What Is Marine Ecology?

Marine ecology is the science that studies marine life and its relationship with the marine environment. It is a branch of ecology and a major component of marine biology. By studying the reproduction, growth, distribution and quantity changes of marine organisms in the marine environment, as well as the interaction between organisms and the environment, clarify the laws of biological oceanography, and protect the marine environment and the development, utilization, management and breeding of marine biological resources. Ecological balance provides scientific basis.

Chinese name: Marine ecology
Foreign name: marine ecology

Field: Research on marine life and its environment
Location: Is a branch of ecology
Purpose: Protecting the marine environment and ecological balance

Definition of marine ecology

Definition 1 : Marine ecology is a discipline that studies the laws of the survival, development, and extinction of marine organisms and their relationships with physicochemical and biological environments.

Definition 2 : Marine ecology is the science that studies marine life and its relationship with the marine environment. It is a branch of ecology and a major component of marine biology. By studying the reproduction, growth, distribution and quantity changes of marine organisms in the marine environment, as well as the interaction between organisms and the environment, the laws of biological oceanography are clarified, and the marine environment is protected for the development, utilization, management and breeding of marine biological resources, Ecological balance provides scientific basis.

A brief history of marine ecology

In 1777, Danish scholar OF Miller began to observe tiny marine plankton with a microscope. At the beginning of the 19th century, biologists from various European countries have studied the composition and distribution of marine life in relation to coastal and shallow marine environments. French JV Audouin and H. Milne-Edwards proposed the distribution of shallow sea creatures in 1832. Based on a large number of collections and researches, the British E. Forbes proposed the zoning phenomenon of vertical distribution of marine life, and divided into 4 depth zones: Littoral zone, Laminarian zone, and Coralline algae. zone) and Deep-sea coral zone, and divides European waters into several biogeographic provinces. He pointed out the tendency of biological species to decrease as the depth of the ocean increased, but mistakenly believed that there would be no living organisms in the waters below 550 meters.

Forbes and R. Goldwin-Austin's "The Natural History of the European Sea" is the first treatise on marine ecology. In the future, various countries will conduct a deep-sea biological survey. The most representative is the British "Challenge" expedition (1872 ~ 1876) led by British CW Thomson, found a large number of deep-sea animals (including 10 species collected at a depth of 6,250 meters) and new biological species, Comprehensive study of biology and the sea

Marine ecology The relationship between foreign environment. In 1877 and 1883 KA Mobius studied the oyster biomes, and proposed important ecological concepts such as broad-temperature organisms, narrow-temperature organisms, wide-salinity organisms, and biocoenosis, and limited Community and Biocoenosis. Have the same meaning (biomes). In 1887, German V. Henson first used the term "plankton"; in 1891, Hacker of Germany first introduced the terms benthos and nekton. These are the three main ecological groups of marine life. At the same time, marine biological research institutions have been established in Naples (Napoli), Italy, Roscoff, France, and Plymouth, UK. The end of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century was the initial stage of marine ecology research.

Quantitative research on marine biological ecology began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henson and Danish CGJ Petersson respectively studied the changes in the distribution and community composition of plankton and benthic organisms; in the area of swimming organisms, they mainly studied the population ecology of economic fish (including quantitative changes and distribution migration, etc.) . Peterson's study on the habitat migration of fishes using the marker release method also started in the early 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, European countries (including the Soviet Union) conducted extensive research on marine biological ecology. The monograph "Marine" by Swerdrup and others (1942) summarizes the results of previous marine ecological research. In the 1950s, the Danish Armored Shrimp and Soviet Warrior surveys obtained a large amount of deep-sea data, which proved that there are living organisms in the water layer, ocean floor and deep sea trenches with a depth of 6000 meters to more than 10,000 meters. step. The monograph on marine ecology was published in the 1950s. Papers on Marine Ecology and Paleoecology edited by JW Hedgepies and others

Marine ecology Collection (1957) and Moore's "Marine Ecology" (1958) summarize the results of past research and are the main works of the second stage of marine ecology development.

Since the 1960s, marine ecology research has developed rapidly and comprehensively. Its characteristics are as follows: a comprehensive study of the correlation between marine life and environmental conditions, including the impact of human activities on the marine environment, biological combinations and resources, that is, the effects of human change, predicting environmental conditions, biological resources, and the entire ecosystem The evolutionary trends and processes of research; study the large-scale reproduction and development of economic organisms under artificial control, and clarify the physiological and ecological mechanisms of organisms; large-scale comprehensive ecological surveys and experimental ecological observations are combined, especially the rapidly developing marine ecosystem research, Combining the observation of natural ecology with the study of experimental ecology, focusing on the structure and function of marine ecosystems, the material cycle between living and abiotic environments in the ecosystem and the energy flow within the food chain, and the productivity of marine life at all levels in the ecosystem Changes, resource forecasting and proliferation, and field experimental ecological research under artificial control. Such as the "Ecosystem Pollution Control Experiment" (CEPEX) and artificial small universe (Mesocosm) research that began in the 1970s. Marine ecosystem research has become one of the most active fields in marine ecology.

