Ecosphere (planetary)

This article is about the sum of all planetary spheres. For the sum of all ecosystems, see Biosphere.
"The Blue Marble" photograph of Earth, taken by the Apollo 17 lunar mission. The Arabian peninsula, Africa and Madagascar lie in the upper half of the disc, whereas Antarctica is at the bottom.
A view of the Earth's ecosphere

An ecosphere is a planetary contained ecological system. In this global ecosystem, the various forms of energy and matter that constitute a given planet interact on a continual basis. The forces of the four Fundamental interactions cause the various forms of matter to settle into identifiable layers. These layers are referred to as component spheres with the type and extent of each component sphere varying significantly from one particular ecosphere to another. Component spheres that represent a significant portion of an ecosphere are referred to as a primary component spheres. For instance, Earth's ecosphere[1][2] consists of five primary component spheres which are the Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Atmosphere, and Magnetosphere.

  1. ^ "A Lexicon of the Spheres" (PDF). Oregon State University.
  2. ^ "ESO 2 Science 11: The Ecosphere and the Ecosystems". Science Helpdesk.