Variations in climate habitability parameters and their effect on Earth's biosphere during the Phanerozoic Eon

TL;DR

This study analyzes how environmental parameters like oxygen, temperature, and runoff influenced Earth's biosphere during the Phanerozoic Eon, revealing key factors that promoted biodiversity and biomass fluctuations over geological time.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive correlation analysis of environmental factors affecting Earth's biosphere across the Phanerozoic, highlighting their interrelations and impact on biodiversity.

Findings

Periods of high biodiversity linked to increased oxygen and runoff

High oxygen levels can compensate for lower humidity, enhancing habitability

Environmental parameters significantly influenced biomass and biodiversity fluctuations

Abstract

Essential insights on the characterization and quality of a detectable biosphere are gained by analyzing the effects of its environmental parameters. We compiled environmental and biological properties of the Phanerozoic Eon from various published data sets and conducted a correlation analysis to assess variations in parameters relevant to the habitability of Earth's biosphere. We showed that environmental parameters such as oxygen, global average surface temperatures, runoff rates and carbon dioxide are interrelated and play a key role in the changes of biomass and biodiversity. We showed that there were several periods with a highly thriving biosphere, with one even surpassing present day biodiversity and biomass. Those periods were characterized by increased oxygen levels and global runoff rates, as well as moderate global average surface temperatures, as long as no large or rapid positive and/or negative temperature excursions occurred. High oxygen contents are diagnostic of biomass production by continental plant life. We find that exceptionally high oxygen levels can at least in one instance compensate for decreased relative humidities, providing an even more habitable environment compared to today. Beyond Earth, these results will help us to understand how environmental parameters affect biospheres on extrasolar planets and guide us in our search for extraterrestrial life.