Editing Gaia hypothesis (section)

{{Short description|Scientific hypothesis about Earth}}
{{Other uses of|Gaia}}
[[File:The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The study of planetary habitability is partly based upon extrapolation from knowledge of the [[Earth]]'s conditions, as the Earth is the only planet currently known to harbour life (''[[The Blue Marble]]'', 1972 [[Apollo 17]] photograph).]]
{{Rights of nature}}
The '''Gaia hypothesis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|aɪ|.|ə}}), also known as the '''Gaia theory''', '''Gaia paradigm''', or the '''Gaia principle''', proposes that living [[organism]]s interact with their [[Inorganic compound|inorganic]] surroundings on [[Earth]] to form a [[Synergy|synergistic]] and [[Homeostasis|self-regulating]] [[complex system]] that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for [[life]] on the planet.

The Gaia hypothesis was formulated by the chemist [[James Lovelock]]<ref name="J1972" /> and co-developed by the microbiologist [[Lynn Margulis]] in the 1970s.<ref name="lovelock1974">{{Cite journal |last1=Lovelock |first1=J. E. |last2=Margulis |first2=L. |date=1974 |title=Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: the gaia hypothesis |journal=Tellus A |volume=26 |issue=1–2 |pages=2–10 |doi=10.3402/tellusa.v26i1-2.9731 |doi-access=free |s2cid=129803613 |language=en |bibcode=1974Tell...26....2L }}</ref> Following the suggestion by his neighbour, novelist [[William Golding]], Lovelock named the hypothesis after [[Gaia]], the primordial deity who personified the Earth in [[Greek mythology]]. In 2006, the [[Geological Society of London]] awarded Lovelock the [[Wollaston Medal]] in part for his work on the Gaia hypothesis.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wollaston Award Lovelock|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/History/Awards-Citations-Replies-2001-Onwards/2006-Awards-Citations-Replies|access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>

Topics related to the hypothesis include how the [[biosphere]] and the [[evolution]] of organisms affect the stability of [[global temperature]], [[salinity]] of [[seawater]], [[atmospheric oxygen]] levels, the maintenance of a [[hydrosphere]] of liquid water and other environmental variables that affect the [[habitability of Earth]].

The Gaia hypothesis was initially criticized for being [[teleological]] and against the principles of [[natural selection]], but later refinements aligned the Gaia hypothesis with ideas from fields such as [[Earth system science]], [[biogeochemistry]] and [[systems ecology]].{{sfn|Turney|2003}}<ref name="Schwartzman2002">{{cite book |author=Schwartzman, David |title=Life, Temperature, and the Earth: The Self-Organizing Biosphere |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-231-10213-1 }}</ref><ref>[[John Gribbin|Gribbin, John]] (1990), "Hothouse earth: The greenhouse effect and Gaia" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)</ref> Even so, the Gaia hypothesis continues to attract criticism, and today many scientists consider it to be only weakly supported by, or at odds with, the available evidence.<ref name="kirchner2002">{{Citation|last=Kirchner|first=James W.|author-link=James Kirchner|title=Toward a future for Gaia theory|date=2002|journal=[[Climatic Change (journal)|Climatic Change]]|volume=52|issue=4|pages=391–408|doi=10.1023/a:1014237331082|s2cid=15776141}}</ref><ref name="volk2002">{{Citation|last=Volk|first=Tyler|author-link=Tyler Volk|title=The Gaia hypothesis: fact, theory, and wishful thinking|date=2002|journal=Climatic Change|volume=52|issue=4|pages=423–430|doi=10.1023/a:1014218227825|s2cid=32856540}}</ref><ref name="beerling2007">{{cite book |last=Beerling |first=David |author-link=David Beerling|date=2007 |title=The Emerald Planet: How plants changed Earth's history |url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780192806024.do |location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-280602-4 }}</ref>{{sfn|Tyrrell|2013}}