A unique feature of planet Earth, the biosphere is that part of the Earth's crust, its natural waters and atmosphere where living organisms exist. The biota is the total living population in a region, seen on any scale. Essential parameters for the life process are substrate and media such as air or water that are favorable to gas exchange and energy supply. What makes planet Earth unique among the celestial bodies of the solar system is the widespread availability of liquid water.
Since the first emergence of primitive self-reproducing unicellular life on the planet about 3.9 billion years ago this favorable state has been maintained without interruption, even for one instant, in spite of hazardous events such as asteroid impacts and episodic cycles of unfavorable climatic and paleogeographic conditions. This continuity has made possible the uninterrupted, though episodically accelerated sequence of organic evolution throughout geologic time. It is known as the ‘law of biologic...
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Fairbridge, R.W. (1997). Biosphere . In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_41
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