Ecology: Biosphere, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate Change

In this video, I discuss the biosphere, which is the collection of all ecosystems on Earth, and look at how carbon is cycled between land, atmosphere, and oceans. Human activity has a net increase of around 4 billion tons of carbon each year, which supposedly is the biggest factor for global warming and climate change. Gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapour, and methane absorb and emit light within the thermal infrared range, thus heating the atmosphere when sunlight strikes them directly or after reflection from the Earth. The biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions is from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. The changing climate creates many feedback loops that worsen the environment, which can intensify extreme weather events such as hurricanes, forest fires, floods, and droughts.

#biology #science #biosphere #ecology #climatechange

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Timestamps

Matter exists as biotic or abiotic in the biosphere (global ecosystem) – 0:00
Fast carbon cycle figure showing carbon between land, atmosphere, and oceans – 2:00
Climate change is caused by greenhouse gases (emits infrared light) and large-scale shifts in weather patterns – 7:19
Wavelength spectrum of light frequencies – 13:26
Atmospheric absorption and scattering at different wavelengths of light – 16:18
Global surface temperature for past 100+ years – 26:54
Petroleum (crude oil) and coal are fossil fuels – 30:54
Chart of primary global energy sources – 35:29
Global warming and climate change feedback loop chart – 39:46
Chart of percentage of diffusely reflected sunlight on various surfaces – 46:20
Different types of clouds by altitude – 50:53
Layers of Earth's atmosphere – 53:01
Vegetation and the ocean are the biggest carbon sinks – 58:07