Biosphere

Content

1. Biosphere ……………………………………………………………………..3

2. Conservation biology and biodiversity loss ……………………………………5

3. Biomass ………………………………………………………………………...6

4.Biodiversity: Definition and Functions……………………………………….7

5. What is ecosystem? ……………………………………………………………10

6. Less fishing means more corals………………………………………………..11

7. Huge decline of amphibians is a major threat to global biodiversity…………..12

8. The main reasons behind penguin decline in Antarctica……………………….13

9. The connection between the endangered species and biodiversity…………….14

10. How to save sharks from going extinct?...........................................................14

11. Climate change causing problem to breeding of sea turtles…………………..18

12. Southern right whales again in trouble?............................................................21

13. Endangered species – Whales………………………………………………...21

14. High Trophic Level Fish Detected in Aquaculture Feed……………………..23

15. Wetlands need to be preserved………………………………………………..24

16. High Trophic Level Fish Detected in Aquaculture Feed……………………...27

17. Overfishing …………………………………………………………………...28

18. Water conservation …………………………………………………………...30

19. Endangered species - Penguins……………………………………………….31

20. The Iceland management system: structure and function…………………….32

21. Fishery ……………………………………………………………………….34

22. Pelagic fish……………………………...…………………………………….37

23. Aquatic ecosystem…………………………………………………………….39

24. Biodiversity and Productivity of Ecosystems…………………………………42

25. Nature Protection and Conservation…………………………………………..43

26. Coastal fish…………………………………………………………………....46

27. Bathypelagic fish…………………………………………………………...…49

28. Benthopelagic fish…………………………………………………………….53

29. Predator fish……………………………………………………………….…..55

30. Productivity………………………………………………………………...…56

31. Marine biology………………………………………………………………..58

32. Test……………………………………………………………………………60

33. Vocabulary……………………………………………………………………62

34. Список использованных источников ………………………………………64

Read the text and translate it.

Biosphere

The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed (apart from solar and cosmic radiation) and self-regulating system. The global ecological system integrates all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning through a process of biogenesis or biopoesis 3.5 billion years ago.

Biospheres are self-regulating systems containing ecosystems, including artificial ones such as Biosphere 2 and BIOS-3; and, potentially, ones on other planets or moons. The term "biosphere" was coined by geologist Eduard Suess in 1875, which he defined as:"The place on Earth's surface where life dwells."

Vernadsky defined ecology as the science of the biosphere. It is an interdisciplinary concept for integrating astronomy, geophysics, meteorology, biogeography, evolution, geology, geochemistry, hydrology and, generally speaking, all life and earth sciences. Some life scientists and earth scientists use biosphere in a more limited sense. For example, geochemists define the biosphere as being the total sum of living organisms (the "biomass" or "biota" as referred to by biologists and ecologists). In this sense, the biosphere is but one of four separate components of the geochemical model, the other three being lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Some might prefer the word ecosphere as all encompassing of both biological and physical components of the planet.

Ecosystems occur when communities and their physical environment work together as a system. The difference between this and a biosphere is simple, the biosphere is everything in general terms. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. Image is the Earth photographed from Apollo 17. Every part of the planet, from the polar ice caps to the Equator supports life. Recent advances in microbiology have demonstrated that microbes live deep beneath the Earth's terrestrial surface, and that the total mass of microbial life in so-called "uninhabitable zones" may, in biomass, exceed all animal and plant life on the surface. The actual thickness of the biosphere on earth is difficult to measure. Birds typically fly at altitudes of 650 to 1,800 metres, and fish that live deep underwater can be found down to -8,372 metres in the Puerto Rico Trench. There are more extreme examples for life on the planet: Rüppell's vulture was found at altitudes of 11,300 metres; yaks live at elevations between 3,200 to 5,400 metres above sea level; mountain goats live up to 3,050 metres. Herbivorous animals at these elevations depend on lichens, grasses, and herbs.

Microscopic organisms live at such extremes that, taking them into consideration, makes the thickness of the biosphere much greater. Culturable microbes have been found in the Earth's upper atmosphere as high as 41 km. It is unlikely, however, that microbes are active at such altitudes, where temperatures and air pressure are extremely low and ultraviolet radiation very high. More likely, these microbes were brought into the upper atmosphere by winds or possibly volcanic eruptions. Microbes are not limited to the air, water or the Earth's surface. Culturable thermophilic microbes have been extracted from cores drilled more than 5 km (3 mi) into the Earth's crust in Sweden, from rocks between 65-75 °C. Temperature increases with increasing depth into the Earth's crust. The speed at which the temperature increases depends on many factors, including type of crust, rock type, geographic location, etc.

Our biosphere is divided into a number of biomes, inhabited by broadly similar flora and fauna. On land, biomes are separated primarily by latitude. Terrestrial biomes lying within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles are relatively barren of plant and animal life, while most of the more populous biomes lie near the equator. Terrestrial organisms in temperate and Arctic biomes have relatively small amounts of total biomass and display adaptations to cold, including world migrations, social adaptations, estivation and multiple layers of insulation.

biogenesis – биогенез

biopoesis – биопоэз

volcanic eruptions – вулканические взрывы

terrestrial organisms – земные организмы

estivation – сонное состояние в летние время

thermophilic microbes – термофильные микробы

lichens – лишайник

artificial – искусственный

the Earth's crust – твердая литосфера земли

latitude – широта

elevations – высота над уровнем моря

herbivorous animals – авоядные животные

Read the text again and answer the questions:

1. Give a definition to biosphere.

2. What is the role of biospgere in people’s life?

3. What is the size of biosphere?

4. What is the role of microscopic organisms on our planet?

5. What do bioms mean?

Read the sentences and fill in the most suitable words: field, artificial, biosphere, plants, temperature, microbiologist, systems, dioxide, limit, atmosphere.

1. The Second International Conference on Closed Life Systems defined biospherics as the science and technology of analogs and models of Earth's_______; i.e., ________ Earth-like biospheres. Others may include the creation of artificial non-Earth biospheres—for example, human-centered biospheres or a native Martian biosphere—in the ________of biospherics.

2. In the early 1970s, Lynn Margulis, a __________from the United States, added to the hypothesis, specifically noting the ties between the biosphere and other Earth ________. For example, when carbon _______ levels increase in the atmosphere, _______ grow more quickly. As their growth continues, they remove more and more carbon dioxide from the ________.

3. The upper known ______ of temperature at which microbial life can exist is 122 °C, and it is likely that the limit of life in the "deep biosphere" is defined by ________ rather than absolute depth.

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