Biologists have quantified the global distribution of biomass on Earth, which totaled 550 billion tons of carbon. It turned out that more than 80 percent of this number falls on plants, the total biomass of terrestrial organisms is about two orders of magnitude greater than that of marine organisms, and the proportion of humans is about 0.01 percent, scientists write in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Quantitative data on the total biomass of all living organisms on Earth and its distribution between individual species is important information for modern biology and ecology: they can be used to study the general dynamics and development of the entire biosphere, its response to climatic processes occurring on the planet. Both the spatial distribution of biomass (geographic, by depth and habitats of species), and its distribution among different species of living organisms can serve as an important indicator in assessing the pathways of transport of carbon and other elements, as well as ecological interactions or food webs. However, to date, quantitative estimates of the distribution of biomass have been made either for individual taxa or within some ecosystems, and no reliable estimates of the entire biosphere have yet been made.

To obtain such data, a group of scientists from Israel and the United States led by Ron Milo from the Weizmann Institute conducted a kind of census of all animal species with an estimate of their biomass and geographical distribution. Scientists collected all data from several hundred relevant scientific articles, after which they processed this information using the developed integration scheme, taking into account the geographical distribution of species. As a quantitative indicator of the biomass attributable to different species, scientists used information on the mass of carbon that falls on different taxa (that is, the consideration did not take into account, for example, the mass of water). Now all the results obtained, as well as the programs used for the analysis, are in the public domain, and they can be found on github.

Schematic diagram of obtaining data on the global distribution of biomass from the available incomplete data, taking into account the geographical distribution of environmental parameters

Y. M. Bar-On et al./ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018

Analysis of the data obtained showed that the total biomass of all living organisms on Earth is approximately 550 billion tons of carbon. At the same time, its overwhelming part is contained by representatives of the plant kingdom: 450 gigatons of carbon is more than 80 percent of the total. In second place are bacteria: about 70 billion tons of carbon, while animals (2 billion tons) are also inferior to mushrooms (12 billion tons), archaea (7 billion tons) and protozoa (4 billion tons). Among animals, the largest biomass in arthropods (1 billion tons), and, for example, the total biomass of a species Homo sapiens is 0.06 billion tons of carbon - that's about 0.01 percent of all biomass on Earth.

Distribution of biomass between representatives of different kingdoms (left) and within the animal kingdom (right)

Y. M. Bar-On et al./ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018

Distribution of biomass between different habitats: total for all living organisms (left) and separately for representatives of different kingdoms (right)

Y. M. Bar-On et al./ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018

Interestingly, the maximum biomass share of representatives of the main kingdoms lives in various habitats. So, most of the plants are terrestrial species. The maximum biomass of animals lives in the seas and oceans, and, for example, most of the bacteria and archaea are located deep underground. At the same time, the total biomass of terrestrial organisms is about two orders of magnitude greater than that of marine organisms, which, according to the authors of the study, account for only 6 billion tons of carbon.

Scientists note that due to the lack of accurate information, the data obtained are calculated with a very large uncertainty. Thus, only the biomass of plants on Earth can be estimated with sufficient confidence, and for bacteria and archaea, the data obtained may differ from the actual ones by a factor of 10. However, the uncertainty in the data on the total biomass of all living organisms on Earth does not exceed 70 percent.

According to the authors of the work, the results they obtained are based on data from current scientific research, therefore, they can be used for modern environmental and biological assessments, even despite a rather large error. Scientists also note that when analyzing the data, they were able to identify those geographic areas for which there is currently very little data and more research is needed. The researchers hope that in the future, data refinement will allow not only conducting such an analysis with sufficient geographic resolution, but also monitoring the dynamics of changes in such distributions over time.

More recently, scientists have distributed biomass in smaller systems by examining large forests throughout the earth. It turned out that more than half of the total forest biomass is accounted for by only one percent of the largest trees, most of which exceed 60 centimeters in diameter. At the same time, for some species of animals in certain geographic regions, it is already possible to carry out a dynamic analysis. For example, last year, European ecologists studied the biomass of flying insects in national parks in Germany and that in 27 years it dropped by 76 percent at once.

Alexander Dubov

The totality of all living organisms forms the biomass (or, in the words of V.I. Vernadsky, living matter) of the planet.

By mass, this is about 0.001% of the mass of the earth's crust. However, despite the insignificant total biomass, the role of living organisms in the processes taking place on the planet is enormous. It is the activity of living organisms that determines the chemical composition of the atmosphere, the concentration of salts in the hydrosphere, the formation of some and the destruction of other rocks, the formation of soil in the lithosphere, etc.

