Characteristics of living matter
The composition of living matter includes both organic (in the chemical sense) and inorganic, or mineral, substances. Vernadsky wrote:
The mass of living matter is relatively small and is estimated at 2.4-3.6 10 12 tons (dry weight) and is less than 10 −6 the mass of other shells of the Earth. But it is “one of the most powerful geochemical forces on our planet.”
Living matter develops where life can exist, that is, at the intersection of the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere. Under conditions unfavorable for existence, living matter goes into a state of suspended animation.
The specificity of living matter is as follows:
- The living matter of the biosphere is characterized by enormous free energy. In the inorganic world, only short-lived, unhardened lava flows can be compared with living matter in terms of the amount of free energy.
- A sharp difference between living and nonliving matter of the biosphere is observed in the speed of chemical reactions: in living matter, reactions proceed thousands and millions of times faster.
- A distinctive feature of living matter is that the individual chemical compounds that make it up - proteins, enzymes, etc. - are stable only in living organisms (to a large extent, this is also characteristic of the mineral compounds that make up living matter).
- Voluntary movement of living matter, largely self-regulating. V.I. Vernadsky identified two specific forms of movement of living matter: a) passive, which is created by reproduction and is inherent in both animal and plant organisms; b) active, which is carried out due to the directed movement of organisms (it is typical for animals and, to a lesser extent, for plants). Living matter also has an inherent desire to fill all possible space.
- Living matter exhibits significantly greater morphological and chemical diversity than nonliving matter. In addition, unlike non-living abiogenic matter, living matter is not represented exclusively in the liquid or gas phase. The bodies of organisms are built in all three phase states.
- Living matter is presented in the biosphere in the form of dispersed bodies - individual organisms. Moreover, being dispersed, living matter is never found on Earth in a morphologically pure form - in the form of populations of organisms of the same species: it is always represented by biocenoses.
- Living matter exists in the form of a continuous alternation of generations, due to which modern living matter is genetically related to the living matter of past eras. At the same time, the presence of an evolutionary process is characteristic of living matter, i.e., the reproduction of living matter occurs not by the type of absolute copying of previous generations, but through morphological and biochemical changes.
The meaning of living matter
The work of living matter in the biosphere is quite diverse. According to Vernadsky, the work of living matter in the biosphere can manifest itself in two main forms:
a) chemical (biochemical) – I type of geological activity; b) mechanical – II type of transport activity.
Biogenic migration of atoms of the first kind is manifested in the constant exchange of matter between organisms and the environment in the process of building the body of organisms and digesting food. Biogenic migration of atoms of the second kind consists in the movement of matter by organisms during their life activity (during the construction of burrows, nests, when organisms are buried in the ground), the movement of the living matter itself, as well as the passage of inorganic substances through the gastric tract of ground eaters, silt eaters, and filter feeders.
To understand the work that living matter does in the biosphere, three basic principles are very important, which V.I. Vernadsky called biogeochemical principles:
- Biogenic migration of atoms of chemical elements in the biosphere always strives for its maximum manifestation.
- The evolution of species over geological time, leading to the creation of forms of life that are stable in the biosphere, goes in a direction that enhances the biogenic migration of atoms.
- Living matter is in continuous chemical exchange with the cosmic environment surrounding it, and is created and maintained on our planet by the radiant energy of the Sun.
There are five main functions of living matter:
- Energy. It consists in the absorption of solar energy during photosynthesis, and chemical energy through the decomposition of energy-saturated substances and the transfer of energy through the food chain of heterogeneous living matter.
- Concentration. Selective accumulation of certain types of substances during life. There are two types of concentrations of chemical elements in living matter: a) a massive increase in the concentrations of elements in an environment saturated with these elements, for example, there is a lot of sulfur and iron in living matter in areas of volcanism; b) a specific concentration of a particular element, regardless of the environment.
- Destructive. It consists of the mineralization of nonbiogenic organic matter, the decomposition of nonliving inorganic matter, and the involvement of the resulting substances in the biological cycle.
