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DICTIONARY of MARINE SCIENCE

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To some it may seem that the ocean is the same today as it was many years ago. The
average mean temperature has risen several degrees since 1900, and this does not create
excitement for most people. But in reality, the rise of several degrees is far from insignifi
cant. This increased warmth is enough to dissolve coral reefs and destroy ecosystems.
Since the appearance of the fi rst edition of this work, a great deal of research has been
produced, much of which is now general knowledge. The general population has become
much more aware of the ocean’s effect on all life, and phenomena such as global warming
are now matters of public discussion. The increase in temperature credited to global
warming has fi nally been accepted as a fact, and this is no surprise to paleoclimatologists.
It has happened before, and it will get worse, according to computer projections, which
depict that by the mid-21st century there will be a clear shipping channel in summer
months around the northern perimeter of North America. The discussion of how human
activity affects this phenomenon and what humans—the dominant organism likely to be
affected the most—must do to prevent catastrophe is now being actively studied.

The water of Earth defi nes the planet. As soon as astronauts could see the Earth from
space, their name for Earth was the Blue Planet—or the Blue Marble. The photographs
taken of planet Earth from space are spectacular and classic. Since water is a substance
found everywhere, it is easy for humans to take it for granted, but doing so is a terrible
mistake. Since life does not exist in the absence of water, water in its greatest concentration
in the world’s oceans deserves respect, consideration, and study.

Marine science is a composite fi eld that encompasses other disciplines and their relations
to the world’s oceans. Thus, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, ecology, geodesy, geography,
geology, geophysics, hydrology, meteorology, microbiology, minerology, seismology,
and zoology may all be marine sciences in some instances, as are their combinations and
subdisciplines. Some of the fi elds that apply information gathered by natural and physical
scientists include engineering, pharmacology, medicine, population study, and toxicology.
The instruments used by scientists and others who apply science have undergone
both proliferation and vast elaboration. These instruments range from the simplest tools
used by hunter-gatherers to boats, navigation devices, weather instruments, energy-producing
engines, elaborate computer projections of future events, and robotic devices that
can take the place of humans in hostile environments.

Though scientists have amassed a huge amount of knowledge, much remains to be
discovered. The Tree of Life project started in the 1990s to collect data about every currently
living organism, and it is growing rapidly. Unknown and unclassifi ed vertebrates
are still being found. Since vertebrates are a relatively small group of the biota, it is easy
to assume that they are all known. However, life is much more complicated than any
biologist thought it might be. For example, it was previously believed that the Sargasso
Sea contained few living organisms except a few fl oating algal species. Since the 1980s
better collecting devices have been perfected that have discovered living organisms the
previous collecting methods destroyed. It is now known that tiny soft-bodied creatures
live in the Sargasso Sea in great numbers. Thus, improved methods and instruments
have opened up many areas that were once dismissed as completely understood and catalogued.
This continues to happen. Research in the Coral Triangle near western Papua
has recently produced a number of as-yet-unidentifi ed species and genera.

Unfortunately, much scientifi c work is done in a race against destruction of habitat.
The ocean, often viewed as a limitless resource, has been misused by humans for centuries.
But the ocean’s biomes are neither boundless nor inexhaustible. They are as fragile
as a terrestrial ecosystem, and as in any ecosystem, the biomes exist in connection with
others—air, shore, and underlying rock—all of which are also always changing.

People have interacted with the oceans since the very early discovery that some of the
organisms in the water were edible. Therefore, much of the early information about the
ocean, its phenomena, and its animals was fi rmly connected to the need for information
about edible marine organisms. Once a basic need for food was fulfi lled, curiosity led
the adventurous to extend their wanderings to other places thus creating a need for the
development of navigation.

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

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Penerbit

New York : Infobase Publishing., 2008

Deskripsi Fisik

GC9 .F28; 551.4603—dc22

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

978-0-8160-6383-3

Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

New Edition

Subjek

ILMU KELAUTAN

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

agus

Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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