Gaia hypothesis

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/gaia-hypothesis

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary proponents?James Lovelock (chemist) and Lynn Margulis (microbiologist)
2. What is the key mechanism?Biogeochemical feedback loops that stabilize planetary variables like temperature and atmospheric composition
3. Who came up with the Gaia hypothesis?James Lovelock, a chemist, and Lynn Margulis, a microbiologist, created the idea in the 1970s.
4. Why does the Gaia hypothesis say life helps keep Earth’s temperature steady?Life uses feedback loops, like plants and microbes, to balance things such as the amount of oxygen and the planet’s heat, so the Earth stays a good place for living things.

Complex Adaptive System: A system composed of many interacting components that change and adapt over time.
Biogeochemical Cycles: The pathways by which chemical elements and compounds move through Earth's biotic and abiotic components.
Feedback Loop: A process where the output of a system influences its input, leading to either stabilization or amplification.