Subject of Marine Ecology

Reasonably develop and utilize marine resources, protect the marine environment, and maintain a balanced ecosystem.

Research Objects of Marine Ecology

The research objects of marine ecology are individuals, populations, communities and entire marine ecosystems.

Individual ecology is based on biological individuals, and studies the relationship between organisms and the environment, especially the adaptability of organisms to the environment.

Population ecology is the study of the biological characteristics of marine animal and plant populations, including reproduction, development, supplementation, growth, death, population dynamics, and their relationship with marine environmental factors. In addition, population regulation, spatial distribution, and resource units are also studied.

Community ecology is the study of the combined characteristics of marine flora and fauna in a certain habitat, the relationship between each other and the environment, and the formation and development of communities. The ecosystem mainly studies the natural whole formed by the interaction between the marine biological community and its habitat, analyzes the laws of energy flow and material circulation in the system, and predicts human impact on the marine ecosystem.

Basic contents of marine ecology

Marine ecology review

The research objects of marine ecology are the individuals, populations, communities and entire marine ecosystems. It studies the breeding and growth, habitat nutrition, quantitative distribution of various marine organisms and their interrelationships with organic and inorganic environmental factors, the characteristics and rules of natural combinations of marine biological communities, and different ecological groups (plankton, swimming organisms, Benthic organisms, etc.), their composition, distribution, quantitative changes and their relationship with the marine environment, etc. Including individual ecology, population ecology, community ecology and ecosystem ecology. Individual ecology takes biological individuals as research objects, and explores the relationship between organisms and the environment, especially the adaptation of organisms to the environment. It tests the organism's needs, tolerance, and adaptation range to various marine environmental factors (such as water temperature, salinity, light, nutrients, and other conditions) through experimental studies under controlled conditions. The experimental results can be compared with natural observations. Its research content and methods belong to the scope of experimental marine biology.

The research subjects are common economic species and some species, such as mussels and oysters of mollusks, snails and artemias of crustaceans, shrimps, lobsters and crabs, sea urchins of echinoderms, small hairy Headworm and so on. Since the 1970s, it has been applied to biological testing of environmental pollution research, especially for aquaculture objects (fish, shrimp, shellfish, algae and other economic species), marine polluted organisms (boat stern, barnacles, etc.) and aquaculture Testing of food organisms (single-cell algae, rotifers, artemia, and some copepods, etc.). Through experimental research, master and control the appropriate environmental conditions for gonad maturation, spawning, hatching, larval development and growth of important economic species, and the need for bait and nutrition to achieve large-scale breeding of seedlings and breeding production. Control and prevent breeding diseases. Experiments have shown that the limiting factors that affect the survival, development and growth of larvae are the temperature of the habitat, water quality factors (O2, pH, metabolites, content of harmful metal ions, etc.), the type of food and their density in the water. The main purpose of individual ecological research is to clarify the physiological and ecological mechanisms of organisms, improve human control of habitats and living conditions of animals and plants, and promote the development of aquaculture production.

Marine ecology population ecology

Investigate the characteristics of populations of animal and plant species, including age composition, sexual ratio, quantitative change, survival rate, mortality, growth (growth potential) and population regulation, spatial distribution, migration, migration, and its relationship with the marine environment The relationship of factors; also includes the interrelationship between different individuals and various groups in the population. These studies are closely related to the development, utilization and management of economic animal and plant resources, and the control and prevention of pests. The research subjects are mainly swimming organisms, swimming benthic organisms and certain plankton

Marine ecology There are more studies on some economic species (such as herring, catfish, sardines, cod, catfish, big and small yellow croakers, calamari and shrimps) available for fishery production.

Population ecology is an important basis for the rational development of biological resources, especially the law of population replenishment. The decline in the proportion of older fish in herds or populations is an important indicator of judging overexploitation of fish resources. The analysis of the age composition of Atlantic herring ( Clupea harengus ) in East Angola seas since 1935 shows that the proportion of older fish in fish populations has gradually decreased since 1952, showing that fishing has affected the age composition of herring and resources Overexploitation has already occurred. Other traditional fish species also tend to decline in the proportion of older fish. According to the needs of fisheries management and resource estimation, it has been established to distinguish the individual age of fish and the age composition of fish groups by means of ring patterns on scales and otoliths; the age-length relationship of some fish species has been established; the catches and fish schools Density estimation methods; analysis of distribution migration, reproduction and growth, population replenishment and its relationship with environmental factors.

