The concept of ecosphere is holistic, which means that it encompasses a set of things as a whole, ecosystems, properly. If, on the one hand, an ecosystem also forms a unit as it is a natural system formed by living organisms and the physical environment where they are related, its habitat is a specific unit, defined by the physical and biological components of an environment.
The ecosphere, however, is a term that refers to an ecosystem understood from a general approach, called a planetary ecosystem , and is made up of the atmosphere, the geosphere, the hydrosphere and the biosphere. For its part, the exosphere is interplanetary space, outside the atmosphere. Keep reading this AgroCorrn article to know what the ecosphere is .
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Ecosystems and biomes
That great ecosystem, therefore, we can divide it into smaller ecosystems , which will be easier to study, in which we can find a series of own characteristics that make them unique, although they are part of higher units, which are called biomes (they can be aquatic and terrestrial), a term with which we define a set of large ecosystems that go beyond a lake or, for example, a forest. Marshes, estuaries, jungles, savannahs, high sea or pelagic areas are some of the best known biomes.
Although human beings divide and classify ecosystems to better understand them, exploit them and also preserve them, there is an undeniable fact, purely obvious: nature is a whole and, in fact, there is an inevitable, constant and complex interrelation between all of them, forming the ecosphere.
What is the ecosphere – simple explanation for children
In this way, the ecosphere can be considered as a global ecosystem in which living beings interact directly or indirectly. For example, photosynthetic organisms release oxygen into the atmosphere and, in turn, this serves other living beings or, without going any further, the hydrological cycle (the process that moves water through oceans, sky and land) is a fundamental phenomenon for life that occurs on a planetary level.
Precisely for this reason it is said that taking care of the planet is taking care of ourselves or that, ultimately, the planet is our true home.
NASA’s Ecosphere: A Perfect World
Ecosphere is also called a famous experiment carried out by NASA from the first attempts by scientists Joe Hanson and Claire Folsone to create ecosystems that were a kind of miniature of the planet.
Seawater, seawater, shrimp, algae, bacteria, gorgonian and gravel substrate were introduced into the glass egg. Its biological activity is carried out in a completely isolated way, since the container is hermetically closed, although it receives external light to maintain the biological cycle.
It is considered a perfect world , in which shrimp can live for several years thanks to its self-sufficiency in the environment, in addition to not producing environmental pollution, so it does not need cleaning and its maintenance is minimal.
It is an interesting experiment to understand that, as long as the balance is respected (in this case the variable factors were temperature and light), everything lives in harmony . That is, we can establish a comparison with what happens on our planet to understand and become aware of the need for certain conditions to achieve, maintain or not lose that environmental balance.
Thus, although our planet is a much more complex ecosphere, life cycles also develop in a certain way and there are also fundamental elements at play such as air, water, land, life and natural light. Some influence others, creating a dynamic that leads to harmonious or chaotic situations.
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