The Biosphere

Hutchinson, Gillian

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0970-44

Cited by 70 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…Weathering is a key process that releases chemical elements into de biogeochemical cycle so they become acessible to living organisms in the trophic chain, leach to groundwater, or precipitate as a new, secondary mineral phase (Hutchinson, 1970). These secondary phases are, as a rule, very reactive and strongly related to the adsorptive behavior of the regolith column.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineral weathering in acid saprolites from subtropical, southern Brazil

Clemente¹,

Azevedo²

2007

Sci. agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.)

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Because weathering of minerals releases chemical elements into the biogeochemical cycle, characterization of their weathering products helps to better model groundwater quality, formation of secondary minerals and nutrient flux through the trophic chain. Based on microscopic and elemental analyses, weathering of riodacite from Serra Geral formation was characterized and weathering paths proposed. Three weathering paths of plagioclase phenocrystals were identified: plagioclase to gibbsite (Pg1); plagioclase to gels and gibbsite (Pg2); and plagioclase to gels, gibbsite and kaolinite (Pg3). Pyroxenes weathered to smectite and goethite (Py1), or to goethite and gibbsite (Py2), and magnetite weathered directly into iron oxides. Rock matrix comprises 90% of rock volume, and weathered to kaolinite and gibbsite, which explains why these minerals were the most abundant in the weathering products of these saprolites. Key words: Paraná Basin, riodacites, plagioclases, pyroxenes, magnetites INTEMPERISMO SUBTROPICAL DE MINERAIS EM SAPROLITOS ÁCIDOS DO SUL DO BRASILRESUMO: O intemperismo de minerais primários disponibiliza elementos químicos no ciclo biogeoquímico, que por sua vez influencia a qualidade da água subterrânea, formação de minerais secundários e o fluxo de nutrientes na cadeia trófica. Com base na análise microscópica e elemental, o intemperismo de riodacito da formação Serra Geral foi caracterizado e mecanismos de intemperismo propostos. Três processos principais de intemperismo de fenocristais de plagioclásios foram identificados: plagioclásio para gibbsita (Pg1); plagioclásio para gel e gibbsita (Pg2), e plagioclásio para gel, gibbsita e caulinita (Pg3). Piroxênios intemperizaram-se para esmectita e goetita (Py1), ou para goethita e gibbsita (Py2), e magnetita intemperizou-se para óxidos de ferro. A matriz da rocha compõe 90% do volume total, e intemperiza-se para caulinita e gibbsita, o que explica a abundância destes minerais nos produtos de intemperismo destes saprolitos.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineral weathering in acid saprolites from subtropical, southern Brazil

Clemente¹,

Azevedo²

2007

Sci. agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.)

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“…For us The Biosphere is the'... integrated living and life-supporting system comprising the peripheral envelope of Planet Earth together with its surrounding atmosphere so far down, and up, as any form of life exists naturally. '* This concept, stemming from Vernadsky, was already recalled by G. Evelyn Hutchinson (1970) in his authoritative paper introducing the special issue of Scientific American devoted to 'The Biosphere', by the celebrated Soviet soil scientist Victor Abrahamovich Kovda (1970) in the first chapter (entitled 'Contemporary scientific concepts relating to the biosphere') of the proceedings of the UNESCO so-called 'Biosphere Conference', and by one of us in the first International Conference on Environmental Future, held in Finland in 1971(Polunin, 1972.…”

Section: Conceptual and Terminological Confusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vernadsky and Biospheral Ecology

Polunin¹,

Grinevald

1988

Envir. Conserv.

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The concept of The Biosphere as the integrated living and life-supporting system comprising the peripheral envelope of planet Earth together with its surrounding atmosphere so far down, and up, as any form of life exists naturally, stems from the writings of V.I. Vernadsky in the 1920s but has only emerged and become widely accepted in the latest decades. Yet it is quite one of the largest and most important entities with which humans have to deal, being, moreover, the only natural habitat and life-support of Mankind and Nature and, as such, needful of safeguarding and healthful maintenance.No other meaning than the above should be attached to the term Biosphere, the importance of which concept and actuality being such that it should be far more widely known than is currently the case — to which end a small conference was held in 1987 and a larger one is contemplated in 1990 on the theme of Threats to The Biosphere and Imperative Countermeasures.Other activities on behalf of The Biosphere include the ‘Johnny Biosphere’ media campaign of Dr John R. Vallentyne, those of The World Campaign for The Biosphere and its sponsoring World Council For The Biosphere, and the newly-established [International] Vernadsky Foundation which it is hoped will have, as one of its main objectives, the fostering of due reverence for life in its full Biospheral context.

