Scientists on GAIA
by Schneider, Stephen H.; Boston, Penelope J.Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 1993-01-29
Publisher(s): Mit Pr
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Summary
The Gaia hypothesis suggests that life is an active participant in shaping the physical and chemical environment on which it depends. Scientists on Gaia is a multidisciplinary exploration of this controversial hypothesis, which was introduced by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the early 1970s. Forty-four contributions detail the philosophical, empirical, and theoretical foundations of Gaia, mechanisms through which planet-wide homeostasis could occur, applicability of the hypothesis to planets other than Earth, possible destabilization by outside forces, and public policy implications. Stephen H. Schneider, a climatologist, is Senior Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado. Penelope J. Boston, a biologist, is a founder of Complex Systems Research, Lafayette, Colorado.
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. xiii |
| Introduction | p. xvii |
| List of Contributors | |
| Gaia: An Overview | |
| Geophysiology--the Science of Gaia | p. 3 |
| The Biota and Gaia: 150 Years of Support for Environmental Sciences | p. 11 |
| Coevolution and Its Applicability to the Gaia Hypothesis | p. 19 |
| A Selection of Biogenic Influences Relevant to the Gaia Hypothesis | p. 23 |
| Philosophical Foundations of Gaia | |
| Gaia and the Myths of Harmony: An Exploration of Ethical and Practical Implications | p. 33 |
| The Gaia Hypothesis: Are They Testable? Are They Useful? | p. 38 |
| Gaia: Hypothesis or Worldview? | p. 47 |
| The Mechanical and the Organic: On the Impact of Metaphor in Science | p. 66 |
| Theoretical Foundations of Gaia | |
| Ecosystem Stability and Diversity | p. 77 |
| Earth--The Water Planet: A Lucky Coincidence? | p. 80 |
| The Climate System and Its Regulation by Atmospheric Radiative Processes | p. 90 |
| Theoretical Microbial and Vegetation Control of Planetary Environments | p. 99 |
| Mechanisms for Stabilization and Destabilization of a Simple Biosphere: Catastrophe on Daisyworld | p. 118 |
| Radiative Entropy as a Measure of Complexity | p. 121 |
| Mechanisms: Sulfur | |
| Geophysiological Interaction in the Global Sulfur Cycle | p. 131 |
| Planetary Homeostasis Through the Sulfur Cycle | p. 139 |
| Atmospheric Sulfur from Oceanic Phytoplankton Versus Sulfur from Industry: Which Dominates Cloud Condensation Nuclei? | p. 147 |
| Evolutionary Pressures on Planktonic Dimethylsulfide Production | p. 153 |
| Mechanisms: Oxygen | |
| Atmospheric Oxygen, Tectonics, and Life | p. 161 |
| Gaian and Nongaian Explanations for the Contemporary Level of Atmospheric Oxygen | p. 167 |
| The Mechanisms That Control the Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen Content of the Atmosphere | p. 174 |
| Mechanisms: Carbon and Biomass | |
| Feedback Processes in the Biogeochemical Cycles of Carbon | p. 183 |
| Gaia's Garden and BLAG's Greenhouse: Global Biogeochemical Climate Regulation | p. 191 |
| Tectonics, Carbon, Life, and Climate for the Last Three Billion Years: A Unified System? | p. 200 |
| Quantitative Evolution of Global Biomass Through Time: Biological and Geochemical Constraints | p. 211 |
| Land Biota, Source or Sink of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Positive and Negative Feedbacks Within a Changing Climate and Land Use Development | p. 223 |
| A Geophysiological Model for Glacial-Interglacial Oscillations in the Carbon and Phosphorus Cycles | p. 240 |
| Peatland Formation and Ice Ages: A Possible Gaian Mechanism Related to Community Succession | p. 247 |
| Some Aspects of Air-Sea Carbon Dioxide Transfer During the Last Glacial Maximum | p. 256 |
| Phanerozoic Carbonate Skeletal Mieralogy and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide | p. 261 |
| Feedbacks Between Climate and Carbon Dioxide Cycling by the Land Biosphere | p. 275 |
| Other Mechanisms | |
| Silica in the Oceans: Biological-Geochemical Interplay | p. 287 |
| Ephemeral Biogenic Emissions and the Earth's Radiative and Oxidative Environment | p. 296 |
| The Macromolecular Matrix of Plant Cell Walls as a Major Gaian Interfacial Regulator in Terrestrial Environments | p. 309 |
| Microbial Weathering and Gaia | p. 320 |
| Feedback Mechanisms Involving Humic Substances in Aquatic Ecosystems | p. 330 |
| An Ecological Rationale for the Heterogeneity of Humic Substances: A Holistic Perspective on Humus | p. 339 |
| Bimineralization and Gaia | p. 346 |
| The Biosphere as a Driver for Global Atmospheric Change | p. 353 |
| Fire in Phanerozoic Cybernetics | p. 362 |
| Gaia, Catastrophes, and Other Planets | |
| Gaia and Life on Mars | p. 375 |
| Gaia Versus Shiva: Cosmic Effects on the Long-Term Evolution of the Terrestrial Biosphere | p. 382 |
| Policy Implications | |
| Gaia on the Brink: Biogeochemical Feedback Processes in Global Warming | p. 393 |
| The Greenhouse Civilization and the Gaia Hypothesis: A View from Congress | p. 405 |
| List of Participants | p. 417 |
| Index | p. 425 |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
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