Historical Overview
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• Hamlet: How long will a man lie I' the earth ere
he rot?
• Gravedigger: I' faith, if he be not rotten before
he die--as we have many pocky corses now-adays,
that will scarce hole the laying in--he will last you
some eight year or nine year; a tanner will last you
nine year.
• Hamlet:
Why he more than another?
• Gravedigger: Why, sir his hide is so tanned
with his trade, that he will keep out water a great
while; and you water is a sore decayer of your
whoreson dead body."
Abiotic
Biotic
BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
Geology
Chemistry
Soils
Oceanography
Limnology
Ecology
Microbiology
Animal and Plant
Physiology
Journals
• “Biogeochemistry” (1984)
• “Global Biogeochemical Cycles” published
by AGU
Other Major Journals
Soils:
Soil Science
Soil Science Society of America Journal
Journal of Environmental Quality
Applied Soil Ecology
Biology and Fertility of Soils
Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Geoderma
Other Major Journals
Water:
Limnology and Oceanography
Water Research
Hydrobiologia
Water Resources Research
Journal of Hydrology
Hydrological Processes
Geology:
Geochimica Cosmochemica Acta
Air:
Atmospheric Chemistry
Other Major Journals
Forestry:
Canadian Journal of Forest Research
Other:
Ecology
Ecological Applications
Journal of Applied Ecology
Bioscience
Science
Nature
Water, Air and Soil Pollution
Societies that have important
contributions to biogeochemistry
Soil Science Society of America
Ecological Society of America
American Geophysical Union (Biogeochemistry
Section)
Society for Limnology and Oceanography
Meetings and workshops
International Acid Rain Meetings
BIOGEOMON
Gordon Conference on the Hydrobiogeochemistry of
Forested Catchments
SCOPE meetings on nitrogen, carbon, sulfur and
phosphorus
Chapman Conferences (e.g., nitrogen)
Northeastern Ecosystem Research Cooperative
(NERC)
Historical Development of
Biogeochemistry (Gorham)
1) Photosynthesis and respiration
2) Decomposition
3) Metabolism of nitrogen and sulfur
4) Mineral nutrition of plants
5) Weathering of rocks and soils.
Ancient History
Plato (428-348 B.C.) accepted the ancient Greek (Empedocles of
Agrigentum) theories about the primary elements of matter: air,
water, earth and fire; he added a fifth element, which Aristotle
(385-322 B.C.) subsequently explained as "heaven".
There have been many advances in the understanding of
chemistry (defined as the investigation and discussion of the
properties of substances), geology (study of the rocks and
minerals: description, origin and reactions) and biology (study of
life).
Vernadsky and Suess
Vernadsky (1863-1945)
Biosphere term originated by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess
(1831-1914) in early 1900's and developed further by the
Russian, Vladimir Vernadsky. Suess also coined the term
hydrosphere and lithosphere to correspond with the term
atmosphere which was already in usage. Vernadsky--Ukrainian
geochemist, mineralogist, biogeochemist, crystallographer,
holistic naturalist and the earliest proponent of the biosphere
concept ; first to define many aspects of the biosphere including
the role of man.
1600's and 1700's debate on how plants
obtain matter for growth
(E.J. Russell. 1927; Soil Conditions and Plant
Growth)
Palissy (1563) stated: "you will admit that when you bring dung into
the field it is to return to the soil something that has been taken away
. . . When a plant is burned it is reduced to a salty ash called alcaly
by apothecaries and philosophers . . . Every sort of plant without
exception contains some kind of salt. Have you not seen certain
laborers when sowing a field with wheat for the second year in
succession, burn the unused wheat straw which had been taken from
the field? In the ashes will be found the salt that the straw took out
of the soil; if this is put back the soil is improved. Being burnt on
the ground it serves as manure because it returns to the soil those
substances that had been taken away."
The search for the "principle: of
vegetation” (1630-1750)
Lord Bacon (philosopher and scientist)
thought that water was the "principal
nourishment" of plants.
For example the experiment by Van Helmont:
“I took an earthen vessel in which I put 200 pounds of soil dried in
an oven, then I moistened with rain water and pressed hard into it a
shoot of willow weighing 5 pounds. After exactly five years the
tree that had grown up weighed 169 pound and about three ounces.
