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Biosystems
Volume 10, Issue 4, December 1978, Pages 293-298
 
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doi:10.1016/0303-2647(78)90012-6    How to Cite or Link Using DOI (Opens New Window)
Copyright © 1978 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.

Methanogenesis, fires and the regulation of atmospheric oxygen

Andrew Watsona, James E. Lovelocka and Lynn Margulisb

a Department of Cybernetics, University of Reading, Reading, England b Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, U.S.A.

Received 19 April 1978; 
revised 27 August 1978. 
Available online 3 October 2003.

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Abstract

The Gaia hypothesis states that the composition, oxidation-reduction potential and the temperature of the Earth's lower atmosphere are modulated by and for the biota living on the surface (Lovelock, 1972; Margulis and Lovelock, 1974). A corollary is that atmospheric oxygen is presently regulated at about 21% for the dominant life forms today: vascular plants and metazoa. We suggest that the enormous annual production of methane (of the order of 1014 mol) is directly related to the short term modulation of oxygen concentration. Atmospheric oxygen results from the burial of reduced carbon; methanogenesis and subsequent atmospheric oxidation of methane prevents that burial. We also present experimental work on the probability of ignition of vegetation as a function of increasing oxygen concentration (Watson, 1978). Both the experiments and consideration of the fossil record lead us to conclude that oxygen has been regulated by methane (and perhaps by N2O and others) at about 10–25% for very long periods relative to the atmospheric residence times of these reactive gases.

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Biosystems
Volume 10, Issue 4, December 1978, Pages 293-298
 
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