THE GAIA HYPOTHESIS

1. THE GAIA HYPOTHESIS EXPLORATION OF DAISYWORLD

2. What is the Gaia Hypothesis? • Life itself is responsible for maintaining the stability of Earth’s climate. • The Earth has remained habitable because in some sense it is “alive” • Biota manipulate their environment to optimize conditions for life.

3. The criticism that developed the Daisyworld model • Biota would need to possess the capacity for foresight if the Earth’s system were to be self-regulated. • The Daisyworld model demonstrates that a system can be self-regulating without the need of foresight. This is done through the simulation of a feedback control system.

4. DAISYWORLD: The Basics • Planet like Earth. • 2 species of life: Black and White Daisies • Cloudless • Adequate nutrient and water supply. • Black and white daises have different albedos

6. Solar Luminosity • Increase of solar luminosity acts as an external forcing factor in the Daisyworld model. • Development of a new equilibrium is created by increasing white daisy abundance and thus albedo, leading to a reduction in climate warming.

7. Growth Factor • Each of the daisies has a preferred temperature range. • The daises also have upper and lower temperature limits.

9. SIMULATION Useful for considering self-regulation in complex systems with multiple feedbacks. • http://rubble.ultralab.net/simulations/explore.htm

10. My project: Gaia and Northern ecosystems • Researched Gaia, then focused on specifics. • Determine the terrestrial-atmospheric carbon cycle variables of northern latitudes. • Under the assumption that increased carbon sequestration will mitigate temperature increases. I am currently analyzing primary literature sources to investigate carbon sequestration by biota in northern ecosystems.

11. Aspects Considered in Carbon Sequestration

12. We can not expect life to cope with all possible perturbations. However, it is certain that organisms play a significant role in the functioning of Earth’s systems.