But the vessel had never received anything but rain water or
distilled water to moisten the soil when this was necessary, and it
remained full of soil, which was still tightly packed, and, lest any
dust from the outside would get into the soil, it was covered with a
sheet of iron coated with tin, but perforated with many holes. I did
not take the weight of the leaves that fell in the autumn. In the end
I dried the soil once more and got the same 200 pounds that I
started with, less about two ounces. Therefore the 164 pounds of
wood, bark and root, arose from the water alone”
Of course the experiment overlooked the role of the 2 ounces lost
and the importance of gases from the atmosphere.
John Woodward (1699) performed an experiment with spearmint with
abundances of water:
Source of Water
Weight of
plants
put in
(grains)1
Weight of
plants
when
taken out
(grains)
Gained
in 77
days
(grains)
Transpiration
(grains)
Rain Water
28.25
45.75
17.5
3004
River Thames
28
54
26
2493
Hyde Park
Conduit
110
249
139
13140
Hyde Park + 1.5
oz garden mould
92
376
284
14950
Experiment showed: most of the water is transpired and
some matter from the substrate is incorporated into the
plant.
Boerhaave (textbook ,1727) indicated that plants "absorb
the juices of the earth and then work them up into food".
Jethro Tell (introduced the horse hoe) stated that: "It is
agreed that all the following materials contribute in
some manner to the increase of plants, but it is disputed
which of them is that very increase or food: (1) nitre, (2)
water, (3) air, (4) fire, (5) earth."
Phlogiston theory
• In the 17th century an important theory was the
"Phlogiston theory“
• Explained that the burning of substances resulted
in the release of "phlogiston".
• Hypothesis accounted for a considerable number
of observed phenomena.
• For example, the reason that a burned candle in a
jar went out was that the phlogiston could not
escape. We know now that it is the absence of
oxygen which causes the problem.
Joseph Priestley
1733-1804
England
“I have discovered an air five or six times as good as common air”
From William Jensen,
University of
Cincinnati
"The search for plant nutrients"
Priestly (1771) experiments where critical
in establishing that "that plants, instead
of affecting the air in the same manner
with animal respiration, reverse the
effects of breathing, and tend to keep the
atmosphere pure and wholesome, when it
becomes noxious in consequences of animals
either living, or breathing, or dying, and
putrefying in it".
He did not discover
oxygen and in his later experiments did not
know the importance of light in affecting
these results. It could be argued that he
never discovered oxygen but rather he
isolated dephlogisticated air.
Ingen-Housz (1796) -- Dutch physician showed that
purification goes on only in the presence of light and that
only the green portion of the plant is involved with the
purification. Also showed that plants respire and give carbon
dioxide.
The use of pot cultures and plant analyses were initiated to
ascertain which materials cause plant growth.
"Saltpetre, Epsom salt, vitriolated tartar (i.e., potassium
sulphate) all lead to increased plant growth, yet they are
three distinct salts. Olive oil is also useful."
In many ways the advancement in understanding limited by
methodology.
How could these various substances be identified and
quantified?
Theordore de Saussure (1804)
1) Developed the quantitative experimental method
2) Founder of agricultural chemistry (basis for later work by
Boussingault, Liebig, Laws and Gilbert)
3) Grew plants in air and mixtures of air and carbon dioxide and
measured the gas changes by eudiometric analyses (changes in
volume of gas) and changes in the plant by "carbonisation".
4) Quantified how much oxygen plants give off and how much
carbon dioxide they utilize.
5) Concluded that the soil contributed only a small part of the "plant
food".
His work suggested that the oxygen came from carbon dioxide and
not from water:
6CO2 + 6H2O —> C6H12O6 +6O2
M. Bertholeet
(1748-1822)
French scientist
1) Experiments suggested that hydrogen in plant tissues came
from water.
2) Grew plants in hydrogen free material and except for water
and found that they still grew and indicating that the
hydrogen came from the water.
Jean Senebier
(1742-1809)
Experiments which indicated the contrary to Saussure and
suggested that the oxygen came from the carbon dioxide.
Dutch microbiologist C. B. Van Niel worked with purple
sulfur bacteria (chemoautotrophs) which form S and
not oxygen.
CO2 + 2H2S –> (CH2O)n + H2O + 2S
1) Assumed that the same progress is analogous in plant
photosynthesis than you would substitute "O" for "S"
and the oxygen would be derived from water.