- Environment-forming. Transformation of physical and chemical parameters of the environment (mainly due to non-biogenic matter).
- Transport. Nutritional interactions of living matter lead to the movement of huge masses of chemical elements and substances against gravity and in the horizontal direction.
Living matter embraces and rearranges all chemical processes of the biosphere. Living matter is the most powerful geological force, growing with the passage of time. Paying tribute to the memory of the great founder of the doctrine of the biosphere, A. I. Perelman proposed calling the following generalization “Vernadsky’s law”:
“The migration of chemical elements on the earth’s surface and in the biosphere as a whole occurs either with the direct participation of living matter (biogenic migration) or it occurs in an environment whose geochemical features (O 2, CO 2, H 2 S, etc.) are predominantly are caused by living matter, both that which currently inhabits a given system, and that which has acted on the Earth throughout geological history.”
Notes
see also
Literature
- On the functions of living matter in the biosphere // Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2003. T. 73. No. 3. P.232-238
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
See what “Living matter” is in other dictionaries:
The totality of living organisms in the biosphere, their biomass. It is characterized by a specific chemical composition (H, C, N, 02, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ca predominate), huge biomass (80 100 109 tons of dry organic matter) and energy.… … Ecological dictionary
The totality of living organisms in the biosphere, expressed numerically in elementary chemical composition, mass and energy. The concept was introduced by V.I. Vernadsky in his doctrine of the biosphere and the role of living organisms in the cycle of matter and energy in nature... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
The totality of living organisms in the biosphere, expressed numerically in elementary chemical composition, mass and energy. The concept was introduced by V.I. Vernadsky in his doctrine of the biosphere and the role of living organisms in the cycle of matter and energy in nature. * * *… … encyclopedic Dictionary
1) the totality of living organisms of the biosphere, expressed numerically in elementary chemical composition, mass and energy. The term was introduced by V.I. Vernadsky (See Vernadsky). J.v. connected with the biosphere materially and energetically through... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The totality of living organisms of the biosphere, expressed numerically in elementary chemical terms. composition, mass and energy. The concept was introduced by V.I. Vernadsky in his doctrine of the biosphere and the role of living organisms in the cycle of energy in nature... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary
Living matter- in the concept of V.I. Vernadsky, the totality of living organisms of the biosphere (plants, animals, insects, etc., including humanity), numerically expressed in elementary chemical composition, mass and energy... The beginnings of modern natural science
living matter- 1. A set of living organisms in the biosphere that have an orderly metabolism. 2. A complex molecular aggregate with a control system containing a mechanism for transmitting hereditary information. E. Living substance D. Lebendiger Stoff,… … Explanatory ufological dictionary with equivalents in English and German
According to V.I. Vernadsky (1940), a collection of organisms of the same species (specific homogeneous living matter) or race (racial homogeneous living matter). Ecological encyclopedic dictionary. Chisinau: Main editorial office of the Moldavian Soviet... ... Ecological dictionary
- This concept should not be confused with the concept of "biomass", which is part of the biogenic substance.
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✪ Biogenic, bioinert, living matter
✪ Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky living matter
✪ Biosphere
Subtitles
Characteristics of living matter
Some organic substances contain atoms with variable oxidation states (compounds of iron, manganese, nitrogen, etc.). At the same time, biogenic processes of oxidation and reduction predominate on the Earth’s surface. Typically, the oxidative function of living matter in the biosphere is manifested in the transformation by bacteria and some fungi of relatively oxygen-poor compounds in the soil, weathering crust and hydrosphere into more oxygen-rich compounds. The reducing function is carried out through the formation of sulfates directly or through biogenic hydrogen sulfide produced by various bacteria. And here we see that this function is one of the manifestations of the environment-forming function of living matter;
- transport function - transfer of matter against gravity and in the horizontal direction. Since the time of Newton, it has been known that the movement of matter flows on our planet is determined by the force of gravity. Nonliving matter itself moves along an inclined plane exclusively from top to bottom. Only in this direction do rivers, glaciers, avalanches, and screes move.
