- The biosphere is made up of the parts of the Earth where life exists. The Earth is described in different spheres; the lithosphere, or the surface of Earth, the atmosphere, anything about the lithosphere, and the hydrosphere, or all the water on Earth. The biosphere has existed for over 3.5 billion years. It began with life forms called prokaryotes that survived without oxygen. These photosynthetic plants created a supple of oxygen that could sustain new life forms. Millions of different plants and herbivores developed from, so did carnivores, and so on. The biosphere benefits from the food web. The exchange of food and energy makes the biosphere a self-supporting and self-regulating system.