Life in the World's Oceans

So much of what people take for granted about the world is a direct cause of the structure and polarity of H2O; learning how those specific properties make water the essential ingredient for life as it is known.

Climate, weather and foods are determined to a great extent by ocean circulation; the uneven heating of the Earth by the Sun and the Coriolis effect result in circulation cells of air, the movement of water masses and "hot spots" of marine life.

How and where life begins on Earth; photosynthetic and chemosynthetic food chains point to the possibility that life could originate through two different paths; life begins in the oceans; bacteria are the most successful organisms on the planet.

Beach organisms exist with the constantly changing winds, waves and tides; life in estuaries faces constant fluctuations in environmental salinity; hard corals are continually pummeled by wave action; each of these environments can be diverse.

Phytoplankton form the base of almost all marine food chains, including that of the blue whale; far below the penetration of sunlight, a very different and only recently discovered food web relies solely on the chemosynthetic ability of bacteria.

Humans owe their existence to phytoplankton, dinoflagellates, green algae cyanobacteria, and others; scientists believe they are the ancestors of terrestrial plants; phytoplankton continues to produce about half of all the oxygen in the atmosphere.