Gaia’s Body: Toward a Physiology of Earth

Gaia’s Body: Toward a Physiology of Earth
ISBN-10
1461221900
ISBN-13
9781461221906
Category
Science
Pages
269
Language
English
Published
2012-12-06
Publisher
Springer Science & Business Media
Author
Tyler Volk

Description

If the biosphere really is a single coherent system, then it must have something like a physiology. It must have systems and processes that perform living functions. In Gaia's Body, Tyler Volk describes the environment that enables the biosphere to exist, various ways of looking at its "anatomy" and "physiology", the major biogeographical regions such as rainforests, deserts, and tundra, the major substances the biosphere is made of, and the chemical cycles that keep it in balance. He then looks at the question of whether there are any long-term trends in the earth's evolution, and examines the role of humanity in Gaia's past and future. Both adherents and sceptics have often been concerned that Gaia theory contains too much goddess and too few verifiable hypotheses. This is the book that describes, for scientists, students, and lay readers alike, the theory's firm basis in science.

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