Gaia
Concept Note
The Gaia hypothesis, developed by British
atmospheric chemist James Lovelock and U.S. biologist Lynn Margulis,
proposes that planetary processes are neither simply geological and
chemical, nor just geochemical; they are geophysiological. Variables such
as the mean global temperature, and the salinity and alkalinity of the
oceans are sensitive to biological activity.
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Earth's geology and biota are a single, tightly coupled evolutionary system. Rocks carry tales as traces of bygone biospheres. (Photograph by Lois Brynes)
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