The Blue Planet

Has it ever occurred to you that there is another world among us? Beneath the deep blue sea is a vast landscape with plants and animals abundant. These animals are constantly forced to adapt to survive, showing just how strong and resilient they are. Three of these, however, stand out from the rest with features that allow them to survive in the harshest conditions.

The ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet and plays a vital role in the worlds environment. It covers 70% of the Earth’s surface, contains 95% of the water on the planet and is an essential part of the natural cycles that make our planet habitable. The ocean is not only dynamic and sensitive, but it is also severely affected by our lifestyle choices. It regulates global temperatures, is the world’s biggest carbon sink (absorbing more carbon dioxide than it releases), provides a home for trillions of plants and animals that make up various levels of the food chain, and so much more. Because of its immense appearance, it is frequently misinterpreted to be a stable and resilient environment immune to human activity. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Ocean is a resource for us to use and benefit from, however, it needs to be protected. It

Like how seasons are the changes on land, they can also be apply to oceans in temperate latitudes. The most productive seas on the planet are the seasonal seas because they border the temperate parts of the world where conditions change throughout the year. The power of the sun is constantly changing; hence there are different seasons even under the seas due to the different in sunlight radiation. In the far north, summers are warm and gentle, while winters are wracked by savage storms. Sable Island, southeast of Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean is home to the world’s largest colony of gray seal, about 100,000 seals come to breed here each year. The climate at this location is heavily influenced by the sea and being located in the path of major frontal storms and cyclones, precipitation is high. Around March, the seas have warmed enough to trigger phytoplankton to appear. Phytoplankton is tiny algae, each smaller than a pinhead. During this time of the year, phytoplankton reproduces with an amazing speed and produces more annual growth than all the parts on land together. They

Biodiversity creates an interconnected system where each part builds off of one another to create a functional ecosystem. For example, a small insect such as a bee is critical for survival of many other species because it pollinates so many plants. Currently, the population of bees is dramatically decreasing due to anthropogenic actions such as using harmful pesticides. If the population of bees go extinct, so many species would follow because they would not get pollinated. This is problematic because humans do not have the time or the funds to replicate the vital work of the bee.

An entire new world, different from our own exists beneath the surface of our oceans. This life is full of color, shapes, sizes, wonder, and even darkness. Much of this life has yet to be explored but we still know that beneath the waves exist the most beautiful creatures and the most bizarre. Magical areas such as the coral reef and mysterious areas such as the depths of the ocean are homes to over 700,000 species that live in the ocean. This includes the eighty percent of the ocean that has yet to be explored. Even though there may be separate oceans on this planet, they are still interconnected by a body of salt water. No area of the ocean is the same, which brings us to the wonderful fact that so many different species are able to flourish

In this episode of the BBC documentary series, “The Blue Planet: Open Ocean,” we were able to explore the abundance and complications of the open ocean, the pelagic zone. Over 60% of our planet is covered by the ocean, yet the deep sea is largely still unknown. We know more about the moon than what we know about the deep ocean. The temperature and the level of sunlight decrease as the depth increases. The ocean may appear uniform from the surface, but there is several layers to the ocean. The pelagic zone contains the most area of the open ocean. The zone includes everything except for the coastal waters and the sea floor. However, even within this area, there are variation since some part is lifeless with very little amount of organisms and

The Ocean. Commonly known, as the big blue is one of the most ecologically diverse habitats on earth. It is home to 7000,000 million different species, all of which directly rely on the stability and natural habitats, which exist around the globe. In fact, over two thirds of the species living in the ocean are unknown (DNews). The industrial revolution changed the world for the better; the industrial revolution introduced hundreds of new products, which changed the way humans live. Throughout this paper we will discuss the causes and solutions to environmental degradation in the ocean.

However, with the same inner drive to discover space should come the intention of wanting to explore the ocean. Humans have laid eyes on only about 5% of the oceans in entirety, and the necessary increase in funding would allow for the other 95% to be seen and known. All the water on our Blue Planet covers roughly 71% of the earth’s surface. Luckily, NOAA researchers have used their inner curiosity and taken action, finding out more and more about the five oceans that span the earth, and all the life that lives in them.

So we will talk about biodiversity first. Biodiversity is a group of different living organisms from around the world in one community. And biodiversity helps the biosphere because they can produce better and help other plants and humans in need. Some plants and trees have different characteristics regarding to their species.

The ocean is one of, if not, the largest biome on earth. There are more than one million species of marine life. Covering over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, the ocean is our planet’s largest habitat, containing 99 percent of the living space on the planet. This area holds the life of nearly 50 percent of all species on Earth. Like lakes, oceans are subdivided into separate zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic. All four zones have a great diversity of species. The intertidal zone is the region along the shoreline between average low tide and average high tide. In other words, this region goes through cycles of submergence and exposure to air. Animals in this zone must be able to survive the extended periods

When thinking of oceans, people imagine the only living things that are in the waters are fish and small organisms. But there is much more some individuals may not know. Some shallow and deep oceans are home to coral. These groups of coral are classified as marine invertebrates. They breathe and consume microscopic animals called zooplankton. Coral reefs receive their energy from the sunlight, they turn it sugars for their energy. The marine invertebrates are living things that are a vital part of the ocean and human beings. Saldy these communities are in major trouble

From the sights of mutant children with deformities to an infected environment, Billie becomes overwhelmed with her disastrous reality. “And my tears are for the planet because I love it and because we’re killing it, and my tears are for these wars and all this loss, and for the children who have no childhood, and for my childhood, which has somehow turned up again, like an orphan on my doorstep asking to be let in. But I don’t want to open the door,” (Page 238-239). This passage reiterates Billie’s problematic point of view as an outsider to the fixed order. She describes the debilitation of enduring a job that rejects her ideology. However, she brings light to the most common route that humanity takes, shutting the door on other’s sufferings to ease their conscious. The consequence of this ordinary behavior causes humans to lack empathy and allow the anguish to continue.

Habitats range from tropical coral reefs, rocky shores, tidal pools, mud, and sand to kelp forests, seagrass meadows and the deep-sea floor down to at least 6,000 m (20,000 ft). The greatest diversity of species occurs in coastal areas. Also All echinoderms, including sea stars, live in the ocean-on the sea bottoms (although their larvae swim in the water column). They are among the few groups of animals which live exclusively in marine habitats. Starfish live in all the oceans! Like Pacific, Indian, Atlantic, and Southern

It is a generally well-known fact that water covers 70% of the Earth’s surface. What isn’t as well-known however, is what much of this water is composed of. 97% of all water on the planet is what would be considered saline, meaning that the water is actually a solution comprised of water and a combination of various ions or salts (Fearon, 2010). The most prevalent of these ions are: Chloride (Cl-1), Sodium (Na+1), Sulfate (SO4-2), Magnesium (Mg+2), Calcium (Ca+2), and Potassium (K+1) ions (Chemistry of Seawater, 2015). The presence of these ions is commonly attributed to erosion and the weathering of the earth. While the composition of sea water varies between areas, the composition of each area generally remains consistent. This is due to

Franck and Brownstone define biological diversity as 'the variety and variability of living organisms and the biological communities in which they live' (36). Decades of progress in both the scientific and political arenas have advanced environmental legislation to protect biodiversity at not only the ecosystem level, but for specific species and genetic material as well. Research has shown the importance of every organism and their role in the global ecosystem, and legislation has gradually matured to protect not only species which may become endangered, but the habitats they need to survive as well. Growing consciousness surrounding environmental issues has enabled these protections to be