Fact Sheet - The Gaia Hypothesis

Definitions of Gaia hypothesis on the Web:

• The proposition that the composition and temperature of the atmosphere is a product of interrelated activities in the biosphere, especially those of microorganisms, and that the biosphere behaves as a single self-regulating organism. Gaia was the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth. The hypothesis was developed by the British scientist James Lovelock and American biologist Lynn Margulis. ...
  www.st.com/stonline/press/news/glossary/g.htm
  
• Earth homeostasis is maintained by active feedback processes operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota
  www.csa.com/hottopics/dimethyl/gloss.php
  
• A theory that the living organisms of the biosphere form a single, complex interacting system that creates and maintains a habitable Earth; named after Gaia, the Greek Earth mother goddess.
  highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070294267/student_view0/glossary_e-l.html
  
• The idea that Earth is a living system. Life helps create the environment it needs in order to live. Gaia is the ancient Greek word for "Mother Earth."
  www.montanagreenpower.com/solar/curriculum/glossary.html
  
• Theory due to James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, in which all systems of the planet Earth are interconnected in a single intelligent system.*
  www.geocities.com/seaskj/glossary.html
  
• The proposal that the earth's living and nonliving components form an inseparable whole that is regulated and kept adapted for life by complex feedback processes.
  www.geocities.com/templarser/complexglos.html
  
• A theory first put forward in the early 1970s by British biologist James E. Lovelock, that states the Earth is a self-regulating mechanism whereby: 1) the amount of methane and oxygen in the earth's atmosphere has remained nearly constant for hundreds of millions of years, despite the fact that methane and oxygen interact to destroy each other; 2) the oceans have contained approximately 3.4 percent saltl and 3) the planet has sustained a fairly constant surface temperature, despite the fact ...
  legacyweb.com/ptlbible/theglossary1.htm
  
• Gaia is the Greek goddess, Earth. James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis have proposed the idea that "the biosphere is a self-regulating entity with the capacity to keep our planet healthy by controlling the chemical and physical environment" (Cited in Botkin, 146).To References
  alpha.fdu.edu/~jbecker/nature/natureglossary.html
  
• Gaia theory is a class of scientific models of the biosphere in which life fosters and maintains suitable conditions for itself by affecting Earth's environment. The first such theory was created by the English atmospheric scientist, James Lovelock, who developed his theories in the 1960s before formally publishing them in 1979. He hypothesized that the living matter of the planet functioned like a single organism and named this self-regulating living system after the Greek goddess, Gaia.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis