EARTH’S FOUR MAIN SYSTEMS

Do you know what an ecosystem is?

An ecosystem is all of the living and non-living natural elements in a specific

location. Every place has its own ecosystem. There is a distinct ecosystem in the
region where you live that is different from one even a few miles away.

You might have heard about how important a healthy ecosystem is to the lives of
everyone and everything living in it – we need clean air to breathe and water to
drink, and that largely depends upon the condition of our local ecosystems. There
are a lot of factors that influence what is in an ecosystem, but what makes
different ecosystems healthy, functional, and unique are the Earth’s four main
systems that work together to create the planet as we know it.

The health of the environment depends on how well we all treat these four
systems. We protect these systems when we recycle plastic and other materials
that build up in landfills, when we plant trees, when we use energy-efficient light
bulbs, and when we make sure we don’t waste water. However, when we neglect
to care for one part of the ecosystem – our forests, for example – there are
environmental consequences that harm other parts of the ecosystem. When
forests are destroyed, animals die because their habitats (homes) and food
sources have been removed. Rains can flood surrounding towns and cities
because the water isn’t being absorbed and redirected by forest trees and plants.
Air quality (how clean the air is) can suffer because forests filter pollution from the
air through the process of photosynthesis. (Photosynthesis is the chemical
process green plants use to create nutrients from carbon dioxide.)

Many systems make the planet Earth a living, breathing environment, but four
systems encompass every one of Earth’s characteristics. We call these systems
“spheres” because, like the planet, they are round. While there are lots of smaller
spheres within four main systems, the four main spheres are the biosphere (all
living things including plants, animals, and microbes), the lithosphere (all rock
formations on the solid outer portion of the Earth), the hydrosphere (all bodies of
water on the surface of the Earth as well as in rainclouds), and
the atmosphere (all of the gasses around the Earth).

There are also other systems related to the four main spheres, including the
cryosphere (all frozen surfaces), the geosphere (all rock in the lithosphere and
below the upper mantle), and the pedosphere (all soil and sand).

But… how do the Earth’s systems affect you?

No matter where you live, you are affected by the Earth’s systems. Even if you live
in a big city surrounded by buildings, the Earth’s systems still influence your daily
activities. The Earth’s systems create different weather conditions, so if you want
to go for a walk and it suddenly starts raining, your plans have been affected by
the systems.

And the health of the systems also has long-term effects on your life. It might not
seem as though rock formations and lakes have anything to do with your lifestyle
if you live in an apartment building hundreds of miles away from the nearest
forest. However, you need water to live, and the quality of your water supply is
influenced by the health of these systems.

If you want to understand just how the systems work and how they play a part in
your daily life, here is a closer look at the four main systems and how they interact
to create a healthy planet for all living things.
Biosphere

The biosphere consists of all parts of the planet where life can be found. This
includes all life found in the air, the ocean, and on land. It is called
the biosphere because the prefix, “bio,” means “life.”

Because the biosphere includes all living things, the system includes all of the
places on the planet where life can grow and survive. Within the biosphere there
are lots of ecosystems that support all different kinds of life. This is because the
other spheres relate to each other in different ways throughout the planet. For
example, the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere (the frozen
surfaces) affect regional temperatures, which create different environments that
produce different life forms. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, the animals and
plants you see in the wild near your home are very different from the animals and
plants you would find in the Southeastern U.S. This is because the biosphere has
been affected by the other spheres and created different conditions.

There has been a biosphere on Earth for approximately 3.5 billion years. The
earliest life forms were called prokaryotes, which are single-celled organisms
without a nucleus (bacteria are prokaryotes). While prokaryotes existed before
oxygen entered the biosphere, far more complex organisms were able to evolve
after oxygen was introduced.

