Abstracts » Zoology and wildlife conservation

Gaia and natural selection

Article Abstract:

Supporters of the Gaia theory suggest that organisms contribute to self-regulating feedback mechanisms that have ensured that the Earth's surface environment is stable and suitable for life. The Daisyworld model on which much of the early modelling work on the Gaia theory has been based can be extended to show how biospheric feedbacks influence natural selection and to investigate the impact of random mutation. The Gaia theory is useful for generating hypotheses, but is hard to test directly. It will now be necessary to develop more realistic and testable models.

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Carbon fixation

Article Abstract:

The key issue for those researching oceanic carbon is how the oceans will respond to carbon dioxide emission as a result of human activity. Factors still to be resolved include the mid-ocean depths, where sinking carbon is processed.

Analysis, Environmental aspects, Carbon dioxide, Oceanographic research

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Feedback on Gaia

Article Abstract:

James Lovelock's theory of the Earth's biotic regulation, dubbed Gaia, is emerging as a viable model following intense scrutiny by the biogeochemical community.

Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Biology

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