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“…Hutchinson, 1970), 15 however a systems approach can be seen as putting particular emphasis on the merging of organismal 16 and ecological physiology (Wilkinson, 2003;2006). To understand such processes we need to be able 17 to quantify microbial diversity, population sizes and biomass.…”

Section: Introduction 28mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13 From before the full development of the current systems approach to global ecology it was known 14 that life was sustained by the cycling of energy and chemical elements (e.g. Hutchinson, 1970), 15 however a systems approach can be seen as putting particular emphasis on the merging of organismal 16 and ecological physiology (Wilkinson, 2003;2006). To understand such processes we need to be able 17 to quantify microbial diversity, population sizes and biomass.…”

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confidence: 99%

Protist diversity on a nature reserve in NW England—With particular reference to their role in soil biogenic silicon pools

et al. 2016

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11Soil protists play fundamental roles in many earth system processes, yet we are only beginning to 12 understand the true diversity of the organisms involved. In this study we used conventional 13 (microscopy-based) methods to characterise the diversity and estimate protist population sizes in soils 14 from a variety of distinct habitats within Mere Sands Wood nature reserve in NW England. We 15 produced population size data for over ninety soil protists belonging to two major eukaryotic 16 functional groups: testate amoebae (TA) and diatoms, adding substantial 'cryptic diversity' to the 17 nature reserves recorded biota. From these population size data we estimated relative contributions 18 of TA and diatoms to soil biogenic silicon (BSi) pools and found significant correlations between taxon 19 richness and the TA and diatom Si pool. This could indicate that protist functional diversity can 20 influence terrestrial BSi pools, especially in early successional plant communities where TA and 21 diatoms can potentially increase Si mineralisation and/or create Si 'hot spots' and hence, the biological 22 availability of this element for subsequent plant uptake. TA were particularly abundant in mor humus 23 type soils further supporting the idea that they could be important players in nutrient cycling in such 24 soils. Overall, we demonstrate this is a useful approach in order to start to attempt to estimate the 25 role of protists in the Si cycle and other ecological processes. 26 KEYWORDS: protist, population size, diversity, testate amoebae, diatoms, biogenic silicon 27 1. Introduction. 28Over the last 40 years there has been a profound shift in the way in which many scientists view the 29 role of life in the context of the whole Earth -from life being viewed as just inhabiting the planet, to 30 it playing major roles in the workings of the Earth System. This systems view of the Earth mainly 31 developed during the 1980's and 90's and was influenced by several sources; including the extra-32 planetary perspective that came from NASA's Apollo Missions and the Gaia hypothesis developed by 33 James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the early 1970's (Hamilton andGrinevald, 2015). From the start 34 what was to become Earth Systems science -especially as envisaged by the Gaia hypothesis put a 35 strong emphasis on the role of microorganisms in the Earth system (Margulis and Lovelock, 1974). 36Lovelock (1993) also argued that soils made an interesting model for the planet as a whole, because 37 life plays a major role in constructing soils rather than merely adapting to abiotic soil conditions. 38 2 Indeed the development of soils and the associated vegetation cover may have played significant roles 1 in Earth history through the climatic effects of the weathering of soil minerals on the global climate 2 (Schwartzman and Volk, 1989; Lenton et al., 2012). However, while clearly of crucial importance, the 3 ecology of soils in general, and soil microbes in particular, was until recently somewhat understudied. 4As one...

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The Biosphere

Cited by 70 publications

References 0 publications

Mineral weathering in acid saprolites from subtropical, southern Brazil

Mineral weathering in acid saprolites from subtropical, southern Brazil

Vernadsky and Biospheral Ecology

Protist diversity on a nature reserve in NW England—With particular reference to their role in soil biogenic silicon pools

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