The Gaia Hypothesis
The Real Deal
The Gaia Hypothesis proposes that the atmosphere, the oceans, the climate, and the crust of the Earth are regulated at a state comfortable for life because of the behavior of living organisms. Gaian processes can be seen in oxygen, carbon dioxide and temperature. Gaia is at work to keep the current oxygen content on the atmosphere at a level that all oxygen-breathing animals require. For temperature, Gaia sees that life regulates the surface temperature of Earth. The average temperature of the Earth has remained in a narrow range, between 10-20 degrees Celsius, over a period of three billion years. During this time the sun’s output has increased by thirty to forty percent. Ignoring this long-term trend the earth’s temperature would still vary far more as it does everyday on Mars surface.
Environmentalist sometimes take the view that ecosystems are integrated, harmonious “super organisms” designated to foster the living things and non-living constituents adjusted to form a self-regulating support system. Disturbances in ecosystems, such as the removal of a species, can have numerous consequences, such as extinction.