Sushi biomass. The highest density of life in tropical forests. There are more plant species (more than 5 thousand). To the north and south of the equator, life becomes poorer, its density and the number of plant and animal species decrease: in the subtropics there are about 3 thousand plant species, in the steppes there are about 2 thousand, then there are deciduous and coniferous forests and, finally, the tundra, in which grows about 500 species of lichens and mosses. Depending on the intensity of the development of life in different geographic latitudes, biological productivity changes. It is estimated that the total primary productivity of land (biomass formed by autotrophic organisms per unit time per unit area) is about 150 billion tons, including the share of the world's forests is 8 billion tons of organic matter per year. The total plant weight per hectare in the tundra is 28.25 tons, in the tropical forest - 524 tons.In the temperate zone, 1 hectare of forest per year forms about 6 tons of wood and 4 tons of leaves, is 193.2 * 109 J (~ 46 * 109 cal). Secondary productivity (biomass formed by heterotrophic organisms per unit time per unit area) in the biomass of insects, birds and others in this forest ranges from 0.8 to 3% of plant biomass, that is, about 2 * 109 J (5 * 108 cal).< /p>

The primary annual productivity of different agrocenoses varies considerably. The average world productivity in tonnes of dry matter per hectare is: wheat - 3.44, potatoes - 3.85, rice - 4.97, sugar beet - 7.65. The crop that a person collects accounts for only 0.5% of the total biological productivity of the field. A significant part of the primary production is destroyed by saprophytes - soil inhabitants.

Soils are one of the important components of biogeocenoses of the land surface. The initial material for soil formation is the surface layers of rocks. From them, under the influence of microorganisms, plants and animals, the soil layer is formed. Organisms concentrate biogenic elements in themselves: after the death of plants and animals and the decomposition of their residues, these elements pass into the composition of the soil, due to which

it accumulates biogenic elements, and also accumulates incompletely decomposed organic furnaces. The soil contains a huge number of microorganisms. So, in one gram of chernozem, their number reaches 25 * 108. Thus, the soil is of biogenic origin, consists of inorganic, organic substances and living organisms (edaphon is the totality of all living creatures of the soil). Outside the biosphere, the emergence and existence of soil is impossible. Soil is a habitat for many organisms (unicellular animals, annelids and round worms, arthropods and many others). The soil is permeated with plant roots, from which plants absorb nutrients and water. The productivity of agricultural crops is associated with the vital activity of living organisms that are in the soil. The introduction of chemicals into the soil is often detrimental to life in it. Therefore, it is necessary to rationally use the soil and protect them.

Each locality has its own soils, which differ from others in composition and properties. The formation of certain types of soils is associated with different soil-forming rocks, climate and plant characteristics. V.V.Dokuchaev identified 10 main types of soils, now there are more than 100. The following soil zones are distinguished on the territory of Ukraine: Polesie, Forest-steppe, Steppe, Dry steppe, as well as the Carpathian and Crimean mountain regions with inherent types of soil structure for each of them. cover. Polesie is characterized by sod-pidzol leaves, gray forest,. Dark siri forest soils, podzolized chernozems, etc. The forest-steppe zone has gray and dark-siri forest soils. The Steppe zone is mainly represented by chernozems. Brown forest soils prevail in the Ukrainian Carpathians. In Crimea, there are different soils (chernozems, chestnut, etc.), but they are usually gravelly and stony.

Biomass of the World Ocean. The oceans occupy more than 2/3 of the planet's surface area. The physical properties and chemical composition of ocean waters are favorable for the development and existence of life. As well as on land, in the ocean the density of life is the largest in the equatorial zone and decreases as the distance from it grows. In the upper layer, at a depth of up to 100 m, unicellular algae live, which make up plankton, “the total primary productivity of phytoplankton in the World Ocean is 50 billion tons per year (about 1/3 of the total primary production of the biosphere). Almost all food chains in the ocean begin with phytoplankton, which feed on zooplankton animals such as crustaceans. Crustaceans are food for many species of fish and baleen whales. Birds eat fish. Large algae grow mainly in the coastal areas of the oceans and seas. The greatest concentration of life is in coral reefs. The ocean is poorer in life than land, the biomass of its production is 1000 times less. Most of the formed biomass - unicellular algae and other inhabitants of the ocean - die off, settle to the bottom and their organic matter is destroyed by decomposers. Only about 0.01% of the primary productivity of the World Ocean reaches humans through a long chain of trophic levels in the form of food and chemical energy.

