The Genosphere: The Genetic System of the Biosphere

This is a major new textbook in environmental science by Vladimir Savchenko, uniquely qualified as a geneticist and environmental scientist who has also written the definitive work on the after-effects of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion (The Ecology of the Chernobyl Catastrophe, Parthenon Publishing, 1995). In The Genosphere, Savchenko combines ideas and approaches to teaching on the biosphere, biogeocoenology, genetics, and evolutionary theory, incorporating the ideas of cybernetics and extensive use of computers. As he writes in his Preface, The time has come to draw the attention of research workers to the problems connected with the study and conservation of the biosphere's genetic systems. Without studying the genosphere, we are not able to fully understand the process of evolution and the mechanisms of change in the biosphere, and it is impossible to create an effective system of genetic resource conservation. Any forecasts and predictions concerning biosphere dynamics are valuable only if they take into account the changes in the genetic system of the biosphere-the genosphere.