Aristotle and his students were said to have studied organisms in tidepools, keeping records and drawings, in 384-327 BC. However the main person credited for the founding of marine biology and oceanography was Edward Forbes, a naturalist from Britain, in 1815-1854. However, he was most recognized for his “Azoic Theory” which states, “marine organisms do not live on seabeds below 300 fathoms (1800 feet)”. This theory was very quickly disproven. In 1828, the earliest studies of plankton occurred off of the Irish coast. The first ‘modern’ oceanographic expedition was Britain’s, The Challenger Expedition. The biologists on board first discovered organisms living at extreme levels below the surface in 1872-1876. These discoveries further disproved Forbes’ Theory. In 1902, one of the first sea exploration foundations was invented by the King of Sweden. It is known as ICES, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. More recently, in 1977, scientists discovered deep-sea thermal vents. The USA’s submersible, Alvin, discovered many new microscopic organisms in the vent, and unknown communities of organisms around it. This year scientists have made a discovery linking sharks to global warming. They have found out that sharks, especially Great Whites, have indirectly reduced the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere. Wetlands along the coast, and especially the organisms living in them, …show more content…
Without Marine Biology and those who study it, we would know only a fraction of what is considered common knowledge today. A fraction of the knowledge that is vital to life today. We wouldn’t know about the bacteria, organisms, or or micro-organisms that are essential to every aspect of today. We wouldn’t know how to sustain life’s oceanic resources, or how overusing them can have dire consequences. In all, we wouldn’t know how to preserve or better the planet, since oceans make up over 71% of it. Since most people consider the Earth and the future important, I would argue that Marine Biology is