Lecture 1

2 September 2008

The paradox of Priestly’s bell

jar and the “Economy of
Nature”
Shahid Naeem
(Chapters 1,2,3)
 OUTLINE
• Mechanics of the course
• Priestly’s Bell Jar
• The Balance of Nature
• The Economy of Nature
 DEEEB W2001
Environmental Biology
TEXT
• Raven, P. H., G. B. Johnson, J. B. Losos, S. R.
Singer (2007) Biology (8th edition).
• Text available from Book Culture (formerly
Labyrinth Books), 536 W 112th St, right off
Broadway next to the Post Office.
• Unless noted otherwise, you are responsible
for what’s in the book.
 Instructors
• Shahid Naeem
• Kate McFadden
• James Fuller
• Chai Yi Hou
 DEEEB W2001
Environmental Biology
Recitation (starts next week, signup in
class Thursday)
• Not mandatory, but…
• those who go, do better.
– Topics not covered in lecture
– Review
– Answering questions you have
 DEEEB W2001
Environmental Biology
Grading
• 100 pts
• 3 quizzes (20 pts each)
• 1 final exam (40 pts)
• 20 pts of final exam integrate across material
• 90 or above = A, 75-89 = B, 60–74 = C, 50-
59=D, and 50 or below = F,
• One-way sliding curve
– Promise - 10% get As
– Possibility – 100% get As
– (Hint – be cooperative; competition gets you nothing)
 DEEEB W2001
Environmental Biology
W MON DAY TOPIC LECT READING
1 Sept 2 The paradox of Priestly’s bell jar and the “Economy of SN 1-3
Nature”
4 The origin of self (cells)s SN 4, 5, 9.1-9.4
2 9 A brief survey of unicellular life SN 28, 29
11 A brief survey of viruses and Multicellularity SN 19, 27, 25,
9.5-9.6
3 16 Multicellularity and SN 32
A brief survey of animal life
18 A brief survey of plant and fungal life and SN 30, 31, 43,
Bodily regulation (a.k.a. “blood and guts”) 50.1-50.3
4 23 Blood and Guts: Osmoregula-, secra-, circula, and SN 50.4-50.7,
respiratory systems. 49
25 QUIZ 1
5 30 Blood and Guts: Digestive and Musculoskeletal SN 47, 48
systems
Oct 2 Blood and Guts: Nervous and endocrine systems SN 44,46
6 7 Blood and Guts: Cephalization and the end of paradise JF 45
(sensory apparati).
9 Blood and Guts: Homeland defense (immune systems) CH 51
7 14 Contemporary research SN TBA
18 QUIZ 2
January

July
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/Y5187E/y5187e0f.jpg
 Priestly’s Bell Jar

• Placed mercuric oxide in a jar

• Focused light on the mercuric oxide
• A candle burned brighter
• A mouse lived longer
• Realized that there is a part of air
(oxygen) that is good for both flames
and life
 Priestly’s Bell Jar

• Placed a candle in a bell jar

• The candle burned out
• Placed a mouse in the bell jar
• The mouse died
• Placed a plant (mint) in the bell jar
• After 10 days, he reignited the candle in
the jar
• A mouse could once again live in the jar
Priestly’s Bell Jar (modified)
 Priestly: The first
biogeochemist?
• plants: "receive nourishment by their
leaves as well as by their roots,
• "it seems to be extremely probable that
the putrid effluvium is in some measure
extracted from the air, by means of the
leaves of plants, and therefore that
they render the remainder more fit for
respiration"

Gorham, E. 1991. Biogeochemistry

 Priestly: The first
biogeochemist?
• it is: "highly probable, that the injury which is
continually done to the atmosphere by the
respiration of such a number of animals, and
the putrefaction of such masses of both
vegetable and animal matter, is, in part at
least, repaired by the vegetable creation“
• Of this scheme, which clearly implies a
concept of the balance of nature, Benjamin
Franklin wrote to Priestley: "That the
vegetable creation should restore the air
which is spoiled by the animal part of it, looks
like a rational system. . . ."