At the bottom of the ocean, as a result of the vital activity of organisms, sedimentary rocks are formed: chalk, limestone, diatomite, etc.

The biomass of animals in the oceans is approximately 20 times greater than the biomass of plants, it is especially great in the coastal zone.

The ocean is the cradle of life on Earth. The basis of life in the ocean itself, the primary link in a complex food chain, is phytoplankton, unicellular green marine plants. These microscopic plants are eaten by herbivorous zooplankton and many small fish species, which in turn serve as food for a number of nekton, actively swimming predators. Organisms of the seabed - benthos (phytobenthos and zoobenthos) - also participate in the ocean food chain. The total mass of living matter in the ocean is 29.9 ∙ 109 t, while the biomass of zooplankton and zoobenthos accounts for 90% of the total mass of living matter in the ocean, phytoplankton biomass - about 3% and nekton biomass (mainly fish) - 4% (Suetova, 1973; Dobrodeev, Suetova, 1976). In general, the ocean biomass is 200 times less by weight and 1000 times less per unit surface than land biomass. However, the annual production of living matter in the ocean is 4.3 ∙ 1011 tons. In terms of live weight, it is close to the production of land plant mass - 4.5 ∙ 1011 tons. Since marine organisms contain much more water, then in units of dry weight this ratio looks like as 1: 2.25. The ratio of the production of pure organic matter in the ocean is even lower (as 1: 3.4) in comparison with that on land, since phytoplankton contains a higher percentage of ash elements than woody vegetation (Dobrodeev and Suetova, 1976). The fairly high productivity of living matter in the ocean is explained by the fact that the simplest phytoplankton organisms have a short lifespan, they are renewed daily, and the total mass of living matter in the ocean is, on average, about every 25 days. On land, biomass renewal occurs on average over 15 years. Living matter in the ocean is very unevenly distributed. The maximum concentrations of living matter in the open ocean - 2 kg / m2 - are located in the temperate zones of the northern Atlantic and northwestern Pacific oceans. On land, the zones of forest-steppe and steppe have the same biomass. Average values ​​of biomass in the ocean (from 1.1 to 1.8 kg / m2) have areas of the temperate and equatorial zones, on land they correspond to the biomass of dry steppes of the temperate zone, semi-deserts of the subtropical zone, alpine and subalpine forests (Dobrodeev and Suetova, 1976) ... In the ocean, the distribution of living matter depends on the vertical mixing of waters, which causes nutrients to rise to the surface from the deep layers, where the process of photosynthesis takes place. Such zones of the rise of deep waters are called upwelling zones, they are most productive in the ocean. Zones of weak vertical mixing of waters are characterized by low values ​​of phytoplankton production - the first link in the biological productivity of the ocean, poverty of life. Another characteristic feature of the distribution of life in the ocean is its concentration in the shallow zone. In areas of the ocean, where the depth does not exceed 200 m, 59% of the biomass of benthic fauna is concentrated; depths from 200 to 3000 m account for 31.1%, and in areas with a depth of more than 3000 m - less than 10%. Of the climatic latitudinal zones in the World Ocean, the subantarctic and northern temperate zones are the richest: their biomass is 10 times greater than in the equatorial zone. On land, on the contrary, the highest values ​​of living matter are found in the equatorial and subequatorial belts.

The basis of the biological cycle that ensures the existence of life is solar energy and the chlorophyll of green plants that captures it. Every living organism participates in the cycle of substances and energy, absorbing some substances from the external environment and releasing others. Biogeocenoses, consisting of a large number of species and bone components of the environment, carry out cycles along which atoms of various chemical elements move. Atoms constantly migrate through many living organisms and the bone environment. Without the migration of atoms, life on Earth could not exist: plants without animals and bacteria would soon exhaust their reserves of carbon dioxide and minerals, and the animal bases of plants would lose their source of energy and oxygen.

Land surface biomass - corresponds to the biomass of the land-air environment. It increases from the poles to the equator. At the same time, the number of plant species is increasing.

Arctic tundra - 150 plant species.

Tundra (shrubs and herbaceous) - up to 500 plant species.

Forest zone (coniferous forests + steppes (zone)) - 2000 species.

Subtropics (citrus, palms) - 3000 species.

Broadleaved forests (tropical rainforests) - 8000 species. Plants grow in several tiers.