2) Also found that if a plant is grown from seed in water
there is no gain in ash: the amount of ash found in the
plant after growth in water is the same as the amount
of ash found in the seedling except for a small
amount of ash input via dust (first references to the
role of dry deposition?)
Boussingault performed field experiments.
experiment is given below:
A small portion of one
Rotation
N in
manure
(kg/ha)
N in
crop
(kg/ha)
Excess in
crop over
that from
manure per
rotation
potatoes, wheat,
clover, wheat,
turnips, oats
203.2
250.7
47.5
Lucerne1, five years
226.0
1078.0
854
Justus Liebig
1803-1873
Germany
Liebig reported in 1840 [disavowal of humus proponents]:
"All explanations of chemists must remain without
fruit, and useless, because, even to the great leaders in
physiology, carbonic acid, ammonia, acids, and bases, are
sounds without meaning, words without sense, terms of an
unknown language, which awake no thoughts and no
associations." The experiments quoted by the physiologists
in support of their view are all "valueless for the decision of
any questions". "These experiments are considered by them
as convincing proofs, whilst they are fitted only to awake
pity".
Liebig’s analytical laboratory (1840)
(http://www.liebig-museum.de/home1.html)
The vehemence and tenor of Liebig's comments
killed the "humus theory". Other scientists did much
of the work, but Liebig was the most vocal in putting
down the humus theory.
Today that there is a renewed interest in "organic
gardening.
Russell in 1927 stated: “Only the boldest would have ventured after
this to assert that plants derive their carbon from any source other
than carbon dioxide, although it must be admitted that we have no
proof that plants really do obtain all their carbon in this way.”
Liebig latter added "by the deficiency or absence of one necessary
constituent, all the others being present, the soil is rendered barren
for all those crops to the life of which that one constituent is
indispensable". [Currently known at Law of the Minimum]
He also made mistakes [Do all scientists make mistakes?]and stated
that "Plants will derive their ammonia from the atmosphere as they
do carbonic acid". He also had developed his own chemical manure
which would be sufficient for growth of crops, but his manure did
not work well in practice. One problem “manure” did not contain
nitrogen compounds and potassium and phosphate compounds were
made insoluble by fusion with lime and calcium phosphate.
Rothamsted and Long-Term
Research
Joseph H. Gilbert and John B. Laws started in 1843 the famous
field experiments at Rothamsted, England
J.H. Gilbert
J. B. Laws
Long Term Research Plots
Pictures from: http://www.mpcresearch.com/rothreview/
Not originally planned as a long term experiment, but rather was
kept going initially by a controversy with Justus Liebig over the
source of nitrogen for plants and what inputs were needed to
maintain crop productivity. “I suspected that Laws and Gilbert
needed to go on showing that they were right on all counts. And
not only right, but right beyond all reasonable doubt. And so
they kept the experiments going” (p. 33). [Demonstrating the
importance of long term research] Currently archived samples
are being used for trace metals and organics.
Rothamsted
Manor
There was considerable controversy on
whether chemical fertilizers will ultimately
exhaust the ground, and the Rothamsted plots
showed that this was not a problem.
Do you agree with this finding?
Soil Bacteriology
Much of the early work revolved around the problem of where
was nitrogen derived from. Even today the quantification of
fixed N inputs is not an easy task and our understanding is far
from being complete.
Schloesing and Müntz (1877)which had sewage trickle down a
column of sand and over time the ammonia was converted to
nitrate after a delay of 20 days.
Why was there a delay?
It was shown that addition of small amounts of chloroform
would stop the nitrification and if chloroform treatment was
stopped nitrification would begin again.
Nitrification was regulated by microorganisms or "organized
ferments".
Pasteur
Demonstrated the role of microorganisms in a variety
of situations including causation of some diseases and
for their role in decomposition.
Hellriegel and Wilfarth (1888)
Growth of non-leguminous plants (barley, oats, etc.)
was directly proportional to nitrate supplied, while for
leguminous plants there was no such relationship.
Warington
Nitrification was a two-step process with conversion of
ammonia to nitrite and then nitrite to nitrate.
Winogradsky (1890) isolated nitrifying bacteria.
There is great interest in nitrogen today.
In the past, N generally considered a
limiting nutrient and an important
fertilizer. Due to high anthropogenic
outputs of N (i.e., NOx from combustion,
NH3 from livestock manures and
inorganic N fertilizers), N may be in
excess and cause problems relating to air
quality, water acidification and water
quality (eutrophication of coastal
waters).