Gorham, E. 1991. Biogeochemistry

Priestly’s Bell Jar (modified)
Light

AUTOTROPHY

O2
CO2
Proteins
NO3
Sugars Heat
PO4
Nucleic Acids

HETEROTROPHY
Humanity’s Bell Jar (modified)
 350
340
Plant spp.
330 1
CO2 in box

320 2
4
310 6
8
300 12
290 24

280
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time (seconds)
Priestly’s Bell Jar
The Paradox of Priestly’s Bell Jar
• Nature is a balance between autotrophy
and heterotrophy
• If it is not balanced, the world collapses
• On small scales, nature seems horribly
prone to instability
• What keeps it in balance?
 Carol Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Oeconomia Naturae
The Economy of Nature

"To perpetuate the established course

of nature in a continued series, the divine
wisdom has thought fit, that all living
creatures should constantly be employed in producing
individuals, that all natural things should contribute and
lend a helping hand towards preserving every species,
and lastly that the death and destruction of one thing
should always be subservient to the restitution of
another."
 What is biogeochemistry?

• Biogeochemistry- Geochemistry that is

influenced by biological processes
– photosynthesis and respiration,
– decomposition,
– the metabolism of nitrogen and sulfur,
– the inorganic nutrition of plants, and
– the weathering of rocks and soils
 The Big “Bang”
• Matter and antimater, of which the former
was more abundant, collided and annihilated
each other, and so the universe began
• H → He → Li, but no further
• Expansion of the universe meant too low a
density of atoms, too low a pressure, and too
low a temperature to make anything heavier
• In fact, nothing heavier was formed for over
a billion years until instabilities arose
THESE DATA DERIVED FROM
•Spectral analyses of stars
•Chemical analyses of meteorites
•Nuclear physics

Schlesinger 1997
 Gravitational Collapse
Temperature x mass

Gravity x mass

2
3GM 3kTM
>
5R μmH
Area

Molecular mass x mass of proton

 The evolution of matter.
4He + 4He ↔ 8Be
8Be + He → 12C

12C + 4He → 16O

12C + 12C → 24Mg

16O + 16O → 32S

and so on till 56Fe which, when it accumulates in

the core of a star, can lead to a super nova
and further element evolution
Figure 2.6
 The Solar System Forms
• Our galaxy is 10 billion years old, but
the solar system is 4.6 billion years old
• Therefore, our solar system must have
formed secondarily from a nearby
supernova
• Gasses and materials aggregated in
the vicinity
http://www.washington.edu/newsroom/news/images/disk-hr.jpg
 The Solar System Forms
• Grains condensed, depending on physical
conditions (e.g. temperature), with solid
stuff forming where it was warmer (closer
to the sun)
• Planetesimals formed as small bodies
(millimeters to 10 kilometers) collided with
each other.
• Planetesimals became protoplanets once
masses were great enough to have an
effective gravitational field
http://pegasus.phast.umass.edu/a101/images/ssform_disktemp.jpg
The Chemical Hand We Were Dealt
Element Universe Earth Crust Life
H 92,700 120 2,900 60,600
He 7,200 <0.1 <0.1 0
O 50 48,900 60,400 26,700
Ne 20 <0.1 <0.1 0
N 15 0.3 7 2,400
C 8 99 55 10,700
Si 2.3 14,000 20,500 <1
Mg 2.1 12,500 1,800 11
Fe 1.4 18,900 1,900 <1

Units = atoms per 100,000

Assume biosphere = 1,000 Pg C Marine
Fish

invertebrates

Invertebrates
Humans
Domestic
Wild vertebrates

Animals

Fungi
Soil Water

Subterranean

Subsea

Heterotroph
Phytomass
mass

Data From: Vaclav Smil. 2003. The Earth’s Biosphere. MIT Press
 Biogeochemistry

• 100 gigatons C/year photosynthetic

fixation
• 0.14 gigatons N/ biological fixation
• 0.02 gigatons S biogenic emission
/year
• 4 gigatons P cycled among biota/year
• 0.27 gigatons aerosol production/year