Biomass of animals. The rainforest has the largest biomass on the planet. Such a richness of life causes tough natural selection and the struggle for existence a => Adaptability of various species to the conditions of joint existence.

Biomass of the Earth - the totality of all living organisms on the planet. The biomass of the Earth is about 2.4 10 12 tons (about 0.01% of the mass of the entire biosphere): 97% of this amount is occupied by plants, 3% by animals. Currently, several million species of living organisms are known on Earth. The biomass of the land is 99.87%, of the World Ocean - 0.13%. This is due to the lower efficiency of photosynthesis (the use of the sun's radiant energy on the ocean area is 0.04%, on land - 0.1%).

The biomass on land is unevenly distributed and increases from the poles to the equator, the species diversity also increases. The productivity of various ecological systems is different and depends on a number of climatic factors, primarily on the availability of heat and moisture. The most productive ecosystems of tropical forests, followed by arable land, steppes and meadows, deserts, polar zones.

The soil as a living environment is characterized by high density, opacity, poor oxygen, it contains water in which mineral substances are dissolved; it is formed from rock as a result of weathering and the activity of living organisms. The mineral composition of the soil is represented by silica (about 50%), alumina (up to 25%), oxides of iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium (up to 10%). Organic substances in the soil are mineralized with the formation of simpler compounds (CO2, NH3, etc.) or turn into more complex compounds - humus or humus. The soil is covered with organic litter, not yet changed or consisting of slightly decomposed plant residues of forest litter, steppe felt, etc. Soil biogeocenoses are densely populated with living organisms that affect its physicochemical characteristics: plant roots, bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, animals ... In the soil, a variety of chemical reactions of the transformation of substances occur, associated with the vital activity of bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria oxidize ammonia to nitrous and nitric acid salts. Under anaerobic conditions, the reverse process takes place - denitrification - associated with the reduction of nitric acid salts. The largest number of organisms lives in the upper layers of the soil: bacteria mineralize organic matter, protozoa destroy excess bacteria; earthworms, insect larvae, mites loosen the soil, contribute to its aeration.

Biomass of the World Ocean. The hydrosphere occupies about 70% of the Earth's biosphere. The hydrosphere differs from terrestrial habitat mainly in its density and viscosity. The greatest diversity of life is distinguished by warm seas and oceans in the equator and in the tropics; to the north and south, the flora and fauna of the seas is depleted by hundreds of times. Most of them are concentrated in the surface layers and in the coastal zone. Depending on the mode of movement and stay in certain layers, marine life is divided into three ecological groups: nekton, plankton and benthos. Necton is an actively moving large animal capable of overcoming long distances and strong currents: fish, squid, pinnipeds, whales. In fresh waters, amphibians and many insects belong to nekton. Plankton is a collection of plants (algae, etc.) and small animal organisms (small crustaceans, jellyfish, comb jellies, some worms) that live at different depths, but are not capable of active movement and to resist currents. Benthos is represented mainly by attached or slowly moving animals (some fish, sponges, coelenterates, worms, mollusks, ascidians, etc.), which are more numerous in shallow waters. In shallow waters, plants (diatoms, green, brown, red algae, bacteria) also enter the benthos. At a depth where there is no light, phytobenthos is absent. According to the amount of penetrating light, reservoirs are divided into two horizontal zones: the upper, or ephotic (up to 100-200 m in the waters of the oceanic region), and the lower, extending to great depths, - aphotic, where there is not enough light for photosynthesis (Fig. 15.1).

Biomass is characterized by a large amount of energy. The course of metabolic reactions in living matter is thousands, and sometimes millions of times faster. Many chemical compounds that make up living things are stable only in living organisms. The ability to move is a common feature of living matter in the biosphere. Biomass exhibits significantly greater morphological and chemical diversity than non-living ones. The organisms that make up the biosphere are capable of multiplying and spreading around the planet. The properties of living things underlie biogeochemical functions:

• the energy function consists in the photosynthetic activity of green plants, in the process of this activity, the accumulation of solar energy occurs, due to which vital phenomena occur on Earth;
• gas function - constant gas exchange with the environment during respiration of plants and animals and photosynthesis of plants. This determines the migration of gases and their transformation, provides the gas composition of the biosphere. In the process of functioning of living matter, the main gases are created: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, methane, etc .;
• the concentration function is manifested in the extraction and accumulation of biogenic elements of the environment by living organisms. The concentration of these elements in the body of living organisms is hundreds and thousands of times higher than in the external environment. Atoms are first concentrated in living organisms, and then, after their withering away and mineralization, they pass into inanimate nature;
• the redox function is the exchange of substances and energy with the external environment: dissimilation and assimilation. In this case, biogenic processes of oxidation and reduction prevail;
• the destructive function determines the processes associated with the decomposition of organisms after their death, as a result of which the mineralization of organic matter occurs, i.e. transformation of living matter into inert. As a result, biogenic and bio-inert substances of the biosphere are also formed;
• the environment-forming function is to transform the physical and chemical parameters of the environment as a result of life processes.