Major Advances in the early
1900's
Biogeochemical cycles in lakes shown by HoppeSeyler (1895), Birge (1906), Birge and Juday (1911).
Redox reactions between sediments and water studied
by Einsele (1936) and Mortimer (1941, 1942).
A major treatise was the book by Vernadsky (1924)
on Geochemistry and another book "The Biosphere".
The work of Redfield (1934) was important in the
establishment that elemental ratios were predictable in
marine systems and this was expanded to the total
biosphere.
Major problems in following elemental dynamics
because of both forward and backward reactions
and the possibility of various reactants and
products being involved.
Advent of radioactive and stable isotopes allowed
careful analysis of elemental pathways and cycles.
What are differences between radioactive and
stable isotopes?
Stable isotopes used to ascertain where oxygen
produced from photosynthesis came from (CO2versus
H2O)
Team of scientists at U. of California in 1941 using
O18 with the green alga Chlorella. Also, this isotope
was used in analysis of elemental dynamics of aquaria
and ponds.
6CO2 + 6 H2*O –> C6H12O6 + 6*O2
Later the use of stable isotopes became more
important especially by Thode (Hamilton University,
Canada) and Russians. Stable isotope work rapidly
expanding including work on C, N and S cycling and
mineral weathering.
1960's and the present
In the latter 1960's environmental concerns
became highlighted especially interests in
pesticides and elements such as phosphorus
which cause eutrophication of lakes.
R. Carson's publication "Silent Spring"
popularized concerns associated with pesticides
especially chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Roles of biotic interactions in affecting elements
and the potential for accumulation of compounds
along food chains shown.
Her book followed the more formalized and
scientific writings of Rudd. The EPA also and
the popularization of ecology accelerated.
Eutrophication and Small
Watershed Research
Also in the latter 1960's and early 1970's shown
that phosphate from detergent and agriculture was
a major contributor to eutrophication of lakes.
Much of this research focused on the region of the
Great Lakes
There is greater attention being played today on
the role of agriculture, especially to N loadings to
coastal and estuary waters.
Small watershed approach also became developed with
notable work at Hubbard Brook (Likens and Bormann) and
Coweeta (W. Swank) being notable examples. Initially
started out for determining hydrological relationships since
forest systems play an important role in flood control and
biogeochemical analyses could be incorporated easily into
such a format.
Hubbard Brook
New Hampshire
Coweeta
North Carolina
International Biological Program
(latter 1960’s and early 1970’s)
1) Major goal the quantification of production in major
ecosystems of the world stimulated work on ecosystem
level and showed clearly the elemental dynamics were
extremely important.
2) Various books were published including volumes such as
Dynamic Properties of Forest Ecosystems (D. Reichle,
ed; 1981) which included tabulation of ecosystem
elemental contents and fluxes.
3) Ecological problems became to be tackled as "big
science" using large multidisciplinary approaches.
4) Proposed National Ecological Observatory Network
(NEON)
Ecosystem Manipulations
There was also the beginning of experimental
manipulations of both terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems. These have included chemical and
biotic manipulations, both of which had major
impacts on biogeochemistry and were helpful in
understanding the role of biogeochemical
processes (Carpenter et al., 1995).
Radionuclides
1) During this period it was proposed to use nuclear
weapons to make a new Panama Canal. This was done
under the general slogan of "Atoms for Peace".
2) Studies and concerns relating to the transport and fate of
radionuclides associated with the testing of atomic
weapons aided in analysis of elemental dynamics of
ecosystems.
3) Work at Oak Ridge (Tenn.) on the cycling of cesium was
notable. (Today we use “bomb-C to trace carbon cycle).
4) More recently the events at Chernobyl in the Ukraine had
a major influence on environmental awareness related to
nuclear reactors. The use of nuclear power has for the
generation of electricity continues to be controversial.
SCOPE
During the period (mid-1970's) there were also
international efforts coordinated through SCOPE
(Scientific Committee on Problems of the
Environment) and sponsored through the United
Nations. The efforts of this group continue today
with a SCOPE group on nitrogen being active and
recently finishing a synthesis on regional nitrogen
budgets.
Green Revolution
1) Important in stimulating interest in
developing countries with much of the
emphasis on developing cultivars and use of
fertilizer and pesticides.
