ABSTRACT
Nonbiological forces in the solar system promote and protect life, demonstrating that it is not only biology that aids biodiversity, and showing that the ABH does not provide a complete explanation of the high biodiversity observed on Earth. The sun is the source of heat and light. The Earth has a favorable distance from the sun, size, and tilt for life. Deep sea vents supply many of the nutrients that power ocean ecosystems. Earth’s magnetic field protects it from the solar wind, which would blow away the atmosphere if it did not exist. Volcanoes created some of the atmosphere, although life created high oxygen and the ozone layer. Volcanoes created most of Earth’s land surface. The moon stabilizes Earth’s precession. Jupiter might protect Earth from meteor bombardment. A general hypothesis that incorporates the Autocatalytic Biodiversity Hypothesis states that the solar system has a tendency to increase information content and diversity, under the right conditions.
