Bertrand, P. and Legendre, L. 2021. Earth, Our Living Planet: The Earth System and Its Co-evolution with Organisms. Springer: Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-030-67772-5. 572 p. 37.99 €

Abstract

The Earth is currently undergoing significant alterations as a consequence of human activities, with climate change occurring at an accelerating rate. We are not, however, the only group of organisms to have affected the Earth System. Indeed, there is a billion-year history of progressive changes to the chemical, geological, and physical conditions of the Earth's environment brought about by various organisms and ecosystems (as well as feedbacks of Earth conditions to organisms and ecosystems). Although such changes are widely recognized, less well understood is why this occurs on Earth and no other planets of our solar system, leading to the question of: “Which combination of factors led to this apparently unique development in our Solar System?” It is this question that is the focus of Earth, Our Living Planet: The Earth System and its Co-evolution with Organisms (Bertrand and Legendre).

Earth, Our Living Planet begins with an introduction to the Earth System when considered in the context of the Solar System (Chapter 1), before delving further into the hidden relationships among the nested systems made of ecosystems, the Earth System, the Solar System, and the Universe. The connections include: the presence and persistence of the atmosphere and its connection with the Earth's mass and distance from the Sun (Chapter 2); the thermal habitability of the planet for organisms and how it is shaped by the Earth's motion around the Sun (Chapter 3); the overall habitability of the planet and connections with geological and astronomical characteristics (Chapter 4); the prevalence of liquid water and how it is connected with outer reaches of the solar system (Chapter 5); the availability of the chemical building blocks of organisms and connections with gravitation (Chapter 6); and the natural greenhouse effect and its connections with Earth's magnetic field (Chapter 7). Notable in these chapters are the connections made among the often disparately studied aspects of organism and ecosystem traits with geological and astronomical characteristics.

The final three chapters then describe progressively broader patterns and syntheses of materials presented about the Earth System in previous chapters, notably: feedbacks between different components of the Earth System that help stabilize the environment (Chapter 9); a summary of the relationship between Earth and its organisms from the past to present (more than 4.5 billion years before present to the Anthropocene; Chapter 10); and finally a look from the present to the future (Chapter 11). Particularly useful is the framework around which Chapter 10 is structured and depicted as a summary figure, or tapestry, The Legends of Eons (fig. 10.1; with sections subsequently enlarged in figs. 10.2–10.7). This figure takes inspiration from La légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages), a collection of poems depicting the history and evolution of humanity (Hugo 2016). The Legends of Eons tapestry brings together threads of information from previous chapters of the book (2–8) and rearranges them into conceptual categories placed along a historical timeline. This metaphor is then continued into Chapter 11 where the contribution of conditions currently unraveling the tapestry are discussed, with the future state of the planet explored and a call made for humans to become stewards for this unique planet.

Overall, this is a wide-ranging text, incorporating information from the domains of astronomy, geology, geophysics, chemistry, climatology, biology, ecology, systems theory, and others (as noted by the authors in the Preface, p. vi). This means that, while written by two oceanographers, the text provides a general background to many key topics which contribute to this complex area of science and research. That such an approach was taken fits with the goal of the series of textbooks to which Earth, Our Living Planet belongs, with Springer's Frontiers Collection stated to “reflect the need for a fundamental and interdisciplinary approach to modern science and research.” Because of this interdisciplinary approach, the text provides a wholistic view not possible were one particular discipline to be the focus.

The book is highly readable, and readily accessible. Such a characteristic is particularly important in a book like this where, due to its broad scope, there are necessarily going to be sections covering areas with which the reader is not familiar. Again, the authors acknowledge this, stating that their target readership is nonspecialists, notably scientifically literate members of the general public, students, and colleagues from various scientific and nonscientific disciplines (Preface, p. vi). Complementing the writing are the illustrations, which clearly highlight key concepts throughout (and particularly in Chapter 10 as described above). For these figures, the authors acknowledge Mohamed Khamla, the draughtsman who drew or modified the majority. Together, the clear text and figures enhance the ease with which often complex topics can be accessed by the reader.

Given the scope and writing style, this text is designed to be relevant to a broad audience. Indeed, that was my experience reading the book. As someone who teaches courses in environmental change and global change biology, I found that this text simply, clearly, and thoroughly covered many of the aspects I need to provide background on during my courses (e.g., astronomy, physics), but I am not an expert on given my training as a marine biologist. I could imagine the inverse also being true, that an expert in the physical sciences would gain much insight to the interplay between their area of expertise with biology and ecology. The breadth covered by the text does, however, mean that there are compromises on depth, with there a limit as to how much each topic can be explored. This limitation is directly acknowledged by the authors in the Preface (p. vi). Those readers wanting further information about particular topics should explore additional texts whose aim is to specialize in those areas—indeed, there are numerous directions to further reading at various levels of complexity in the text (e.g., “The amazing variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic plankton is remarkably displayed and beautifully illustrated in the book of Sardet (2015), recommended as further reading,” p. 91, or “Further reading on the genetic material and the genetic code is provided by the general audience book of Robinson and Spock (2020), and the more theoretical book of Zhegunov (2012),” p. 260), and a “Further Reading” list is provided at the end of each Chapter for just this purpose).

Overall, I found the author's explanation of what they set out to do in this book very clear, and for me they achieved the intended outcome. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to gain a broader understanding of how different disciplines combine to inform our understanding of the links between organisms and ecosystems with our Earth System. Indeed, such knowledge is important for a broad audience given that, as the authors highlight, the Earth System will continue to be shaped by human activities and that there would be benefit if, rather than becoming masters of our planet, we become its stewards.

LJF declares she is the Editor of L&O Bulletin.