What Is Marine Ecology?
Marine ecology is the branch of ecological science concerned with organisms that live in or near the ocean, their behaviors, and their interactions with the environment. The scope of studies in marine ecology can range greatly, from examining unicellular microorganisms to researching global effects of pollution and human activity. Scientists might observe a specific population of organisms, identifying their behaviors and relationships, or investigate entire marine habitats to see how different living and nonliving factors contribute to the overall ecosystem.
Marine Ecology is the scientific study of marine-life habitat, populations, and interactions among organisms and the surrounding environment including their abiotic (non-living physical and chemical factors that affect the ability of organisms to survive and reproduce) and biotic factors (living things or the materials that directly or indirectly affect an organism in its environment). Marine ecology is a subset of the study of marine biology and includes observations at the biochemical, cellular, individual, and community levels as well as the study of marine ecosystems and the biosphere. The study of marine ecology also includes the influence of geology, geography, meteorology, pedology, chemistry, and physics on marine environments. The impact of human activity such as medical research, development, agriculture, fisheries, and forestry is also studied under marine ecology. In some ways, marine ecology is more complex than the relatively straightforward study of a particular organism