2) Most recent concerns have focused on genetic
engineering and concerns about how
genetically engineered crops may interfere
with non-target organisms (Bt crop threat to
monarch butterfly). The use of genetically
engineered crops has been more accepted in
North America compared to Europe.
Gaia
1) Some parameters of the earth (temperature, composition of the
ocean, atmospheric composition) have remained remarkably
constant
2) Gaia Hypothesis --earth is a giant system composed of all
organisms, atmosphere, seas and land surface and this gigantic
system has the properties characteristic of an organism
3) Named Gaia after the Greek Earth goddess.
4) Proposed by Lovelock(chemical engineer, invented electron
capture detector)
5) More recently Lovelock has championed “geophysiology” which
views the biota and physical world as part of a global system
capable of environmental regulation. Unlike the original Gaia
hypothesis there are no teleological (organisms purposefully
caused these conditions) demands placed on the biota.
6) This global system has also been termed the ecosphere.
Acid Rain
1) In the 1980's the major stimulus for biogeochemical
research focused on "Acid Rain". Some of the major
results have been summarized in NAPAP(National Acid
Precipitation Assessment Program)documents.
2) Most recent international acid rain meeting was held in
Japan (December 2000) with the next meeting to be held in
Prague (2005).
3) Major attention with respect to acid rain and global
pollution is shifting to the Far East, especially China with
respect to increasing impacts. There is interest in North
America and Europe on recovery of ecosystems from acid
rain.
Historical Air Pollution
1) Pliny the Elder (23-79AD) mentioned saline rain damage
to crops.
2) Hildegard von Bingen [1140AD] indicated that dust
unhealthy for plants.
3) John Evelyn [1661] documented that SO2 damages plants.
4) Fabri [1670]indicated that volcanic acid rain damaged fruit.
5) Transport of air born pollutants --in Norway it was reported
by Brand (1865) that “Britain’s suffocating coal dust is
slowly descending over the country side, soiling all that is
green, strangling all that strives to grow, creeping low and
mixed with poison, stealing sun and light from the green
valley . . . ”.
Historical Air Pollution
Also records from Asia
Hiroshige: Lime kilns
at Hashiba Ferry, Sumida
River
One Hundred Famous Views
of Edo; from Peter
Brimblecombe
Yellow Dust
RECORDED
FREQUENCY
Koryosa
China 1150BC
Korea 174AD
0.1
0.05
0
174-936
Byun, Kwan Shik
(1939) Nu Gak...
9361392 AD
13921910 AD
Young-Sin Chun KMA
There is also concern relating to other elements such as
chloride. Editorial by P.H. Abelson (Science, Vol. 265, p. 1155,
1994). “Concern continues that the USEPA might curtail or
ban the production of chlorine and the compounds containing it
. . . Even were manufacturing of chlorine-containing chemicals
to be prohibited, their creation would not cease . . . annual
global emission rate of methyl chloride is 5 million tons of
which anthropogenic emissions comprise only 26,000 tons . . .
Anthropogenic production of dioxin has decreased . . . and is
smaller than that created by combustion of wood . . . Banning
production of chlorine and its compounds would potentially
have great deleterious effects on health and the economy . . . A
serious outbreak of cholera followed when chlorination of
water was temporarily stopped in Peru. Waterborne diseases
cause the deaths each of 25,000 children in less developed
countries.”
Global Change
1990’s-2002
1) Major focus is on "global change" including (i.e.,
"Greenhouse Effect") which is directly coupled with
the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles and the losses
of ozone in the atmosphere.
2) Concerns relating to changes in land use such as
deforestation both in the tropics and elsewhere.
3) Important implications in these changes with respect
to various elemental cycles and these changes also
are important with respect to losses of biodiversity
which is another major focal point of global changes.
Vernadsky revisited
Vernadsky stated?
1. Man, as observed in nature, like all living organisms, like any living
matter, is a definite function of the biosphere, within its definite
space-time.
2. Man in all his manifestations constitutes a definite regular part of the
structure of the biosphere.
3. The explosion of scientific thought in the twentieth century has been
prepared by the entire history of the biosphere and his its deepest
roots in the structure of the latter. The civilization of ‘cultured
mankind’ insofar as it is a form of organization of the new geological
force which has formed in the biosphere, cannot be interrupted or
destroyed, since it is a great natural phenomenon, historically, or
rather, geologically corresponding to the established orderliness of
the biosphere.
What do you see as the future
role of people in affecting the
biogeochemistry of the earth?