Submitted to the AQA as part of the Level 3 Extended Project (7993) qualification, and awarded A* in the summer exam series 2021.
An analysis of the extent to which the Gaia Hypothesis accounts for factors of habitability in a preferred homeostasis on the planet Earth
Abstract
The Gaia Hypothesis (as set out by James Lovelock in 1979) proposes the concept that comfortable conditions for life on planet Earth are both created and sustained by life itself. In other words, the global environment is regulated by its biota in a series of feedback loops that maintain conditions within the parameters favourable for cell survival and life growth. A taxonomy of Gaian hypotheses ranging from the least to most contested in contemporary scientific fields is identified and evaluated alongside the three observations on which Lovelock predicated his theory of life/environment interaction. Scientific findings on natural selection, habitat commitment and regressive evolution contribute to this analysis, and the Gaia Hypothesis is evaluated for adequacy alongside competing hypotheses. Instead of postulating an either/or position on the dichotomy between chance and control, it is possible to accept the contribution of both Gaian and Coevolutionary factors to Earth’s environmental stabilisation. From this perspective therefore, the value of the Gaia Hypothesis perhaps lies chiefly in its contribution to a holistic understanding of the accumulation of small events and external inputs in the factors governing habitability on the planet Earth. This analysis is therefore part of a wider endeavour in Earth System Science and, as such, contributes to a body of research in a diverse range of geological, ecological, environmental and planetary fields of study.
Lizzie Coldrick 