The term “biosphere” was first introduced by the Austrian paleontologist and geologist Eduard Eoss in 1875. Literally translated, it meant 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 naturalists.
History of biosphere studies
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 are included in 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 nonliving nature, and that all organisms influence the chemical, geological and physical factors around them, has increasingly captured the minds of scientists. This was also influenced 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 as a whole.
About sixty years ago, Academician V.I. Vernadsky developed the doctrine of the biosphere as one inhabited by living organisms. This changed the meaning of the term somewhat. Now the concept of “biosphere” extended not only to organisms, but also to their habitat.
Compound
It is believed that the biosphere includes:
- which is the result of the vital activity of organisms (limestones, coal, atmospheric gases, etc.);
- living matter, which is a collection of organisms;
- bone matter that appeared without the participation of any living organisms (volcanic lava, basic rocks, etc.);
- a bio-osseous substance that has become a joint result of abiogenic soil processes and the vital activity of organisms.
Development of human society and the biosphere
From the moment of their appearance, people have a direct impact on their environment. This period has lasted for about 30-40 thousand years. Human influence on the Earth's biosphere is an anthropogenic factor.
The beginning of its manifestation was the Stone Age, which coincided with the period of glaciation. In order to survive, people had to hunt such large animals as reindeer and red deer, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, aurochs, etc. This fact is confirmed by the bones of wild animals found by scientists at ancient sites. Human influence on the evolution of the biosphere in the Stone Age was expressed in the mass extermination of large herbivores. The consequence of hunting 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 changed life and people. At the same time, the already established economic base of human society collapsed. People have moved on to a different period of their development, leaving behind purely consumerist attitudes towards the environment.
The new Stone Age began, when, along with hunting, fishing, and gathering mushrooms and berries, the importance of the food production process increased. The influence of the biosphere on humans gradually decreased. The first attempts were made to breed plants and domesticate animals. To confirm this, scientists have discovered human settlements of that period, where 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 birth of metallurgy took place.
In the last two centuries, human influence on the biosphere has become especially 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. At the same time, it has a direct and indirect impact on the further evolution of the environment.
Contradictions between man and the biosphere
The entire historical period of the coexistence 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 due to its ever-increasing dominance over nature. In addition, there is a constant deepening of disharmony between society and the environment.
Use of natural resources
Man's influence 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 exhaustible. The first of them includes the energy of wind, sea waves and solar radiation. These are climatic, water and water and atmospheric air are also considered inexhaustible. However, human activity has made this definition relative. Thus, as a result of pollution caused by economic needs, water in some areas of our planet has become scarce.
At present, oxygen can only be classified as an inexhaustible resource. Scientists believe that in order to restore the previous status of water and the atmosphere, humans must have a positive impact on the biosphere. Its implementation is possible in the form of the 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. People began to use them for their needs back in the Neolithic period. At first, people began to use nuggets of copper and gold. Later they began to mine and smelt various ores. Tin, lead, silver and copper were obtained from these minerals. Today, in 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 for society more and more new areas of application of non-ferrous and ferrous metals, as well as various non-metallic raw materials. At the same time, the development and extraction of low-grade ores is expanding, and the volume of oil obtained from wells located on the seabed is growing.
Huge areas of our planet are in the economic circulation of mankind. However, despite this, their area is increasing from year to year. The use of game animals, fisheries and timber is also increasing.
Air pollution
Every year the population density on our planet increases. At the same time, the degree of human impact on the environment increases. As a rule, the biosphere is the first to bear the negative consequences of all this activity. can change the secular course of long-established biogenic processes.
One of the results of industrial development is this. This is especially noticeable within the city, as well as within factory districts. Here, the concentration of harmful gases in the atmosphere increases sharply. And as a consequence of this, the biosphere has a reverse influence on humans. First of all, it is expressed in the danger that polluted air poses to our health. In addition, harmful gases combine with moisture in the atmosphere and fall to the ground in the form. Such precipitation deteriorates the quality of the soil, reducing crop yields.
