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Gaia, the largest entity in the nested system
of life on Earth, is surely not an organism, but it nevertheless
shows a kind of physiology with fascinating internal dynamics.
This statement implies physiologic functions, chemical cycles,
even feedback loops that have some role in long-term stability.
What are these functions, how do we know they exist, and
how do we learn about them?
This is the subject that Tyler Volk tackles
brilliantly in Gaia's Body. A seamless, engaging
readable introduction to the budding new field of Earth
physiology, Gaia's Body blends real science with
evocative imagery in describing the system of life, soil,
ocean, and air we have termed the biosphere, Volk shows
how every important chemical in the atmosphere is regulated
by living processes; why strange, spaghetti-like bacteria
off the coast of Chile have an intimate connection with
the plants in your backyard; why "biochemical guilds"
may be Earth's most important unit of life; and even how
scientists have detected the "breathing" of the
biosphere. He examines long-term trends in Earth's evolution
(is Gaia growing colder? more complex?) and examines humanity's
role in Gaia's past and future.
This groundbreaking work is sure to intrigue
adherents and skeptics alike, as well as anyone who is curious
about our living planet.
Tyler Volk is Associate Professor of
Biology at New York University and a member of the Executive
Committee of the Geophysiological Society. For many years
he has been a principal investigator with NASA studying
controlled ecological life support systems. He is the author
of Metapatterns Across Space, Time, and Mind and
lives in New York and New Mexico.
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