Living matter embraces and rearranges all chemical processes of the biosphere. Living matter is the most powerful geological force, growing with the passage of time. Paying tribute to the memory of the great founder of the doctrine of the biosphere, A. I. Perelman proposed calling the following generalization “Vernadsky’s law”:
“The migration of chemical elements on the earth’s surface and in the biosphere as a whole occurs either with the direct participation of living matter (biogenic migration) or it occurs in an environment whose geochemical features (O 2, CO 2, H 2 S, etc.) are predominantly are caused by living matter, both that which currently inhabits a given system, and that which has acted on the Earth throughout geological history.”
Due to active movement, living organisms can move various substances or atoms in the horizontal direction, for example, through various types of migrations. Vernadsky called the movement, or migration, of chemical substances living matter biogenic migration of atoms or matter.
see also
- Substance, Matter (physics), Biogenic matter
- Basic laws of evolution of living matter in the biosphere
The earth's surface does not contain a more powerful, constantly operating, dynamic force than living organisms. According to the doctrine of living matter, a cosmic function is assigned to this shell, acting as a connecting link between the Earth and outer space. Participating in the process of photosynthesis, metabolism and transformation of natural substances, living matter carries out unimaginable chemical work.
The concept of living matter by V. I. Vernadsky
The concept of living matter was developed by the famous scientist V.I. Vernadsky, who separately considered the biological mass among the totality of other types of organic substances that form the biosphere of the globe. According to the researcher, living organisms make up a tiny fraction of the biosphere. However, it is their vital activity that most significantly affects the formation of the surrounding world.
According to the scientist’s concept, the living matter of the biosphere consists of both organic and inorganic substances. The main specific feature of living matter is the presence of enormous energy potential. In terms of the release of free energy in the inorganic environment of the planet, only volcanic lava flows can be compared with living matter. The main difference between nonliving and living matter is the speed of chemical reactions, which in the latter case occur millions of times faster.
Based on the teachings of Professor Vernadsky, the presence of living matter in the earth’s biosphere can manifest itself in several forms:
- biochemical (participation in the metabolism of chemicals, formation of geological shells);
- mechanical (the direct impact of biomass on the transformation of the material world).
The biochemical form of “activity” of the planet’s biomass is manifested in the continuous exchange of substances between the environment and organisms during the digestion of food and the construction of the body. The mechanical impact of living matter on the surrounding world consists in the cyclic movement of substances during the life of organisms.
Biochemical principles
To obtain a complete understanding of the “amount of work” performed by living matter in the process of life activity, several scientific principles known as biochemical principles allow:
- the movement of atoms of chemical substances during biogenic migration always tends to achieve the maximum possible manifestations;
- the evolutionary transformation of species is moving in a direction that promotes increased migration of atoms of elements;
- the existence of biomass is due to the presence of solar energy;
- The living matter of the planet is locked in a continuous cycle of exchange of chemicals with the cosmic environment.
Reflection of the vital activity of living matter on the functioning of the biosphere
Life arose in the form of the biosphere due to the ability of organic matter to reproduce, grow and evolve forms. Initially, the living shell of the planet was a complex of organic substances that formed the cycle of elements. During the development and transformation of living organisms, living matter acquired the ability to function not only as a continuous flow of energy, but also to evolve as a complex system.
New types of the organic shell of the Earth do not simply find their roots in previous forms. Their occurrence is due to the course of specific biogenic processes in the natural environment, which, in turn, affects all living matter, the cells of living organisms. Each stage of the evolution of the biosphere is characterized by noticeable changes in its material and energy structure. Thus, new systems of inert and living matter of the planet arise.
The increasing impact of biomass on changes in the inert systems of the planet is noticeable in the study of all eras without exception. This is due, first of all, to an increase in the accumulation of solar energy, as well as an increase in the intensity and capacity of the biological cycle of elements. Changes in the environment always predetermine the emergence of new, complex forms of life.
