∞ generated and posted on 2016.08.18 ∞
Totality of living things on Earth and the environment that they directly interact with.
| The Biosphere is that zone of our planet that possesses life, particularly much of the Earth's surface but also at least a bit below the surface as well. |
The biosphere consists of multiple components that can be thought of as various, interconnected ecosystems and/or biomes. Alternatively (and equivalently) the biosphere represents the totality of individual organisms and their interactions with other organisms as well as the myriad aspects of the abiotic environment.
Of interest, though we may think of the biosphere as existing at the surface of the Earth and/or within caves or deep bodies of water, in fact living bacteria exist literally underground including quite far underground such as kilometers beneath the Earth's surface.