Living organisms from a planetary perspective
Abstract
The article, based on the systematisation scientific materials, ideas of authoritative scientists and modern data, examines the reasons for the unique nature of the Earth in comparison with the worlds of the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars). These neighbouring planets have a similar genesis from a single source, are located close (by cosmic standards) to each other and from the Sun, and receive a sufficient amount of energy from it. The Moon should also be included among them, since after its formation, being a satellite of the Earth, it developed as an independent cosmic body. In addition, the Moon is the most studied among its neighbours, which is important for a planetary understanding of the role of living organisms. Based on this, there was previously an opinion that the inner planets should be similar to the Earth in everything, including the presence of an oxygen atmosphere, surface water and living organisms. Subsequent studies have largely changed these ideas. A comparative analysis of the natural environment of the inner planets and the Moon (relief, water, atmosphere) shows that almost all of them are largely similar in their external characteristics, but differ sharply from the Earth. The main reason explaining this phenomenon is the presence of living organisms, which, in the process of life activity, reconstruct the original environment into an optimal habitat for themselves – the biosphere. Here living things act as the main biogeochemical factor, absorbing solar radiation, providing small biotic and large geological cycles of matter and energy, and the supply of oxygen to the atmosphere. At the same time, the evolution of living things occurs, the accumulation of biogenic sediments, the control of the ratio of salinity and acidity of waters and, apparently, maintains unabated geological activity. Established facts allow us to put forward the hypothesis that all the main differences between Earth and its neighbours are not accidental, but appear in the biosphere as patterns formed in the process of evolution of living organisms.
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