The evolution of biogeochemistry: revisited
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The evolution of biogeochemistry: revisited Thomas S. Bianchi
Received: 15 August 2020 / Accepted: 7 October 2020 The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The evolution of biogeochemistry, retraces the important historical steps in part, covered by Gorham (Biogeochemistry 13:199–239, 1991) in the 18–19th centuries—with new emergent linkages and trends in 20–21st centuries. In the post-phlogiston period, key synthetic connections are made between weathering, atmospheric chemistry, carbon cycling, and climate change. Early work in the 19th century, focused on weathering and the importance of organisms in the exchange of carbon dioxide between the rocks and the atmosphere, provided foundations for new analytical approaches. The role microbes in connecting abiotic and biotic processes begins to emerge, based largely on the existing knowledge of stoichiometry in agricultural soils and plants. This in part, leads to the founding of ecology and its linkages with evolution and biogeography. Verandsky boldly emerges in the 20th century, with his concepts of a biosphere and a noosphere, as concerns begin to arise about human impacts on nature. The development of organic geochemistry as a discipline, allowed for new Responsible Editor: Kate Lajtha. This paper is an invited contribution to the 35th Anniversary Special Issue, edited by Sujay Kaushal, Robert Howarth, and Kate Lajtha.
roots to develop in the evolution of biogeochemistry through linkages between short and long-term carbon cycles. In the 20th century, a new interesting stoichiometry emerges in biogeochemistry—as related to the Green Revolution, human population growth, and eutrophication problems. The advent of long-term and large-scale experiments help to constrain the complexity of non-linearity and regional differences in fluxes and rates in biogeochemical work. A new age begins in the 21st century whereby molecular approaches (e.g. omics) combined with large-scale satellite, monitoring, survey, observatory approaches are combined in the development of Earth System models. These new connections with ecological/ evolutionary genetics are one of the more dramatic and important aspects of biogeochemistry in modern times. Keywords Biogeochemistry Earth science Ecology Evolution geochemistry Global change This paper is dedicated to Eville Gorham, who passed away on January 14, 2020 at the age of 94. Well recognized for his work on acid rain, the National Academy of Sciences considered him a renaissance scholar—he was also the first person to write a comprehensive review on the history of biogeochemistry in 1991.
T. S. Bianchi (&) Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-2120, USA e-mail: [email protected]
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Biogeochemistry
Introduction Eville Gorham published a paper entitled Biogeochemistry: its Origins and Development, which provided the first historical account of how the discipline of Biogeochemistry came into existence (Gorham 1991)—and it has remained the gold standard o
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