A generalisation of the Daisyworld example
It is possible for life on Earth to slightly regulate the atmosphere toward what is benefical for life.
Demonstrating this there is the Daisyworld example*:
Dark and light plants (daisies) dominating on an imagined Earth like planet: the dark flourishing in cold because of their colour and the light ones in a hot environment. So the equator would be covered by light plants and the poles by dark ones. If the temperature of the planet changes toward higher, the light plants start to dominate and because they reflect light toward space, the temperature does not rise as high as it would have otherwise risen. Similarly the domination of dark plants in cold rises the temperature of the planet.
Generalising the Daisyworld example one gets the following:
Living beings are adabted to certain kind of living conditions (to what exactly, depends on the species but each species to certain kind of living conditions anyway). If they affect their own living conditions via their environment or in a way which spreads to the
environment, they have to affect the environment toward toward what they are adabted to i.e. toward what the environmental conditions have been in the past. So it is especially in extreme living conditions where it is a question of whether the living conditions are suitable for the species or not.
Deducing from this, the biosphere can have a tendency to regulate its living environment slightly toward what is benefical for life.
Referency
* Watson, A.J., and J.E. Lovelock, 1983, "Biological homeostasis of the global environment: the parable of Daisyworld", Tellus 35B, 286-289.
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