Metabolism, growth and reproduction of organisms underlie the biogenic migration of atoms, which in the process of evolution led to the creation of a modern natural system. Over billions of years, plants have absorbed enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and enriched the atmosphere with oxygen, from which the ozone screen was formed. The presence of protection from ultraviolet rays allowed the living to get out of the water and spread on land. Living organisms have an extremely profound effect on the natural properties of the biosphere and the entire Earth. The calcareous skeletons of invertebrates have formed sedimentary rocks such as chalk and limestone; coal and oil arose from plant residues. The soil is largely biogenic. It is a product of the vital activity of microorganisms, plants and animals in their interaction with inorganic nature. The appearance in the process of evolution of more complex organisms less dependent on environmental changes, as well as the development of relatively stable ecosystems led to an increase in the rate of migration of energy and substances in the formed biogeocenoses.

At present, about 500 thousand plant species, more than 1.5 million animal species are known on Earth. 93% of them inhabit land, and 7% are inhabitants of the aquatic environment (table).

From the data in the table it can be seen that although the oceans occupy about 70% of the earth's surface, they form only 0.13% of the Earth's biomass.

Soil is formed biogenic, it consists of inorganic and organic substances. Outside the biosphere, soil formation is impossible. Under the influence of microorganisms, plants and animals, the soil layer of the Earth begins to gradually form on the rocks. The biogenic elements accumulated in organisms, after their death and decomposition, again pass into the soil.

The processes occurring in the soil are an important component of the cycle of substances in the biosphere. Human economic activity can lead to a gradual change in the composition of the soil and the death of microorganisms living in it. This is why the development of measures for the wise use of the soil is necessary. Material from the site

The hydrosphere plays an important role in the distribution of heat and humidity around the planet, in the cycle of substances, therefore it also has a powerful effect on the biosphere. Water is an important component of the biosphere and one of the most essential factors for the life of organisms. Most of the water is found in the oceans and seas. The composition of oceanic and sea water includes mineral salts containing about 60 chemical elements. Oxygen and carbon, which are essential for the life of organisms, dissolve well in water. Aquatic animals emit carbon dioxide during respiration, and plants, as a result of photosynthesis, enrich water with oxygen.

Plankton

In the upper layers of oceanic waters, reaching a depth of 100 m, unicellular algae and microorganisms are widespread, which form microplankton(from Greek plankton - wandering).

About 30% of the photosynthesis taking place on our planet takes place in water. Algae, perceiving solar energy, convert it into the energy of chemical reactions. In the nutrition of aquatic organisms, the main importance is plankton.

F and v and I about b about l about h To a s e m l and

Everywhere on Earth, wherever you turn your gaze, life reigns. Everywhere you can find any plants and animals. And how many more organisms that are not visible to the naked eye! The simplest unicellular animals and microscopic algae, numerous fungi, bacteria, viruses ...

In our time, up to 500 thousand plant species and about 1.5 million animal species are known. But not all species have yet been discovered and described. And if you imagine how many individuals each species has! .. Try to count the number of firs in the taiga, or dandelions in a meadow, or ears of corn in one field of wheat ... How many ants live in one anthill, how many crustaceans of cyclops or daphnia in one puddle, How many squirrels are there in the forest, how many pikes, perches or roaches are there in one lake? .. And truly fabulous figures are obtained when trying to count microorganisms.

So, in1 gram forest soil, on average, there are:

bacteria - 400,000,000,

mushrooms - 2,000,000,

algae - 100,000,

protozoa - 10,000.

Microbiologists at the University of Georgia believe that on Earth only 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (5 nonillion) bacteria . This amounts to 70% of the mass of all life on the planet.

