The term “biosphere” was first coined by the Austrian paleontologist and geologist Eduard Eoss in 1875. In a literal translation, it denoted the sphere of life. However, long before this period, the biosphere was given other names. It was referred to as a "picture of nature", "space of life", "living shell", etc. The content of this concept was considered by many natural scientists.
History of the study of the biosphere
Initially, the terms "picture of nature" and the like meant only the totality of those living organisms that lived on the planet. However, the biologist J. B. Lamarck (1744-1829) put forward a revolutionary opinion. He pointed out that living organisms play a huge role in the formation of the earth's crust. Lamarck emphasized that those substances that enter into it were formed as a result of the activity of living organisms.
Over the years, the idea that there is a close relationship between living and inanimate nature, and that all organisms influence the surrounding chemical, geological, and physical factors, has increasingly taken hold of the minds of scientists. This was also affected by the changes that occurred in the general approach to the study of nature. Natural scientists became increasingly convinced that the processes and phenomena occurring in the human environment must be studied in a common set.
About sixty years ago, the academician V.I. Vernadsky developed the doctrine of the biosphere as a shell of the Earth, which is inhabited by living organisms. This slightly changed the meaning of the term. Now the concept of “biosphere” extended not only to organisms, but also to their habitat.
Structure
It is believed that the biosphere includes:
- biogenic substance, which is the result of the vital activity of organisms (limestones, coal, atmospheric gases, etc.);
- living matter, which is a collection of organisms;
- bone substance that appeared without the participation of any living organisms (volcanic lava, basic rocks, etc.);
- bio-bone substance, which has become a joint result of abiogenic soil processes and the vital activity of organisms.
Human Development and the Biosphere
Since its inception, people have a direct impact on their environment. This period has already lasted about 30-40 thousand years. Human influence on the biosphere of the Earth is an anthropogenic factor.
The beginning of its manifestation was the Stone Age, which coincided with a period of glaciation. In order to survive, people had to hunt such large animals as reindeer and red deer, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, tour, etc. Confirmation of this fact is the bones of wild animals found by scientists at ancient sites. The influence of man on the evolution of the biosphere in the Stone Age was expressed in the mass extermination of large herbivores. The consequence of the hunt was a decrease in the number of individuals in many populations, as well as the extinction of some species.
10-13 thousand years ago, the ice age was replaced by a sharp warming. Forests spread throughout Europe, and large animals became extinct. During this period, the influence of the biosphere on humans was very significant. Changing natural conditions has changed the lives of people. At the same time, the already existing economic base of human society collapsed. People moved to a different period of their development, leaving behind purely consumer relations to the environment.
A new Stone Age came, when along with hunting, fishing, as well as picking up mushrooms and berries, the importance of the process of food production was growing. The influence of the biosphere on humans has gradually decreased. The first attempts were made to breed plants and domesticate animals. In support of this, scientists have discovered settlements of people of that period on which wheat, barley and lentils were found. There were also bones of domestic animals - pigs and sheep.
With the development of human society, cattle breeding and farming began to emerge. Later, people began to develop mineral resources. The emergence of metallurgy.
In the last two centuries, human influence on the biosphere has become particularly intense. This was facilitated by qualitative leaps in the development of technology and science. Nowadays, human influence on the state of the biosphere has taken on a planetary scale. Moreover, it has a direct and indirect effect on the further evolution of the environment.
Contradictions between man and the biosphere
The entire historical period of the joint existence of nature and society can be expressed in the unity of two different trends. First of all, the influence of human activity on the state of the biosphere is rapidly and constantly expanding in connection with its ever-increasing dominance over nature. In addition, there is a constant deepening of disharmony between society and the environment.
Use of natural resources
The influence of man on the biosphere is expressed primarily in the fact that he attracts a significant part of the Earth’s territories for the needs of society, extracting more and more mineral resources, which are divided into inexhaustible and inexhaustible. The first of these includes wind, sea waves and solar radiation. These are climatic, water and space resources. Water and atmospheric air are also considered inexhaustible. However, human activity made this definition relative. So, as a result of pollution caused by economic needs, water in some areas of our planet has turned into a deficit category.
At present, only conditionally to inexhaustible resources can be attributed to oxygen. Scientists believe that in order to restore the former status of water and the atmosphere, a positive influence of a person on the biosphere should be provided. Its implementation is possible in the form of development and further implementation of various large-scale environmental programs.
The influence of human economic activity on the biosphere is also expressed in the use of exhaustible resources. These include: soil fertility, flora and fauna, as well as minerals. Man began to use them for his needs back in the Neolithic period. Initially, people began to use copper and gold nuggets. Later they began to mine and smelting various ores. Tin, lead, silver and copper were obtained from these minerals. Today, in his industrial production, people use most of the known mineral ores, as well as oil, coal and gas. The development of scientific and technological progress opens up new areas for the application of non-ferrous and ferrous metals, as well as a variety of non-metallic raw materials. At the same time, the development and production of poor ores is expanding, and the volume of oil obtained from wells located on the seabed is growing.
In the economic circulation of mankind are huge territories of our planet. However, despite this, their area is increasing from year to year. The use of game animals, fish resources and wood is also growing.
