Novel ecosystems "differ in composition and/or function from present and past systems". Novel ecosystems are the hallmark of the recently proposed anthropocene epoch. They have no natural analogs due to human alterations on global climate systems, invasive species, a global mass extinction, and disruption of the global
nitrogen cycle. Novel ecosystems are creating many different kinds of dilemmas for terrestrial and marine
conservation biologists. On a more local scale, abandoned lots, agricultural land, old buildings, field boundary stone walls or residential gardens provide study sites on the history and dynamics of ecology in novel ecosystems. A defining feature of novel ecosystems is "practical unrestorability" because either so many native species have gone extinct, or the original landscape has been so changed, in tandem with naturalization of non-native species into a self-sustaining integrated whole that is unlikely to rolled back to some previous "natural state." Famous insular novel ecosystems include
Ascension Island and
Oahu.
Noosphere Noosphere (sometimes noösphere) is the "
sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the
Greek νοῦς (
nous "
mind") +
σφαῖρα (sphaira "
sphere"), in lexical analogy to "
atmosphere" and "
biosphere". Introduced by
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his
Cosmogenesis. Another possibility is the first use of the term by
Édouard Le Roy, who together with
Chardin was listening to lectures of
Vladimir Vernadsky at
Sorbonne. In 1936
Vernadsky presented on the idea of the Noosphere in a letter to
Boris Leonidovich Lichkov (though, he states that the concept derives from Le Roy).
Technosphere The technosphere is the part of the environment on Earth where technodiversity extends its influence into the biosphere. "For the development of suitable
restoration strategies, a clear distinction has to be made between different functional classes of natural and cultural solar-powered biosphere and fossil-powered technosphere landscapes, according to their inputs and throughputs of energy and materials, their organisms, their control by natural or human information, their internal
self-organization and their regenerative capacities." The weight of Earth's technosphere has been suggested to be 30 trillion tons, a mass greater than 50 kilos for every square metre of the planet's surface.
Technoecosystems The concept of technoecosystems has been pioneered by ecologists
Howard T. Odum and Zev Naveh. Technoecosystems interfere with and compete against natural systems. They have advanced technology (or technodiversity) money-based
market economies and have a large
ecological footprints. Technoecosystems have far greater
energy requirements than natural ecosystems, excessive
water consumption, and release
toxic and
eutrophicating chemicals. Technosols are "mainly characterised by anthropogenic parent material of organic and mineral nature and which origin can be either natural or technogenic."
Technodiversity Technodiversity refers to the varied diversity of technological artifacts that exist in technoecosystems. ==References==