biosphere
(noun)
The part of the Earth and its atmosphere capable of supporting life.
Examples of biosphere in the following topics:
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Mars and a Biosphere
- A biosphere is typically defined as the part of the Earth and its atmosphere capable of supporting life.
- A biosphere can also be thought of as an global ecological system that incorporates all living beings and their relationships with the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
- Currently, a great deal of research is going into developing hypotheses on a Martian biosphere.
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The Carbon Cycle
- Carbon dioxide leaves the atmosphere through photosynthesis, thus entering the terrestrial and marine biospheres.
- Terrestrial Biosphere: The terrestrial biosphere includes the organic carbon in all land-living organisms, both alive and dead, as well as carbon stored in soils.
- Marine Biosphere: The carbon cycle in the marine biosphere is very similar to that in the terrestrial ecosystem.
- The carbon cycle describes the flow of carbon between the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the geosphere.
- Outline the flow of carbon through the biosphere and abiotic matter on earth
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Levels of Organization of Living Things
- The biological levels of organization range from a single organelle all the way up to the biosphere in a highly structured hierarchy.
- At the highest level of organization, the biosphere is the collection of all ecosystems, and it represents the zones of life on earth.
- Taken together, all of these levels comprise the biological levels of organization, which range from organelles to the biosphere .
- From a single organelle to the entire biosphere, living organisms are parts of a highly structured hierarchy.
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Biogeochemical Cycles
- The elemental components of organic matter are cycled through the biosphere in an interconnected process called the biogeochemical cycle.
- Thus, mineral nutrients are cycled, either rapidly or slowly, through the entire biosphere, from one living organism to another, and between the biotic and abiotic world.
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Sources and Sinks of Essential Elements
- The element carbon moves from the biosphere to the geosphere and the hydrosphere.
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Overview of Bacterial Viruses
- Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and are among the most common and diverse entities in the biosphere.
- They are among the most common and diverse entities in the biosphere.
- However, other phages occur abundantly in the biosphere, with different virions, genomes and lifestyles.
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Ocean Floor
- Microorganisms, by their omnipresence, impact the entire biosphere.
- For example, nitrogen which makes up 78% of the planet's atmosphere is "indigestible" for most organisms, and the flow of nitrogen into the biosphere depends on a microbial process called fixation.
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Microbes and Ecosystem Niches
- Microbes live in all parts of the biosphere where there is liquid water, including soil, hot springs, the ocean floor, acid lakes, deserts, geysers, rocks, and even the mammalian gut.
- By virtue of their omnipresence, microbes impact the entire biosphere; indeed, microbial metabolic processes (including nitrogen fixation, methane metabolism, and sulfur metabolism) collectively control global biogeochemical cycling.
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Microbial Environments and Microenvironments
- They live and thrive in all parts of the biosphere where there is liquid water, including hostile environments such as the poles, deserts, geysers, rocks, and the deep sea.
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Electron Donors and Acceptors
- In the present day biosphere, the most common electron donors are organic molecules.
- Because of their volume of distribution, lithotrophs may actually out number organotrophs and phototrophs in our biosphere.