© 2006 thomson-brooks cole chapter 1 science and marine biology

© 2006 Thomson-Brooks Cole

Chapter 1

Science and Marine Biology


Key Concepts

• Marine and terrestrial environments are interrelated, interactive, and interdependent.

• The ocean is an important source of food and other resources for humans.

• Marine biology is the study of the sea’s diverse inhabitants and their relationships to each other and their environment.


Key Concepts

• The history of marine biology is one of changing perspectives that have shaped the modern science and its applications.

• Marine laboratories play an important role in education, conservation, and biological research.


Key Concepts

• It is important to study marine biology in order to make informed decisions about how the oceans and their resources should be used and managed.

• Scientists use an organized approach called the scientific method to investigate natural phenomena.


Importance of the Oceans and Marine Organisms

• Principal physical feature of the planet

• Drive weather patterns


Importance of the Oceans and Marine Organisms

• Productive—provides substantial part of the human food supply

• Marine organisms are useful as subjects of scientific study for many areas of research


Study of the Sea and Its Inhabitants

• Oceanography– study of the oceans and their phenomena,

such as waves, currents and tides• Marine biology

– study of the living organisms that inhabit the seas and their interactions with each other and their environment

• Ecology of the marine environment


Marine Biology: A History of Changing Perspectives

• Early studies of marine organisms– Aristotle and the “ladder of life”– Pliny the Elder’s Natural History

• Renewed interest in marine organisms– voyage of the HMS Beagle and Charles

Darwin’s On the Origin of Species – discovery of organisms on retrieved

transatlantic telegraph cable



• Beginnings of modern marine science– Challenger expedition

• 4,700 new species collected and described• Charles Wyville Thomson collected plankton

– marine studies in the United States• expeditions of Alexander Agassiz• funding of the first marine biology laboratory:

Anderson Summer School of Natural History, predecessor of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole

• other U.S. marine laboratories



• Marine biology in the twentieth century– Fridtjof Nansen’s Arctic expedition– Sir Alistair Hardy’s Antarctic expedition

• Marine biology today– Deep-sea submersibles– Information sharing via the Internet


Process of Science

• Hypothesis• Scientific method – an orderly pattern

of gathering and analyzing information– inductive reasoning– deductive reasoning– observations


Steps in the Scientific Method

• Making observations• Using inductive reasoning to form a

hypothesis• Using deductive reasoning to design

experiments– experimental variable– experimental set– control set


Steps in the Scientific Method

• Gathering results• Drawing conclusions

– theory versus hypothesis• Plant growth in a salt marsh: a case

study of the scientific method– observation of growth patterns and

analysis of soil samples– experiment to test hypothesis– analysis of results of the experiment


Process of Science

• Alternative methods of science– experimentation is not always possible– observational science – observation alone

must be used to support or deny the hypothesis

• The science of marine biology– Introduction to Marine Biology 2nd edition

contains “Science of Marine Biology” features to illustrate the application of the scientific method in studying the seas

© 2006 thomson-brooks cole chapter 1 science and marine biology

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