The biosphere or sphere of life is the part of the Earth where life develops, a space full of materials that move in cycles powered by solar energy. Also the biosphere refers to the most extensive layer of the earth's crust where air, water and soil interact with each other with the help of energy. In other words, the biosphere is the geosphere composed of all the simple and complex living beings present in the rest of the terrestrial geospheres (atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere), which interact with each other and with the environment that surrounds them. Because living beings need water, air and land (soil) for their subsistence, which together form a whole that is the terrestrial globe.
Therefore, the biosphere is the one that surrounds the globe including the sea, the land and the air. In the hydrosphere, numerous animal species inhabit despite the dissolved gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) that act as a limiting factor.
In the lithosphere, life generally develops in the uppermost layer of the soil. Soil animals are found living up to 5 km deep. And in the atmosphere, the upper limit of the biosphere, there is life up to a height of 8 km in the polar zones and 18 km in the equatorial zone.
The Sun is the primary source of energy on Earth and makes the functioning of ecosystems dynamic. Solar energy is absorbed by algae and plants through photosynthesis and transformed into chemical energy, which is stored in the form of starch and glucose, these are taken by animals to be burned (metabolism) thus releasing their energy. Plants also store energy, which is used by animals in their biological processes.
The biosphere has remained stable enough over hundreds of millions of years to allow the evolution of life forms that we know today. However, it is already known that the set of biological populations and their physical environment make up the biosphere, so that any transformative effect will have repercussions on the whole. Air, water or soil pollution endangers the stability of ecosystems and therefore, life in the biosphere.
Large-scale divisions of the biosphere into regions with different growth patterns are called biogeographic regions or ecozones. In principle, six regions were identified: Palearctic (Europe and Asia), Nearctic (North America), Neotropical (Mexico, Central and South America), Ethiopian (Africa), India ( Southeast Asia, Philippines, Indonesia) and Australian (Australia and New Guinea).). Currently eight are recognized: Oceania (Polynesia, Fiji and Micronesia) and Antarctica were added.
