Gaia's body : toward a physiology of earth
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Gaia's body : toward a physiology of earth
Copernicus, c1998
- : hbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-261) and index
Description and Table of Contents
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 this text, the author 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. This book describes, for scientists, students, and lay readers alike, the theory's basis in science.
Table of Contents
FANTASTIC VOYAGES. A view from above. A view from within.- GAIA AS HOLARCHY. Mats of microbes. Inward and outward causation. Planetary problems and opportunities.- OUTER LIGHT, INNER FIRE. Inclines of light. Architectures of heat. Feedbacks between life and climate.- PRIMARY SUBSTANCES OF GAIA. Air. Water. Earth. Wood.- GEOMETRIES FOR GLOBAL METABOLISM. Interpenetrations. Sheets, tubes, and tiny spheres. A spectrum of borders.- WORLD WIDE GENES. Collective green. Little enzymes that run the world.- BIOGEOCHEMICAL SYMPHONY. Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. Elemental mergings and partings. A paradox of Gaia's closure.- MOMENTS OF TRANSFORMATION. Internal thresholds. Jolts from space.- ARROWS IN THE LIFE OF GAIA. Persistence. Self-evolution. Evolution of the holarchy.- EPILOGUE: HUMANITY AS A SUBSTANCE OF GAIA.
by "Nielsen BookData"