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The five components of the climate system all interact. They are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. [1]: 1451 Earth's climate system is a complex system with five interacting components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things).
Ecosystem services are ecologically mediated functional processes essential to sustaining healthy human societies. [6] Water provision and filtration, production of biomass in forestry, agriculture, and fisheries, and removal of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere are examples of ecosystem services essential to public health and economic opportunity.
The major parts of the biosphere are connected by the flow of chemical elements and compounds in biogeochemical cycles. In many of these cycles, the biota plays an important role. Matter from the Earth's interior is released by volcanoes. The atmosphere exchanges some compounds and elements rapidly with the biota and oceans.
Prior to these processes in earth's early years of formation, the air and oceans were anoxic. [7] An anoxic environment is one without the presence of oxygen, majorly consisting of anaerobic microbes. The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis in the atmosphere amplified the productivity of the biosphere, increasing biodiversity. [7]
After respiration, both carbon dioxide and methane are typically emitted into the atmosphere. Organic carbon is also released into the atmosphere during burning. [19] The residence time of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere varies and is dependent on a large number of factors. The uptake of carbon into the biosphere occurs on various time scales.
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by organisms in interaction with their environment. [ 2 ] : 458 The biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.
A view of the Earth's ecosphere. An ecosphere is a planetary contained ecological system. In this global ecosystem, the various forms of energy and matter that constitute a given planet interact on a continual basis. The forces of the four Fundamental interactions cause the various forms of matter to settle into identifiable layers. These ...
By the most general biophysiological definition, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning with a process of biopoiesis (life ...