Stephen Porder

"Over the past four billion years of Earth's history, three organisms-cyanobacteria, plants, and humans--have altered the planet in profound ways by harnessing the availability of five key elements. Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus are the most common elements in all forms of life on Earth, and all five circulate between the biotic and abiotic world in biogeochemical cycles. When organisms tap into stores of these elements and change...