by Tyler Volk

About Tyler Volk

Tyler Volk is Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at New York University. For more than twenty years, his research has focused on the global carbon cycle, the dynamics of the biosphere, and systems at all scales. Volk’s books include CO_2 _Rising: The World’s Greatest Environmental Challenge; Gaia’s Body: Toward a Physiology of Earth; and Metapatterns across Space, Time, and Mind.

Biosphere

book Keywords for Environmental Studies

All forms of life and the three environmental matrices of atmosphere, soils, and oceans form a closely integrated network that can be called the “biosphere.” Thus the biosphere is the system with four main internal, interacting components: air, water, soil, and life. Considering this system, what makes the biosphere dynamically distinct from other layers of Earth, such as lithosphere, mantle, or core, is undoubtedly the presence and influence of life.