All this innumerable set of living things is not placed chaotically and randomly, but strictly according to the laws of life, in a certain order, according to the laws of life historically established on Earth. Here is what the American biologist K. Willie writes about this: “At first glance it may seem that the world of living beings consists of an unimaginable multitude of plants and animals, different from each other and each going its own way. However, a more detailed study shows that all organisms, both plant and animal, have the same basic vital needs, they face the same problems: obtaining food as a source of energy, conquering living space, reproduction, etc. In the course of solving these problems, plants and animals have formed a huge variety of different forms, each of which is adapted to life in the given environmental conditions. Each form adapted not only to the physical conditions of the environment - it acquired resistance to fluctuations within certain limits of humidity, wind, lighting, temperature, gravity, etc., but also to the biotic environment - to all plants and animals living in the same zone.

Regularly distributed on the Earth, the entire set of organisms forms the living shell of our planet - the biosphere. The credit for developing the concept of "biosphere" and clarifying its planetary role belongs to the Russian academician V. I. Vernadsky, although the term itself was used at the end of the last century. What is the biosphere and why is it so important?

The surface parts of the Earth consist of three mineral, inorganic shells: the lithosphere - the hard stone shell of the Earth; hydrosphere - a liquid, discontinuous shell, including all seas, oceans and inland waters - the World Ocean; atmosphere is a gaseous shell.

The entire hydrosphere, the upper parts of the lithosphere and the lower layers of the atmosphere are inhabited by animals and plants. The modern biosphere was formed in the process of the emergence and further historical development of living matter. From the time of the origin of life on Earth, according to various estimates, from 1.5-2.5 to 4.2 billion years have passed. VI Vernadsky came to the conclusion that during this time all the outer layers of the earth's crust were processed by the vital activity of organisms by 99 percent. Consequently, the Earth in the form as we perceive it, on which we live, is to a large extent a product of the activity of organisms.

Life, having arisen on Earth as a result of the natural development of matter, over the course of many millions of years of its existence in the form of various organisms, has changed the appearance of our planet.

All organisms of the biosphere together form biomass, or "living matter", which possesses powerful energy that changes the earth's crust and atmosphere. The total weight of plant matter is about 10,000 billion, and that of animals is about 10 billion tons, which is about 0.01 percent of the weight of the entire biosphere with its solid, liquid and gaseous habitats. It is estimated that the biomass of all living things that inhabited the Earth, about a billion years after the appearance of life, should have been many times the mass of our planet. But that did not happen.

Why is biomass not accumulating significantly? Why is it held at a certain level? After all, biomass as living matter has a tendency to continuous development, improvement and constant accumulation in the process of this development, in the process of reproduction and growth of living beings.

And this does not happen because each element of which the body of an organism is built is perceived from the environment, and then through a number of other organisms it returns to the surrounding, inorganic environment, from which it again enters the composition of living matter, biomass. Consequently, each element that is part of living matter is used by it many times.

However, this should not be understood in an absolute sense. On the one hand, some part of the elements leaves the circulation of substances, since on the Earth the accumulation of organic compounds in the form of deposits of coal, oil, peat, oil shale, etc. to ensure a more intensive process of biomass accumulation, which is manifested in a continuous increase in the yield of agricultural crops and the productivity of domestic animals.

But all this by no means rejects the general rule. Essentially, the biomass on the Earth does not accumulate, but is constantly kept at a certain level, although this level is not absolute and constant. This happens because the biomass is constantly being destroyed and re-created from the same building material, within its limits there is a continuous circulation of substances. VI Vernadsky writes: “Life captures a significant part of the atoms that make up the matter of the earth's surface. Under its influence, these atoms are in continuous intensive movement. Millions of the most diverse compounds are created from them all the time. And this process lasts tens of millions of years without interruption, from the most ancient Archaeozoic eras to our time. There is no chemical force on the earth's surface that is more permanently acting and therefore more powerful in its ultimate consequences than living organisms taken as a whole.

This cycle, which occurs as a result of the vital activity of organisms, is called the biological cycle of substances. It took on a modern character with the advent of green plants that carry out the process of photosynthesis. Since that time, the conditions for the evolution of living matter on Earth have acquired a completely different character.

The cycle of substances can be briefly considered using the example of carbon, the atoms of which are part of a complex protein molecule. It is with the protein molecule that life and metabolism are connected.

