You're using an outdated browser. Please upgrade to a modern browser for the best experience.
Peer Reviewed
The Structure of the Biosphere from the Point of View of the Concept of the Biogeome
The authors propose considering the structure and evolutionary changes in the biosphere from the standpoint of a biogeomics approach. It is necessary to study biogeomes as systems of ecosystems that are similar in their structural and functional organization. Biogeomes are structural units of the biosphere and elements of biospheromerons. Based on an analysis of the concept of the “biome”, it is concluded that its primary use is limited, since it is only based on the phytocenotic approach; however, it should be noted that it is this aspect that is currently developing most successfully. The authors note that A. Tansley (1935), critically examining the concept of the biome, essentially introduced the concept of the biogeome, which is broader than the concept of the “ecosystem”. The authors consider the characteristics of five main terrestrial and atmobiontic biogeomes (hylea, grass biogeome, tundra, and desert biogeome), as well as seven hydrosphere biogeomes (shelf, pelagic ocean biogeome, bathyal–abyssal bottom, hydrothermal, bioherm, limnobiogeome, and rheobiogeome). They are grouped, based on the physiognomic approach and an analysis of the “biogeomic formulas”, into the following three types: biotic (the appearance of ecosystems is determined by the biome), oligobiotic (the appearance of ecosystems is determined by both the biome and abiotic elements, as well as the geome), and nanobiotic, where the general appearance of ecosystems is determined by the elements of the geome. The biogeomic approach allows us to consider the organization of terrestrial and hydrosphere ecosystems in a general way and to introduce important elements into the structure of the Earth’s biosphere, which has gone through complex and lengthy stages during its evolution.
biosphere evolution biogeome ecosystem hydrosphere
One of V.I. Vernadsky’s—a great Russian and Soviet scientist, mineralogist, biogeochemist, and creator of the biosphere concept, main contributions to biological science, in the development of his doctrine of the biosphere, is that he actually postulated the following thesis: nothing in the science of life makes sense outside the study of this or that phenomenon within the framework of its role in the structural and functional organization of the biosphere. According to V.I. Vernadsky himself, living matter, as the totality of living organisms in the functioning biosphere, exists only in the biosphere [1][2].
Vernadsky considered life as a certain property of living substance: living substance (matter) means a substance possessing life that has some inherent properties, just as one speaks of a radioactive substance [3] (p. 197). At the same time, living matter has systemic properties which influence its structure, and each element of it, each organism, has its own specific properties.
Vernadsky formulated the following three important hypotheses in the early 1920s: living matter is a cosmic phenomenon; living matter is essentially different from inert matter; and there was no beginning of life in the Earth biosphere and all empirical data do not support abiogenesis. The term “biosphere” was not central to this period of his research; Vernadsky, in fact, postulated that the emergence of life on Earth depended on the system, not on a hypothetical primary organism [4][5]. Life is a systemic event, not the “private” existence of paleo or more evolutionarily developed organisms.
What does this mean for biological science, in particular? First of all, living things are represented by organisms, one of the most important properties of which is self-reproduction and the transmission of genetic information; however, life in the biosphere as a planetary and cosmic phenomenon is the existence and functioning of bioinert systems. K.M. Khailov [6] rightly and dualistically posits the following question: what is life and what is life on Earth or—more precisely—life in the biosphere? The emergence of living organisms in the biosphere, capable of endlessly maintaining the ‘circulation’ of their species, was a secondary evolutionary act based on the evolutionary development of primary protoecosystems [7][8][9].
This hypothesis is quite in agreement with the position expressed by V.I. Vernadsky that the biosphere should have emerged immediately as a sufficiently complex system in which the main biospheric functions could be carried out. The maintenance of these functions in the modern biosphere is determined by its characteristic structure. The question about the structure of the biosphere is still debatable. This review, in the authors’ opinion, can make a useful contribution to discussions of the biosphere’s structure and the ways that it developed.
In this article, the main task is to show the hierarchical structure of the biosphere. The authors consider the hierarchy of biospheric subsystems and elements as a system of interconnected levels of organization, which is built on the principle of the interrelation of parts and the whole. At the same time, the authors point out the features of the functional similarity of these parts and the whole, which the authors call functional fractality.
The authors’ familiarity with the problem of biospheric structure and evolution confirms that Western scientists rarely use research from Eastern Europe; therefore, the authors intentionally predominantly used this literature in the discussions to create and maintain some useful informational bridges.

References

  1. Vernadsky, V.I. Biosphere; Scientific Chemical and Technical Publishing House, Scientific and Technical Department of V. S. N. Kh.: Leningrad, Russia, 1926; pp. 1–146. (In Russian)
  2. Vernadsky, V.I. The biosphere and the noosphere. Am. Sci. 1945, 33, 1–12.
  3. Vernadsky, V.I. Living matter. In Selected Scientific Works of V.I. Vernadsky; Sobotovich, E.V., Ed.; NAS of Ukraine: Kyiv, Ukraine, 2012; Volume 4, pp. 11–292. (In Russian)
  4. Levit, G.S.; Protasov, A.A. Vladimir Vernadsky’s “Copernican Turn”. In Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology; Universität Göttingen: Göttingen, Germany, 2023; pp. 43–70.
  5. Levit, G.S.; Protasov, A.A. Living Matter: A Key Concept in Vladimir Vernadsky’s Biogeochemistry. Forum Int. Diszip. Begr. 2023, 1, 9–22.
  6. Khaylov, K.M. What Is Life on the Earth? Druk: Odessa, Ukraine, 2001; pp. 1–238. (In Russian)
  7. Kamshylov, M.M. Evolution of the Biosphere; Mir Publisher: Moscow, Russia, 1976; pp. 1–269. (In Russian)
  8. Margalef, R. Perspectives in Ecology Theory; University Chicago Press: Chicago, IL, USA, 1968; pp. 1–86.
  9. Protasov, A.; Barinova, S. The evolutionary of the biosphere and the metameric concept of its Evolution: From the past to the future. Encyclopedia 2024, 4, 900–914.
More
Upload a video for this entry
Information
Subjects: Biology
Contributors MDPI registered users' name will be linked to their SciProfiles pages. To register with us, please refer to https://encyclopedia.pub/register : ,
View Times: 368
Online Date: 11 Jul 2025
Academic Video Service