<P> Lovelock has suggested that global biological feedback mechanisms could evolve by natural selection, stating that organisms that improve their environment for their survival do better than those that damage their environment . However, in the early 1980s, W. Ford Doolittle and Richard Dawkins separately argued against Gaia . Doolittle argued that nothing in the genome of individual organisms could provide the feedback mechanisms proposed by Lovelock, and therefore the Gaia hypothesis proposed no plausible mechanism and was unscientific . Dawkins meanwhile stated that for organisms to act in concert would require foresight and planning, which is contrary to the current scientific understanding of evolution . Like Doolittle, he also rejected the possibility that feedback loops could stabilize the system . </P> <P> Lynn Margulis, a microbiologist who collaborated with Lovelock in supporting the Gaia hypothesis, argued in 1999, that "Darwin's grand vision was not wrong, only incomplete . In accentuating the direct competition between individuals for resources as the primary selection mechanism, Darwin (and especially his followers) created the impression that the environment was simply a static arena". She wrote that the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere are regulated around "set points" as in homeostasis, but those set points change with time . </P> <P> Evolutionary biologist W.D. Hamilton called the concept of Gaia Copernican, adding that it would take another Newton to explain how Gaian self - regulation takes place through Darwinian natural selection . </P> <P> The Gaia hypothesis continues to be broadly skeptically received by the scientific community . For instance, arguments both for and against it were laid out in the journal Climatic Change in 2002 and 2003 . A significant argument raised against it are the many examples where life has had a detrimental or destabilising effect on the environment rather than acting to regulate it . Several recent books have criticised the Gaia hypothesis, expressing views ranging from "...the Gaia hypothesis lacks unambiguous observational support and has significant theoretical difficulties" to "Suspended uncomfortably between tainted metaphor, fact, and false science, I prefer to leave Gaia firmly in the background" to "The Gaia hypothesis is supported neither by evolutionary theory nor by the empirical evidence of the geological record". The CLAW hypothesis, initially suggested as a potential example of direct Gaian feedback, has subsequently been found to be less credible as understanding of cloud condensation nuclei has improved . In 2009 the Medea hypothesis was proposed: that life has highly detrimental (biocidal) impacts on planetary conditions, in direct opposition to the Gaia hypothesis . </P>

Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere the gaia hypothesis