The research on the population ecology of China's offshore economic species has been fully launched since the 1950s, and has systematically studied the important fishery economic species Pseudosciaenacrocea , Trichiurushaumela , Penaeusorientalis , and Acetes chinensis The forecast of some kinds of resources and fishing conditions released has already seen benefits in production.

Marine ecology, community ecology

Study the combined characteristics of a variety of marine flora and fauna inhabiting a certain habitat, and their interaction with the environment. Each species in the community is a member of it, and each member maintains a relatively stable quantitative relationship, and there is a close biological connection. A community is an ecological unit where energy is consumed in the community and matter is circulated within the community. Community ecology research has been conducted more on benthic organisms, especially on coastal and shallow marine benthic organisms. Including flat bottom biomes, coral reef biomes and mangrove biomes in tropical seas. Plankton and swimming organisms have not done much research on community ecology due to the unstable combination of species.

In 1913, CGJ Petersson, the founder of marine biocommunity ecology, divided the benthic organisms in the Skagerrak waters of Denmark into 8 communities, and named the communities with the species names of dominant and characteristic species. Peterson's work was very influential. Until the 1950s, most benthic biologists continued to study biomes extensively according to his method of distinguishing marine biomes with dominant species.

In the northern temperate and warm temperate seas, including the Yellow Sea adjacent to China, some species are very large in the community, and the advantages are obvious. However, in tropical seas, the composition of the biological community is relatively complicated, its diversity is high, and the dominant species are not obvious, and it is difficult to analyze and study by the dominant species method. Since the 1960s, mathematical methods have been used to calculate the similarity between pairs of samples, and then cluster analysis is used to combine station groups or species groups to divide biological communities. The diversity (or differentiation), species richness, uniformity, and dominance of the species in the sample can also be calculated as parameters for the study of community structure, and different communities can be compared according to these parameters. Since the 1970s and 1980s, the application of electronic computer technology has greatly simplified and facilitated mathematical research methods. The use of mathematical methods to study biological communities has been supported by most scientists.

The study of community structure and function is to study the community as an independent ecosystem. It mainly analyzes the composition of the system and the laws of internal energy flow and material circulation, analyzes and predicts the changes in the number of main members and the parameters of environmental factors and their relationships, and proposes mathematical models.

Marine ecology, ecosystem, ecology

Study the ecosystem formed by the interaction between biological communities and their habitats. It is the in-depth and development of marine biological community research, which developed from the middle and late 1960s. The marine ecosystem's spatial extent often exceeds the habitat of a community, including a relatively independent body of water, such as the inner bay, estuaries, marginal seas, ocean areas, and even the entire ocean. Investigate the structure and function of this system, the relationship between energy flow and material (nutrient salts, DDT, etc.) cycle and the conversion efficiency of each link, quantity changes and environmental factors.

Theoretical basis of marine ecology

1. The performance of the unity of the organism and the environment in the historical process of the formation of biological populations and biological communities;

2. Of the interrelationships between organisms and environmental factors, one of them is primary and decisive, while the other is of secondary importance;

3. Transformation of the main aspects of contradiction between biological and environmental factors;

4. Leading changes in environmental factors, the importance and role of various environmental factors will change under different conditions and at different times;

5. The relationship between the organism and the environment is relative, the meaning and role of environmental factors are determined by the special relationship between the organism and the environmental factors;

6. Any adaptation is relative, that is, any adaptation has limitations and inadaptability.

The Practical Significance of Marine Ecology Research

In order to defend their maritime rights and protect their offshore resources, many coastal countries in the world have established an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles. China has a vast sea area. The total area of the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea is about 3 million square kilometers, accounting for about a third of the total area of the mainland. The coastline is more than 18,000 kilometers long. Zone, superior natural conditions and abundant marine resources. However, many traditional marine economic fishes, such as big yellow croakers and small yellow croakers, have been in decline due to overfishing. At present, China's marine development is shifting towards modern marine development methods. People's requirements for marine resources are becoming more and more urgent. Various marine resources are being developed on an unprecedented scale, and the impact on ecosystems and marine ecosystems at all levels of the ocean has become even more intense. State Studies. It will be of great significance for the scientific and rational use of marine resources and the protection of the natural environment of the ocean.

Specific measures for comprehensive marine management using marine ecology

(1) using organisms for water pollution control;

(2) the use of wetlands for water pollution control;

(3) Strengthening ecological construction;

(4) Strengthening water quality monitoring;

(5) Controlling pollution sources;

(6) The establishment of marine nature reserves.

Development of Marine Ecology

At present, the study of marine ecosystems mainly uses the principles and analysis techniques of modern system science, comprehensively studies and analyzes the characteristics of marine ecosystems, establishes mathematical models of ecosystems, and predicts the effects of human changes on the marine environment and resources. Provide scientific basis for resource development, utilization, development and environmental management and improvement.