Lithosphere

The lithosphere consists of all the parts of the planet that contain minerals in the
form of solid rock. This includes mountains that are tens of thousands of feet
above sea level, and down through the Earth’s crust and into the upper mantle.
The mantle is the part of the Earth that is right above the outer core near the
center. It is called the lithosphere because the prefix “lithos” means “stone.”
The lithosphere is divided into two types: Oceanic lithosphere and continental
lithosphere. Oceanic lithosphere is underneath the oceans, while continental
lithosphere is underneath land. The oceanic lithosphere is slightly different from
the continental lithosphere because the oceanic lithosphere is denser than the
continental lithosphere, which means that the minerals that make up the rock are
packed more tightly. Continental lithosphere is mainly granite rock, while oceanic
lithosphere is mainly basalt.

Hydrosphere

The hydrosphere is all of the water on the planet. This includes the oceans, rivers,
and lakes above ground, and the groundwater below ground. The hydrosphere
also includes water in rainclouds and water vapor in the humid air. Can you guess
why it’s called the hydrosphere? It’s because “hydro” means water!

All of the water on the planet travels through what is called the water cycle. The
water cycle is the evaporation of water that collects in rain clouds. When the rain
or snow falls, it then collects in our oceans, rivers, and lakes. The heat from the
sun causes it to evaporate, and the process begins again.

The frozen parts of the Earth have their own sphere, too. The frozen portion of the
hydrosphere is called the cryosphere. The cryosphere includes permafrost, which
is frozen ground, as well as frozen sheets of ice, snowpack’s, and glaciers. The
two largest ice sheets in the world are on Greenland and Antarctica. Ice sheets
are important environmental resources because they have an effect on global
climate – the ice reflects solar radiation away from the Earth and back into outer
space, helping to keep the planet cool.
Atmosphere

The atmosphere is the collection of gasses that surround the Earth. These gasses
are mostly oxygen and nitrogen, but also include carbon dioxide, argon, and
helium, as well as very small amounts of other gasses. “Atmos” means “vapor” in
Greek.

Keeping the atmosphere healthy and intact is very important for all life on the
planet. In addition to supplying essential oxygen, the atmosphere filters out most
of the dangerous ultraviolet radiation from the sun while allowing the warmth to
penetrate. While sunshine is essential for all life forms, ultraviolet radiation is
extremely harmful, and is the cause of sunburn as well as skin cancer.

All of these spheres are essential to the health of the planet. They all interact and
change each other, resulting in differences in temperature and land formation, and
can either help or hurt living creatures’ ability to survive in different environments.
How do Earth’s Main Systems Interact?

The four spheres – the biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere –

are constantly interacting. We can see some of these interactions daily during our
normal routines. Some, like rainfall, occur constantly. Others, like the formation of
rivers and streams, occur slowly over hundreds of thousands of years. Here are
some of the ways the Earth’s spheres interact.

The Hydrosphere and Atmosphere Create Weather

Have you ever seen satellite pictures of a hurricane over the ocean? If so, you’re
seeing the violent interaction between the hydrosphere and the atmosphere.
Hurricanes only occur over tropical oceans when there are high winds. When the
ocean and the atmosphere are warm, the water evaporates into the atmosphere
and becomes water vapor. The water vapor condenses (turns from vapor back
into liquid) and releases heat that causes more evaporation, and more water to
condense. This interaction between the hydrosphere and atmosphere fuels the
storm.

Rainfall is the far milder result of the hydrosphere interacting with the atmosphere.
When the energy of the sun causes water from the ocean to evaporate, the water
molecules move into the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, the water
molecules continue to collect and condense into clouds until they become too
heavy to remain suspended. They then fall to the Earth as rain.

In the rainforests, the biosphere also interacts with the hydrosphere and
atmosphere to create rainfall. The forests in the Amazon absorb water from the
soil and release water vapor stored in their leaves during photosynthesis, which
creates low rainclouds and rain. Rainforests are unique because they experience
almost continuous rainfall – their annual rainfall can be as much as 14 feet.
The Hydrosphere and Biosphere Create Life

The biosphere and hydrosphere intersect constantly – all living things need a
water supply to survive. Some organisms have a constant water supply from lakes
or rivers, while others need to absorb water from the plants and animals they eat.

The ocean is also the interconnection between the hydrosphere and biosphere.
There is a diverse assortment of life forms in the oceans, and the type of life that
flourishes depends upon the environmental conditions within the hydrosphere.