The main sources of air pollution are metallurgical production, as well as facilities that burn natural fuels. Harmful substances enter the air from furnaces, exhaust pipes of cars and furnaces. A particularly dangerous element is sulfur dioxide. It is a poisonous gas that easily dissolves in water. The entry of this and other pollutants into the respiratory system of people and the food they consume leads to the fact that the biosphere has a negative effect on the human body.
The presence of high concentrations of sulfur dioxide is observed near copper smelters. This substance causes underdevelopment of grain crops, destroys chlorophyll and contributes to the drying and falling of leaves and needles. Some of this gas is subsequently oxidized. As a result of this reaction, sulfuric anhydrite is obtained, which not only harms all living things, but also destroys buildings. In addition, when this element gets into the soil, it washes out humus from it, from which plants receive all the nutrients they need.
Due to the constant burning of large amounts of fuel, the biosphere is also polluted. The impact of pollution on humans is very negative. The fact is that many toxic compounds enter the atmosphere. These are carbon and nitrogen oxides, lead compounds and various carbohydrates, such as ethylene and acetylene. These harmful components, combining in the air with water droplets, become toxic fog - smog. It destroys the flora of cities. In addition, there is also a negative impact of the biosphere on human health. Toxic 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 people on the planet, an improvement in their sanitary and hygienic conditions, as well as the development of industry. All this can lead to the likelihood of “water famine”. And here humans must have a positive impact on the biosphere. One of the measures to eliminate this problem is to develop issues on the rational consumption of water resources. In addition, measures must be taken to eliminate the discharge of industrial waste into rivers. After all, toxic substances deaden bodies of water.
Sea pollution
Together with river runoff, oil products, pathogenic waste, toxic types of organic compounds, and salts of many heavy metals enter the waters of the World Ocean.
As a result, pollution reaches such proportions that caught shellfish and fish are unfit for consumption.
Changes in soil layer
Every year a person collects crops from the fields. Along 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 applied to the fields annually. Their volume should be sufficient to obtain a large harvest and eliminate depletion of the fertile layer. An important part of maintaining the quality of fields is the use of correct crop rotation.
When humans cultivate the land incorrectly, erosion occurs in the soil. This is the destruction of the top layer, caused by wind or water flows. Excessive grazing of livestock in semi-deserts and steppes may result in wind erosion.
As a result, human economic activity threatens to remove significant territories from agricultural circulation. This is also possible with open-pit mining. Soil dumps and deep quarries destroy large areas of adjacent territories. In this case, the hydrological regime of the area is disrupted, water, atmosphere and soil are polluted. At the same time, agricultural yields are declining.
Impact on flora and fauna
As a result of direct human impact on nature, indirect changes in the environment occur. One form of such influence is clear deforestation. In this case, the plants of the remaining lower tier are under the unfavorable influence of direct rays of the sun. In shade-loving representatives of the flora, chlorophyll is destroyed and growth is inhibited. As a result, certain species disappear. The animal world is also undergoing changes. Those species whose existence is associated with the forest stand migrate to other places or disappear.
Tourists and vacationers visiting forests have a negative impact on vegetation cover. They trample and compact the soil, and also pollute nature.
The fishing of those representatives of the fauna that are of nutritional value to humans or are capable of bringing material benefits has a negative impact on the animal world. This fact brings some animal species to the brink of extinction. And this, in turn, causes a decrease in the stability of biocenoses.
Nuclear pollution
In 1945, our planet faced a huge problem. This happened after the Americans dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Humanity has learned about nuclear contamination of the biosphere. This issue took on a more global scale after nuclear weapons tests carried out before 1963.
When atomic bombs explode, they produce intense ionizing radiation. At the same time, radioactive particles are carried over long distances, infecting living organisms, water bodies and soil. And here the negative impact of the biosphere on humans begins. Radioactive isotopes entering the body 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.
Testing nuclear weapons also poses another danger. When a bomb explodes, a huge amount of fine dust is generated. Its particles linger in the atmosphere for a long time and do not allow significant amounts of solar radiation to reach the Earth. This may lead to the onset of “nuclear cooling”, which will lead to the death of all living organisms.
