Marine biology

Marine biology is the study of animal and plant life within waterbound ecosystems. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology deals with those species in which life is spent only (or mainly) in the water, thus its classification is based on the environment rather than on taxonomy.

Overview

Marine biology covers a great deal, from the microscopic plankton, including femtoplankton as small as 0.02 micrometers, and together with phytoplankton, hugely important as the primary producers of the sea, to the huge cetaceans (or whales) which reach up to a reported 33 meters (109 feet) in length.

Related Topics:
Plankton - Phytoplankton - Primary producers - Cetaceans

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The habitats included by investigation in marine biology include everything from the tiny layers of surface water in which organisms and abiotic items may be trapped in surface tension between the ocean and atmosphere, to the depths of the abyssal trenches, sometimes 10,000 meters or more beneath the surface of the ocean. Along the way, habitats such as coral reefs, kelp forests, tidepools, muddy, sandy, and rocky bottoms, and the open ocean (pelagic) zone, where solid objects are rare and the surface of the water is the only visible boundary.

Related Topics:
Coral reef - Kelp forest - Tidepools

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A large (exactly how large is unknown at this point) proportion of all life on earth is contained in the oceans. While the oceans comprise about 71% of the Earth's surface, due to their depth they encompass about 300 times the habitable volume of the terrestrial habitats on Earth.

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Many species are economically important to humans, including the food fishes. It is also becoming understood that the well being of marine organisms and non ocean dwelling organisms is linked in some very fundamental ways. Human understanding of the relationship between life in the sea and important cycles of matter (such as the carbon cycle) and movement of energy through ecosystems is also growing, despite large areas beneath the surface of the ocean remaining effectively unexplored.

Related Topics:
Food fishes - Carbon cycle

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