The biosphere is all life on our planet. This includes all the things that are living as well as the remains of those that have died but have not yet decomposed. The biosphere includes life on land and in the oceans - multitudes of plants, animals, fungi, protists, and bacteria.

Have you heard the expression “carbon-based life forms”? The living things on our planet are called carbon-based because they are made of molecules that are chiefly chains of carbon atoms. These carbon chains really add up when you consider the total amount of life on the planet, as scientists do as they make models of the Earth system. Add it all up and the life on our planet contains approximately 1900 gigatons of carbon (that’s heavier than 116 billion school buses.)

The biosphere has a great impact on the non-living parts of the Earth, especially on climate. The impact on climate is mainly due to the connection between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Processes such as photosynthesis and respiration naturally affect the concentrations of gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Microbes in soils can add nitrous oxide gas to the atmosphere. As humans burn components of the biosphere such as fossil fuels, forests, and fields, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide are released into the atmosphere.

Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky was the first to use the term biosphere to refer to the living component of the Earth in his 1926 book, entitled simply “The Biosphere”.

The biosphere is all life on our planet. This includes all the things that are living as well as the remains of those that have died but have not yet decomposed. The biosphere includes life on land and in the oceans - multitudes of plants, animals, fungi, protists, and bacteria.

Have you heard the expression “carbon-based life forms”? The living things on our planet are called carbon-based because most of the molecules in them are chains of carbon atoms linked together. These carbon chains really add up when you consider the total amount of life on the planet. Add it all up and the life on our planet contains approximately 1900 gigatons of carbon. That’s heavier than 116 billion school buses!

The biosphere has a great impact on the climate because the biosphere is closely connected to the atmosphere. When plants harness the Sun’s energy through photosynthesis, oxygen is released into the atmosphere and carbon dioxide is taken out. When plants and animals respire, carbon dioxide gas is added to the atmosphere and oxygen is taken out. Microbes living in soils can add nitrous oxide gas to the atmosphere. As humans burn components of the biosphere such as fossil fuels, forests and fields, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide are released into the atmosphere.

The biosphere includes all living things on our planet – the life on land and in the oceans - plants, animals, fungi, protists with only one cell, and even little bacteria.

Other than water, the most common thing in the bodies of living things is an element called carbon. There are so many living things on the planet that if you added up all the carbon in all of their bodies, cells, trunks, stems, and leaves it would be heavier than 116 billion school buses!

The biosphere can impact the Earth’s climate. This is because the biosphere can change the amount of greenhouse gases that are in the air of our atmosphere. When plants make their food by doing photosynthesis, oxygen is put into the air and carbon dioxide greenhouse gas is taken out of the air. When plants and animals respire, carbon dioxide is put to the air and oxygen is taken out of the air. Microbes that live in soils can add nitrous oxide, another type of greenhouse gas, to the air. When people burn fossil fuels, forests, and fields, greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere too.