Each hectare of the Earth contains up to 2.5 tons of carbon in the composition of carbon dioxide (CO2). Calculations have shown that crops, for example, of sugar cane, each hectare absorb up to 8 tons of carbon, which is used to build the body of these plants. As a result, green plants have used

There would be a whole supply of carbon. But this does not happen, because organisms, during respiration, emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide. And even more carbon is released by putrefactive bacteria and fungi, destroying carbon compounds contained in the dead bodies of animals and plants. Some part of the carbon still leaves the sphere of "circulation", being deposited in the form of deposits of oil, coal, peat, etc., into which dead plants and animals turn. But this loss of carbon is compensated by the destruction of the carbonates of the rocks, and in modern conditions also by the burning of a huge amount of extracted fuel. As a result, carbon seems to constantly flow from the atmosphere through green plants, animals, microorganisms back into the atmosphere. Thus, the total reserves of carbon in the biosphere remain approximately constant. It can be assumed with a high degree of certainty that almost every carbon atom in the biosphere since the emergence of life on Earth has repeatedly been in the composition of living matter, passed into atmospheric carbon dioxide and again returned to the composition of living matter, biomass.

In modern conditions, carbon in the process of biological circulation of substances goes through the following stages: 1) green plants, creators of organic matter, absorb carbon from the atmosphere and introduce it into their body; 2) animals, or consumers, eating plants, build carbon compounds of their body from their carbonaceous compounds; 3) bacteria, as well as some other organisms, or destroyers, destroy the organic matter of dead plants and animals and release carbon, which again escapes into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Another important constituent of biomass amino acids and proteins is nitrogen. The source of nitrogen on Earth is nitrates, which are ingested by plants from soil and water. Animals, eating plants, synthesize their protoplasm from vegetable amino acids with protein. Putrefactive bacteria convert the nitrogen compounds of the dead bodies of these organisms into ammonia. The nitrifying bacteria then convert the ammonia into nitrites and nitrates. Part of the nitrogen is returned to the atmosphere by denitrifying bacteria. But on Earth, in the process of evolution of living matter, organisms appeared that were able to bind free nitrogen and convert it into organic compounds. These are some blue-green algae, soil, and nodule bacteria along with the cells of the roots of legumes. When these organisms die off, the nitrogen of their body is converted by nitrifying bacteria into salts of nitric acid.

A similar cycle is performed by water, phosphorus, and many other substances that are part of living matter and mineral shells of the biosphere.As a result, all elements, with rare exceptions, by the activity of living matter of the biosphere are involved in the most grandiose in scale continuously moving stream - the biological cycle of substances ... “The termination of life would inevitably be associated with the termination of chemical changes, if not the entire earth's crust, then at least its surface - the face of the Earth, the biosphere,” writes Academician V. I. Vernadsky.

This idea of ​​Vernadsky is especially vividly confirmed by the role that oxygen, a product of plant photosynthesis, plays in the process of its circulation. Almost all oxygen in the earth's atmosphere arose and is maintained at a certain level by the activity of green plants. In large quantities, it is consumed by organisms during respiration. But, in addition, possessing enormous chemical activity, oxygen continuously enters into compounds with almost all other elements.

If green plants did not emit such a huge amount of oxygen, then it would completely disappear from the atmosphere in about 2000 years. The entire appearance of the Earth would be transformed, almost all organisms would disappear, all oxidative processes in the physical part of the biosphere would cease ... The Earth would become a lifeless planet. It is the presence of free oxygen in the planet's atmosphere that indicates that there is life, living matter, and a biosphere on it. And since there is a biosphere, almost all elements of the environment are involved by it in a grandiose, endless cycle of substances.

It is estimated that in the modern era, all the oxygen contained in the atmosphere is circulated through organisms (binding during respiration and released during photosynthesis) in 2000 years, that all carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes a cycle in the opposite direction every 300 years and that all water on Earth decomposes and reproduced by photosynthesis and respiration in 2,000,000 years.

The theory of the biosphere is based on geochemical studies, primarily studied by V.I. Vernadsky, the cycles of oxygen and carbon. He was the first to suggest that the oxygen contained in the modern atmosphere is formed as a result of the photosynthetic activity of plants.

The outstanding natural scientist V. I. Vernadsky possessed an amazing ability to cover with his sharp and brilliant thought almost all areas of modern natural science. In his thoughts and concepts, he was far ahead of the current level of knowledge and foresaw their development for decades to come. Back in 1922, Vernadsky wrote about the close mastery of man's immense reserves of nuclear energy, and in the late 1930s he predicted the coming era of man's spacewalk. He stood at the origins of many earth sciences - genetic mineralogy, geochemistry, biogeochemistry, radiogeology and created the doctrine of the Earth's biosphere, which became the pinnacle of his creativity.

