species, their adaptations to local physical conditions, and
their coevolved relationships.