Marine Biology Chapter 1 Questions and Answers Rated A

Marine Biology Chapter 1 Questions and Answers Rated A Marine Biology the scientific study of the biology of the oceans. It concentrates on the organisms that live in the ocean. Describe Marine Biology. How is it different from oceanography? Marine biology combines many different disciplines in science and applies them to the study of the oceans. For example, marine biology includes the study of the basic chemistry of living things, behavior biology, and ecosystem studies. Oceanography is the scientific study of the oceans and includes marine biology along with chemical oceanography, geological oceanography, and physical oceanography. What was probably one of the most important early modivations for studying the ocean? Food! The oceans were a reliable and abundant source of food. There were other motivations, such as finding trade routes and expanding territories. Describe two of the accomplishments of the Greek philosopher Aristotle in studying the marine realm in the Mediterranean Sea in the fourth century B.C. Aristotle is considered by many to be the first marine scientist. He described many forms of marine life and recognized that gills are the breathing apparatus of fishes. During the Dark Ages in Europe, what other groups were actively studying and exploring the oceans? The Vikings explored the northern Atlantic Ocean, Arab traders voyaged to eastern Africa, southeastern Asia, and India, and people in the Far East and Pacific continued to explore the sea. Describe the voyages and accomplishments of Captain James Cook during the 1700s. Captain James Cook was one of the first explorers to make scientific observations during his voyages of exploration and to include a full-time naturalist in his crew. He explored all of the oceans during three multi-year voyages. He was the first European to travel to Antarctica, New Zealand, Tahiti, and many other Pacific Islands. He was the first to use the chronometers (a device to accurately determine longitude) during his voyages. The information he collected about the world extended and reshaped the European conception of the world. Describe the voyage and accomplishments of the HMS Beagle in the 1800s. The HMS Beagle's mission was to map coastlines. The famous naturalist Charles Darwin was the shipboard naturalist and his experiences during his 5-year voyage on the HMS Beagle led him, years later, to propose the theory of evolution by natural selection. He also made many contributions to marine biology, including an explanation for the formation of atolls by corals, plus studies of plankton and barnacles. Describe the voyages and accomplishments of the HMS Challenger during the 1800s. The HMS Challenger was a British warship that was retrofitted as the first ever oceanographic research vessel. During its 3-year voyage, the HMS Challenger sailed around the world, collecting information about the ocean depths and collecting samples. It took 19 years to publish the results in a 50-volume set! The voyage of the HMS Challenger set new standards for studying the ocean—measurements were made systematically and carefully and meticulous records were kept. The voyage of the HMS Challenger laid the foundations for modern marine science. What advantage do marine labs offer scientists who study marine biology? Name two prominent marine labs in the United States. Marine laboratories allow marine biologists to keep organisms alive and to work over long periods of time. They also may have state-of-the-art equipment for conducting scientific research or they may be simple field stations that provide a base for scientists who work in remote areas. Two prominent marine labs in the United States are the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. ,,,,,,, Describe sonar and what it revealed to marine scientists about the ocean. Sonar (sound navigation ranging) uses underwater echoes to image and locate underwater features and organisms. The application of sonar to the marine realm revealed to marine scientists that the oceans are full of sound, much of it made by organisms. What advantage does SCUBA technology offer to scientists who study marine biology? SCUBA (self contained underwater breathing apparatus) allows marine biologists to descend below the surface of the water to observe marine organisms in their natural environments. List and briefly describe four things about the oceans that can be learned by using remote technology. Many things can be studied about the oceans using remote sensing technologies. These include measuring the temperature of the ocean surface, tracking ocean currents, determining the abundance and kinds of organisms present, monitoring human impacts on the oceans, tracking migrations of whales, fishes, and other organisms, and tracking oil spills. What is the scientific method? The scientific method is a set of procedures by which scientists learn about the world. What is at the heart of the scientific method? At the heart of the scientific method is the conviction that we can learn about the world through direct observation. Observations may be made through our senses (seeing, feeling, hearing...) or they may be enhanced by the use of tools, such as microscopes. What is a hypothesis? A hypothesis is a statement that might be true. [It is NOT a question and it does NOT include prefaces like "I think" or "I believe." It does NOT require an explanation, e.g. "... because..."] What is a crucial feature of the scientific method regarding hypotheses? A scientific hypothesis must be testable. This means that is must be possible, at least potentially, to prove that the hypothesis is false if it really is false. What is an experiment? An experiment is an artificially created situation to test a hypothesis. What is a variable? Give an example. Factors that might affect observations are variables. For example, water temperature,amount of food, quality of food, etc. are all variables that affect mussel growth. What is a controlled experiment? A controlled experiment is one in which only one variable is tested. Other variables that might affect the experiment are controlled or equal. What is a scientific theory? A scientific theory is a hypothesis that has been so extensively tested that it is generally regarded as true. Like any hypothesis, however, it is subject to rejection if enough evidence accumulates against it. Discuss the limitations of the scientific method. Science and the scientific method have some built-in limitations because of the insistence on direct observation and testable hypotheses. This means that science cannot make judgments about values, ethics, or morality. Science can reveal how the world is, but not how it should be. It does not include values, feelings, or beliefs. Nearly all of the major advances in marine biology have come in the last 200 years. What do you think are the reasons for this? Reasons include increased mobility due to advances in the means of transportation (faster ships, planes), methodology (sampling equipment, microscopes, scuba, satellites, etc.), developments and discoveries in biology and other fields of science that have stimulated further research in the marine environment (theories of evolution, plate tectonics, etc.), improved educational opportunities and facilities. In this chapter it was explained that the statement "There are mermaids in the ocean" is NOT a valid scientific hypothesis because it is not testable. Can the same be said of the statement "There are no mermaids in the ocean"? Why? No, it is a valid scientific hypothesis because it can be falsified if a mermaid is found. No scientific hypothesis can be proven so this does not mean it is not a scientific hypothesis. So far all attempts to falsify this hypothesis have failed: no one has found a mermaid. Thus, the hypothesis is accepted as true, though not proven. Imagine that you are a marine biologist and you notice that a certain type of crab tends to be considerably larger in a local bay than the same type of crab that is in the waters outside the bay. What hypotheses might account for this difference? How would you go about testing these hypotheses? One possible hypothesis: "The stronger wave action outside the bay keeps the crabs from growing as large as the crabs inside the bay." We can move some of these smaller crabs inside the bay and place them in a cage that allows food to move in. We would also place crabs from inside the bay in identical cages and check and compare their sizes after a reasonable period of time. Remember a control experiment: crabs from outside and inside the bay placed in identical cages inside the bay. This hypothesis is rejected if size difference remains when all experimental populations are compared. Other possible hypotheses: differences due to food, predators, parasites, type of substrate, temperature, depth, etc. Many species of whale have been hunted to the brink of extinction. Many people think that we do not have the right to kill whales and that all whaling should cease. On the other hand, in many cultures whales have been hunted for centuries and still have great cultural importance. People from such cultures arguethat limited whaling should be allowed to continue. What is the role that science can play in deciding who is right? What questions cannot be answered by science? Science can provide evidence of the role whales play in the marine environment, factors related to the maintenance of biodiversity in our planet such as food for some predators (especially young whales), place to live for some parasites and commensals, and potential control on the population size of their prey (additional information on the biology of whales is given in Chapters 9 and 10). Science, however, cannot provide answers concerning the value of the enjoyment people get by observing (or listening to) whales, as well as their importance in terms of food and source of various materials to some cultures. Science can help us understand what the impacts of whaling are, but can't tell us how to use that knowledge.