Functions of living matter in the biosphere
For the first time, the functions of biomass were considered by the same Vernadsky when writing the famous work called “Biosphere”. Here the scientist identifies nine functions of living matter: oxygen, calcium, gas, oxidation, reduction, destruction, concentration, reduction, metabolic, respiratory.
The development of modern concepts about living matter in the biosphere has led to a significant reduction in the number of functions of living matter and their combination into new groups. These are the ones that will be discussed further.
Energy functions of living matter
Energy flows emanating from the Sun are a real gift of electromagnetic nature for plants. More than 90% of the energy entering the planet’s biosphere is absorbed by the lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere, and is also directly involved in the flow of chemical processes.
The functions of living matter aimed at converting energy by green plants are the basic mechanism of living matter. Without the presence of processes for the transfer and accumulation of solar energy, the development of life on the planet would be in question.
Destructive functions of living organisms
The ability to mineralize organic compounds, the chemical decomposition of rocks, dead organic matter, the involvement of minerals in the circulation of biomass - all these are destructive functions of living matter in the biosphere. The main driving force behind the destructive functions of the biosphere are bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms.
Dead organic compounds decompose to the state of inorganic substances (water, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulfide), returning to the original cycle of matter.
The destructive effects of organisms on rocks deserve special attention. Thanks to the cycle of substances, the earth's crust is replenished with mineral components released from the lithosphere. By participating in the decomposition of minerals, living organisms thereby include a whole complex of essential chemical elements in the biosphere cycle.
Concentration functions
The selective accumulation of substances in nature, their distribution, the circulation of living matter - all this forms the concentration functions of the biosphere. Among the most active concentrators of chemical elements, microorganisms play a special role.
The construction of the skeletons of individual representatives of the animal world is due to the use of dispersed minerals. Vivid examples of the use of concentrated natural elements are mollusks, diatoms and calcareous algae, corals, radiolarians, and flint sponges.
Gas functions
The basis of the gas properties of living matter is the distribution of gaseous substances by living organisms. Based on the type of gases being converted, a number of individual gas functions are distinguished:
- Oxygen-forming - restoration of the planet's oxygen supply in free form.
- Dioxide - the formation of biogenic carbonic acids as a result of the respiration of representatives of the animal world.
- Ozone - the formation of ozone, which helps protect biomass from the destructive effects of solar radiation.
- Nitrogen - the creation of free nitrogen during the decomposition of substances of organic origin.
Environment-forming functions
Biomass has the ability to transform the physical and chemical parameters of the environment to create conditions that meet the needs of living organisms. As an example, we can highlight the plant environment, the vital activity of which helps to increase air humidity, regulate surface runoff, and enrich the atmosphere with oxygen. To a certain extent, environment-forming functions are the result of all the above-mentioned properties of living matter.
The role of man in the formation of the biosphere
The emergence of man as a separate species was reflected in the emergence of a revolutionary factor in the evolution of biological mass - the conscious transformation of the surrounding world. Technical and scientific progress is not just a phenomenon of the social life of a human being, but in some way relates to the natural processes of the evolution of all living things.
From time immemorial, humanity has been transforming the living matter of the biosphere, which was reflected in an increase in the rate of migration of atoms of the chemical environment, the transformation of individual geospheres, the accumulation of energy flows in the biosphere, and changes in the appearance of the Earth. Currently, man is considered not just as a species, but also as a force capable of changing the shells of the planet, which in turn is a specific factor in evolution.
The natural desire to increase the number of species has led the human species to the active use of renewable and non-renewable resources of the biosphere, energy sources, substances buried in the shells of the planet. The displacement of individual representatives of the animal world from natural habitats, the destruction of species for consumer purposes, the technogenic transformation of environmental parameters - all this entails the disappearance of the most important elements of the biosphere.
| Parameter name | Meaning |
| Article topic: | Living matter |
| Rubric (thematic category) | Ecology |
Types of substances that make up the biosphere (according to V.I. Vernadsky)
According to V.I. Vernadsky, the substance of the biosphere consists of:
Living matter - biomass of modern living organisms ;
Nutrient – created by life and being a source of extremely powerful potential energy (all forms of detritus as well as peat, coal, oil and gas of biogenic origin);
Bioinert substance - formed simultaneously by inert processes and living organisms (mixtures of nutrients with mineral rocks of non-biogenic origin - soil, silts, natural waters, gas and oil shale, tar sands, part of sedimentary carbonates);
Inert substance - formed by processes in which living matter did not take part (rocks, minerals, sediments not affected by the direct biogeochemical influence of organisms).