V. I. Vernadsky's scientific quests were constantly associated with enormous organizational work. He was the initiator of the creation of the Commission for the Study of the Natural Productive Forces of Russia, one of the organizers of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and its first president. On the initiative of Vernadsky, the Institute of Geography, the Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry named after M.V. Lomonosov, the Radiev Institute, the Ceramic and Optical Institute, the Biogeochemical Laboratory which has now become the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry named after V.I. Vernadsky, the Commission for the Study of permafrost, later transformed into the V.A. Finally, he came up with the idea of ​​creating an International Commission for the determination of the geological age of the Earth.

ENERGY FLOW IN THE BIOSPHERE

The cycles of all substances are closed, the same atoms are used repeatedly in them. Therefore, a new substance is not required for the implementation of the cycle. The law of conservation of matter, according to which matter never arises and does not disappear, is evident here. But for the transformation of substances within the biogenic cycle, energy is needed. At the expense of what energy is this grandiose process carried out?


The main source of energy necessary for life on Earth, and therefore for the implementation of the biological cycle of substances, is sunlight, that is, the energy that arises in the interior of the Sun during nuclear reactions at a temperature of approximately 10,000,000 degrees. (The temperature at the sun's surface is much lower, only 6,000 degrees.) Up to 30 percent of the energy is dissipated in the atmosphere or reflected by clouds and the Earth's surface, up to 20 percent is absorbed in the upper layers of clouds, about 50 percent reaches the land or ocean surface and is absorbed in the form of heat. Only an insignificant amount of energy, only about 0.1-0.2 percent, is captured by green plants; it is it that provides the entire biological cycle of substances on Earth.

Green plants accumulate the energy of the sun's ray, store it in their body. Animals, eating plants, exist at the expense of the energy that entered their body along with food, with the plants eaten. Predators ultimately also subsist on the energy accumulated by green plants, for they feed on herbivorous animals.

Thus, the energy of the Sun, originally used by green plants in the process of photosynthesis, is converted into the potential energy of chemical bonds of those organic compounds from which the very body of plants is built. In the body of an animal that has eaten a plant, these organic compounds are oxidized with the release of such an amount of energy that was spent on synthesizing organic matter by the plant. Part of this energy is used for the life of the animal, and part, according to the second law of thermodynamics, turns into heat and dissipates in space.

Ultimately, the energy received from the sun by a green plant is transferred from one organism to another. With each such transition, energy is converted from one form (the life energy of a plant) to another (the life energy of an animal, a microorganism, etc.). With each such transformation, a decrease in the amount of useful energy occurs. Consequently, unlike the cycle of substances, which flows in a vicious circle, energy moves from organism to organism in a certain direction. There is a one-way flow of energy, not a cycle.

It is not difficult to imagine that as soon as the Sun goes out, all the energy accumulated by the Earth will gradually, after a certain and relatively short period of time, turn into heat and dissipate in space. The circulation of substances in the biosphere will stop, all animals and plants will die. Quite a gloomy picture ... the end of life on Earth ...

However, we should not be confused by this conclusion. After all, the Sun will shine for several billion more years, that is, at least as long as life already exists on Earth, which has developed from primitive lumps of living matter to modern man. Moreover, man himself appeared on Earth only about a million years ago. During this period, he went from a stone ax to the most complex electronic computers, penetrated into the depths of the atom and the Universe,

Any transition of energy from one form to another is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of useful energy that has gone beyond the Earth and successfully explores outer space.

The emergence of man and such highly organized matter as his brain was and is of exceptional importance for the evolution of the living mother and the entire biosphere. Since its inception, humanity, as a part of biomass, has been completely dependent on the environment for a considerable time. But as the brain and thinking develop, man more and more conquers nature, rises above it, subordinates it to his interests. Back in 1929, A.P. Pavlov, emphasizing the ever-increasing role of man in the development of the organic world on Earth, proposed to call the Quaternary period an "anthropogen", and then V. I. Vernadsky, believing that mankind creates a new, intelligent shell of the Earth, or a sphere mind, suggested the name "noosphere".

Human activity significantly changes the circulation of substances in the biosphere. About 50 billion tons of coal have been mined and burned; billions of tons are mined for iron and other metals, oil, peat. Man has mastered various forms of energy, including atomic energy. As a result, completely new chemical elements appeared on Earth and it became possible to transform some elements into others, and a large amount of radioactive radiation was included in the biosphere. Man has become the magnitude of the cosmic order and the power of his mind in the near future will be able to master such forms of energy, which we now do not even suspect.