Air pollution
Every year on our planet population density is increasing. At the same time, the degree of influence of people on the surrounding nature increases. As a rule, the biosphere takes on the negative consequences of all this activity first. The human impact on the environment can change the age-old course of long-established biogenic processes.
One of the results of industrial development is air pollution. This is especially noticeable within the city, as well as within the factory and factory districts. Here, the concentration of harmful gases sharply increases in the atmosphere. And as a consequence of this, the biosphere has a reverse effect on humans. First of all, it is expressed in the danger that polluted air poses to our health. In addition, harmful gases combine in the atmosphere with moisture and fall to the ground in the form of acid rain. Such precipitation affects the quality of the soil, reducing crop yields.
The main sources of air pollution are metallurgical production, as well as facilities burning natural fuel. Harmful substances get into the air from fireboxes, exhaust pipes of cars and furnaces. A particularly dangerous element is sulfur dioxide. It is a poisonous gas that dissolves easily in water. The ingress of this and other pollutants into the respiratory system of people and the food they use leads to the fact that the biosphere has a negative effect on the human body.
The presence of a high concentration of sulfur dioxide is observed near the smelters. This substance causes the underdevelopment of crops, destroys chlorophyll and contributes to the drying and decay of leaves and needles. Part of this gas is further oxidized. As a result of this reaction, sulfuric anhydrite is obtained, which not only causes harm to all living things, but also destroys buildings. In addition, getting into the soil, this element leaches humus from it, from which plants receive all the nutrients they need.
Due to the constant burning of large amounts of fuel, biosphere pollution also occurs. The effect of pollution on humans is very negative. The fact is that many toxic compounds get into the atmosphere. These are carbon and nitrogen oxides, compounds of lead and various carbohydrates, such as ethylene and acetylene. These harmful components, combining in the air with water droplets, become a poisonous fog - smog. It destroys the flora of cities. In addition, the negative impact of the biosphere on human health is also manifested. Poisonous fog contributes to the manifestation of many diseases, including cancer.
Fresh water pollution
The increase in consumption of this important natural resource is associated with an increase in the number of inhabitants of the planet, an improvement in their sanitary and hygienic conditions, as well as the development of irrigated agriculture and industry. All this can lead to the likelihood of "water hunger". And here a positive influence of man on the biosphere should be provided. One of the measures to eliminate this problem is the development of issues on the rational consumption of water resources. In addition, measures should be taken to eliminate the discharge of industrial waste into rivers. After all, toxic substances deadens water bodies.
Pollution of the seas
Along with river runoff, oil products, pathogenic wastes, toxic types of organic compounds, and salts of many heavy metals enter the waters of the World Ocean.
As a result, the pollution reaches such proportions that the caught mollusks and fish are unsuitable for consumption.
Soil changes
Every year a person harvests in the fields. Together with it, a large amount of potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen, that is, substances necessary for plant nutrition, is removed from the fertile layers of the soil. To replenish such important components, organic as well as mineral fertilizers are annually applied to the fields. Their volume should be sufficient to obtain a large crop and eliminate depletion of the fertile layer. An important part of maintaining the quality of the fields is the application of proper crop rotation.
With improper cultivation of the earth by man in the soil, erosion occurs. This is the destruction of the upper layer, provoked by wind or water currents. With overgrazing in semi-deserts and steppes, wind erosion may occur.
As a result, human economic activity threatens to seize significant territories from the agricultural turnover. This is also possible with the open method of mining. Dumps of soil and deep quarries destroy large areas of adjacent territories. In this case, there is a violation of the hydrological regime of the area, pollution of water, atmosphere and soil. At the same time, crop yields are declining.
Impact on fauna and flora
As a result of direct human exposure to nature, an indirect environmental change occurs. One of the forms of this influence is the clear cutting of forests. In this case, the plants of the remaining lower tier are under the adverse influence of direct sunlight. In shade-loving flora, chlorophyll is destroyed and growth is inhibited. The result is the disappearance of individual species. The animal world is undergoing changes. Those species whose existence is associated with forest stand migrate to other places or disappear.
A negative impact on the vegetation cover is provided by tourists and vacationers visiting the forest. They trample and compact the soil, and also pollute the nature.
A negative effect on the animal world is provided by the fishing of those representatives of the fauna that are of human nutritional value or are capable of providing material benefits. This fact brings some species of animals to the brink of extinction. And this, in turn, causes a decrease in the stability of biocenoses.
Nuclear pollution
In 1945, our planet was faced with a huge problem. This happened after the Americans dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Mankind has learned about the nuclear pollution of the biosphere. This issue took on a more global scale after nuclear weapons tests conducted before 1963.
Exploding, atomic bombs cause strong ionizing radiation. At the same time, radioactive particles are transported over long distances, infecting living organisms, water bodies and soil. And here the negative impact of the biosphere on a person begins to appear. When radioactive isotopes enter the body, they have a detrimental effect on the cells of tissues and organs. At the same time, a person remains unprotected from many diseases, including fatal ones.
Tests of nuclear weapons carry another danger. During the explosion of a bomb, an enormous amount of fine dust forms. Its particles are retained for a long time in the atmosphere and do not transmit a significant amount of solar radiation to the Earth. This may lead to the onset of a "nuclear cooling", which will lead to the death of all living organisms.