Definition of "biosphere" []

• The part of the earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life. (noun)
• The living organisms and their environment composing the biosphere. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""Bio" means life, and the term biosphere was first coined by a Russian scientist (Vladimir Vernadsky) in the 1920s."
• "As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said to me, "Just as Earth once covered itself with a film of interdependent living organisms which we call the biosphere, so mankind's combined achievements are forming a global network of collective mind.""
• "As Dyson points out, the biosphere is the single most complex system we study and weather is a continuously changing process."