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.

Subfields

The marine ecosystem is large, and thus there are quite a number of subfields in marine biology, mostly involving specializations in particular species.

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There are also subfields reserved for studying the physical effects of continual immersion in sea water, and the ocean in general, as well as for the ways that various changing oceanic properties affect marine life. Not being our realm, scientists study how various organisms have adapted to this salty environment.

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In addition, a subfield of marine biology studies the relationships between oceans and ocean life, and global weather and environmental issues (such as carbon dioxide displacement).

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Recent marine biotechnology has focused largely on marine biomolecules, especially proteins, that may have uses in medicine or engineering.

Related Topics:
Marine biomolecule - Protein

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An interesting branch of marine biology is aquaculture.

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Marine environments are the home to many exotic biological materials that may inspire biomimetic materials.

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Related fields

Marine biology is closely linked to both oceanography and biology. It also encompasses ideas from ecology. Fisheries science can be considered a partial offshoot of marine biology, as can marine conservation.

Related Topics:
Oceanography - Biology - Ecology - Fisheries science - Marine conservation

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