According to data based on energy or carbon content, the amount of living, biogenic and bioinert matter in the biosphere is correlated as 1:20:4000.
The entire set of organisms on the planet I.I. Vernadsky called it a living substance, considering its basic characteristics as total mass, chemical composition and energy.
The law of constancy, formulated by V.I. Vernadsky, states:
The amount of living matter in the biosphere (for a given geological period) is a constant value.
Living matter- ϶ᴛᴏ the totality and biomass of living organisms in the biosphere. Vernadsky (1967, p. 241) wrote: “There is no chemical force on the earth’s surface that is more constantly active, and therefore more powerful in its final consequences, than living organisms taken as a whole.” He was the first to calculate the total mass of living matter in the biosphere - 1.8 - 2.5 x 10 15 (dry weight). At the same time, this value turned out to be somewhat overestimated; it was clarified by research by N.I. Bazilevich, L.E. Rodina, N.N. Rozova (1971). As can be seen from Table 1, the bulk of land biomass is made up of green plants (99.2%), and in the ocean it is animals (93.7%).
Table 1 - Biomass of Earth organisms (according to N.I. Bazilevich et al., 1971)
If living matter is evenly distributed over the surface of our planet, it will cover it with a layer only 2 cm thick.
The living matter of our planet exists in the form of a huge variety of organisms of various shapes and sizes. Today there are more than 2 million species of organisms on Earth, of which plants account for about 500 thousand species, and animals account for more than 1.5 million species.
The richest group of organisms on Earth in terms of the number of species are insects, and there are significantly more of them than other species of plants and animals combined (≈ 1,000,000). But there may be more of them, because... Most insects living in the tropics have not yet been described.
Among higher plants, the most common are angiosperms - flowering ones, numbering about 250 thousand species.
Strictly speaking, the expression “living matter” is unfortunate. It is used only in the tradition of Vernadsky’s works as an equivalent to two more adequate concepts: living matter = a collection of living organisms = biota.
Living matter - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Living Matter" 2017, 2018.
Evolution of living matter according to Vernadsky: w Even if the first living organism consisted of one cell, in any case, it needed nutrition. The source of nutrition for it could be hydrocarbon molecules from the silt at the bottom of the shallow sea. Later, these organisms probably could... .
Atmosphere According to the chemical composition, the atmosphere is 99.99% represented by four components (in absolutely dry air): · nitrogen N2 – 75.51%; · oxygen O2 – 23.15%; Argon Ar – 1.28%; · carbon dioxide CO2 - 0.046%. In addition to the listed main components, the composition... .
Evolution of living matter according to Vernadsky: w Even if the first living organism consisted of one cell, in any case, it needed nutrition. The source of nutrition for it could be hydrocarbon molecules from the silt at the bottom of the shallow sea. Later, these organisms could probably...
One of the central links of the concept of the biosphere is the doctrine of living matter. Investigating the processes of migration of atoms in the biosphere, V.I. Vernadsky approached the question of the genesis (origin, appearance) of chemical elements in the earth's crust, and after that the need to explain the stability of the compounds that make up organisms. Analyzing the problem of atomic migration, he came to the conclusion that “organic compounds independent of living matter do not exist anywhere.” Later he formulates the concept of “living matter”: “The living matter of the biosphere is the totality of its living organisms... I will call the totality of organisms, reduced to their weight, chemical composition and energy, living matter.” The main purpose of living matter and its integral attribute is the accumulation of free energy in the biosphere. The ordinary geochemical energy of living matter is produced primarily through reproduction.