The Biosphere and Lithosphere Make Things Grow

The biosphere and lithosphere interact through soil systems (soils and sands are
their own sphere, called the pedosphere). Not only does the soil and sand provide
an anchor for the plant, the soil and sand store minerals that the plants absorb.
Soil type and quality influence the organisms that live within the soil, as well as the
type of plants that can grow. Additionally, the landscape also influences the type
of life that can flourish – a slope will have different kinds of plants growing on it
than a flat surface, for example.

The Lithosphere and Hydrosphere Create Bodies of Water

The hydrosphere influences the lithosphere most clearly in rivers and streams.
The force and amount of water create channels within rock formations, creating
rivers, inlets, lakes, and waterfalls. The grinding of the rocks also creates sand
and sediment which deposit on riverbanks and shores.

The Atmosphere and Lithosphere Create Volcanoes

Volcanic activity is an interaction between the atmosphere and lithosphere.

Eruptions occur within the lithosphere when the mantle melts into magma (molten
rock) underneath the Earth. The pressure causes the magma to push up to the
surface where it spills out as lava. The eruption releases carbon dioxide, sulfur
dioxide, steam, and ash into the atmosphere.

The Biosphere and Atmosphere Create Oxygen

Plants and trees in forests use energy from the sun and absorb carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Forests also release oxygen into the
atmosphere – the Amazon rainforest releases nearly 30 percent of the global
oxygen.

How Humans Affect Interaction Between Spheres

Human activity affects all of the spheres, and very often it affects them in negative
ways. When humans cut down forests, it creates a chain reaction affecting
ecological diversity (the variety of living things) and climate across the globe.
Deforestation increases the volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere,
which when combined with other atmospheric gasses causes the global climate to
increase. When climate increases, the temperature becomes too high in certain
regions for the living organisms to survive.

Deforestation also affects the water supply. Forests help control storm runoff.
Thick forests contain rainwater by preventing it from falling directly on the ground
– water falls through dense tree cover and slowly makes its way down to the soil
where it is gradually absorbed. When there is no tree cover, all of the water
overwhelms the soil and creates flooding and runoff. This erodes the terrain and
washes dirt and sediment into water supplies.

Although the spheres influence each other, humans can also influence the health
of the spheres. When we damage the environment by releasing pollution into the
atmosphere, drill for resources in the lithosphere, spill oil into the hydrosphere,
 and destroy trees in the biosphere, we risk the health of the planet and all living
things.

Saving our forests can help protect all of the major spheres since the trees in
forests help to reduce erosion (breaking apart) of the lithosphere and filter
pollutants from the hydrosphere and atmosphere. If we want to keep the Earth’s
spheres functioning properly, we must work to restore global forest cover. At
Forest Founders, we are dedicated to protecting the world’s forests, which are
disappearing quickly due to deforestation, natural disasters, and human
interference. To learn how you can help protect the world’s forests, please visit
the ForestFounders.org information page.
HOW DO THE EARTH’S SPHERES INTERACT?
 Hydrosphere and Atmosphere: The hydrosphere and atmosphere interact to
create rainfall. The heat from the sun evaporates water from the oceans which is
condensed into rainclouds. When the water molecules become too heavy to
remain suspended, they fall as raindrops.
 Hydrosphere and Biosphere: All living organisms need a water supply to
survive, either from lakes and rivers, or from stores of water within the plants and
animals they eat.
 Biosphere and Lithosphere: Plants grow in sand and soil, which are a part of
the lithosphere called the pedosphere.
 Lithosphere and Hydrosphere: The hydrosphere influences the lithosphere by
forming rivers and streams. The force and pressure of water carve channels into
rocks which become waterways.
 Atmosphere and Lithosphere: Volcanic activity is the interaction between the
atmosphere and lithosphere. When the mantle melts and gas bubbles create
pressure underneath the Earth, it erupts as lava, and releases sulfur dioxide,
carbon dioxide, steam, and ash into the atmosphere.