Marine biology

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The marine biology or biological Oceanography (engl. Marine biology) is a branch of biology or oceanography . It also represents a special area of ecology and deals with the living beings and life processes in marine habitats, i.e. in the oceans and seas .

Subject and research

Characteristic of marine habitats are primarily the properties of the water such as salt content (salinity), temperature (depending on depth and climate) as well as light and flow conditions. The following large habitats can be distinguished:

The field research in marine biology in particular with research vessels conducted. The fishing supplies with their catches material for scientific research. The upper water zones of the sea can also be accessed by diving. Submarines and diving robots are used for direct observations in deeper ocean layers .

Research projects

A central project was the Census of Marine Life (duration 2000–2010). In this context, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) was created, a free international database on the Internet that is supposed to record all marine life. In June 2011 there were 31.3 million entries for 116,600 species. Scientists estimate that by 2008 about 230,000 marine life were known. It is believed that there are between 1 million and 10 million species in total. On average, three new species are documented each week. For each kind u. a. Distribution maps created. 500 institutions from 56 countries are involved in the OBIS database.

Eminent marine biologists

Important institutes of marine research

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625122958.htm
  2. Statistics and chronology on the OBIS website , accessed on January 3, 2017