The scientific ideas of V. I. Vernadsky about living matter, about the cosmic nature of life, about the biosphere and its transition to a new quality - the noosphere, are rooted in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when philosophers and natural scientists made the first attempts to comprehend the role and tasks of man in the general evolution of the Earth. It was through their efforts that man began his advancement to the heights of the natural evolution of living things, gradually occupying the ecological niche allotted to him by nature.
In the 30s, V.I. Vernadsky singled out humanity from the total mass of living matter as its special part. This separation of man from all living things became possible for three reasons. Firstly, humanity is not a producer, but a consumer of biogeochemical energy. This thesis required a revision of the geochemical functions of living matter in the biosphere. Secondly, the mass of humanity, based on demographic data, is not a constant amount of living matter. And thirdly, its geochemical functions are characterized not by mass, but by production activity. The nature of mankind's assimilation of biogeochemical energy is determined by the human mind. On the one hand, man is the culmination of unconscious evolution, a “product” of the spontaneous activity of nature, and on the other hand, he is the initiator of a new, intelligently directed stage of evolution itself.
What characteristic features are inherent in living matter? First of all, it is a huge free energy. In the process of evolution of species, the biogenic migration of atoms, i.e., the energy of the living matter of the biosphere, has increased many times and continues to grow, because living matter processes the energy of solar radiation, the atomic energy of radioactive decay and the cosmic energy of scattered elements coming from our Galaxy. Living matter is also characterized by a high rate of chemical reactions compared to non-living matter, where similar processes occur thousands and millions of times slower. For example, some caterpillars can process 200 times more food per day than they weigh themselves, and one tit eats as many caterpillars as it weighs in a day
It is characteristic of living matter that the chemical compounds that make it up, the most important of which are proteins, are stable only in living organisms. After the completion of the life process, the original living organic substances decompose into chemical components. Living matter exists on the planet in the form of a continuous alternation of generations, due to which the newly formed is genetically connected with the living matter of past eras. This is the main structural unit of the biosphere, which determines all other processes on the surface of the earth's crust. Living matter is characterized by the presence of an evolutionary process. The genetic information of any organism is encrypted in each of its cells. V.I. Vernadsky classified living matter into homogeneous And heterogeneous. The first in his view is a generic, specific substance, etc., and the second is represented by regular mixtures of living substances. This is a forest, a swamp, a steppe, i.e. a biocenosis. The scientist proposed to characterize living matter on the basis of such quantitative indicators as chemical composition, the average weight of organisms and the average speed of their colonization of the surface of the globe.
V.I. Vernadsky gives average figures for the rate of “transmission of life in the biosphere.” The time it takes a given species to capture the entire surface of our planet in different organisms can be expressed by the following numbers (days):
Cholera bacterium 1.25
Ciliates 10.6 (maximum)
Diatoms 16.8 (maximum)
Green 166-183 (average)
plankton
Insects 366
Pisces 2159 (max)
Flowering plants 4076
Birds (chickens) 5600-6100
Mammals:
wild pig 37600
Indian elephant 376000
Life on our planet exists in non-cellular and cellular forms.
Non-cellular form living matter is represented by viruses that lack irritability and their own protein synthesis. The simplest viruses consist only of a protein shell and a DNA or RNA molecule that makes up the core of the virus. Sometimes viruses are isolated into a special kingdom of living nature - Vira. They can only reproduce inside certain living cells. Viruses are ubiquitous in nature and pose a threat to all living things. By settling in the cells of living organisms, they cause their death. About 500 viruses have been described that infect warm-blooded vertebrates, and about 300 viruses that destroy higher plants. More than half of human diseases owe their development to tiny viruses (they are 100 times smaller than bacteria). These are polio, smallpox, influenza, infectious hepatitis, yellow fever, etc.
Cellular forms life is represented by prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Prokaryotes include various bacteria. Eukaryotes are all higher animals and plants, as well as unicellular and multicellular algae, fungi and protozoa.
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