Marine biology is the study of organisms in salt water bodies, mainly oceans. This is important to keep apart from limnology, which focuses on fresh water studies, because there are often the same species in both fresh and salt water. Marine biology prefers to classify based on the environment, rather than on taxonomy (the science of labeling groups of organisms based on shared traits). This also differs from marine ecology as marine biology is focused on studying organisms as opposed to how organisms interact each other.

Marine Biology's origins go back to Aristotle (384 BC), who had studied life in the sea thoroughly around Lesbos. This would provide the groundwork for all marine biology. It wouldn't be until 1768 when Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin would publish the book Historia Fucorum. This would be the first book focused on marine algae. It also included many drawings of algae and seaweed on folded leaves.

Edward Forbes, a British naturalist, would be the next person to help get marine biology into the modern age. He is widely regarded at the father of marine biology as a science. Because of his work, studies into marine biology would increase rapidly, and he would inspire people like Charles Darwin into exploring marine areas, such as shorelines, and create the theory of evolution.

Most of all living organisms on earth live in the ocean, and most of earth (71%) is covered by it. Since most of the oceans are still not known to us (the ocean is less known than space), and since there are many new species being discovered every day, it's nearly impossible to know what the exact percentage of life it is. With further research and study, we can bridge the gap and come closer to knowing what the exact number is.

Marine biology studies many habitats. This includes every layer of the ocean, from the very top layer to the ones miles below the surface. Examples of some habitats that marine biologists study are kelp forests, tidepools, vents, rock bottoms, coral reefs, and a wide variety of other systems. The organisms studied in these environments range from the microscopic phytoplankton, to huge organisms like whales that reach up to 98 feet in length.

Marine life is one of the largest contributors of oxygen to the atmosphere. On top of this, due to all the chemicals, gasses, and liquids produced by organisms in the ocean, it heavily affects the earth's climate. Not only do the organisms affect climate though, they shape the planet itself, keeping shorelines shaped, protected, and even creating new land from it.

There are many benefits from human beings interacting with marine life. One of them is tourism, where the great barrier reef, the world's largest living organism, attracts millions of people to Australia to get a glimpse. It is the only structure on earth you can see from space. It's also a large resource pool, with food, water, oil, and a vast amount of recreational habits forming. There have even been some forms of medicine found within organisms in the ocean.

Marine biology impacts our life immensely because most of life on earth is in the ocean. This means that most of oxygen comes from the ocean, and this is what keeps us from dying out as a species. There's still so much to learn about the ocean, but one day we will understand the more complex intricacies within it.

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