Today was a very interesting day. We went overe the origin of life and plate techtonics and how these two subjects are related to marine biology. The origin of life was an interesting topic to observe today. We had a nice class discussion about it. We went over stuff like where life might have come from, how life formed, and the differation between evolution and the origin of life. We looked at how to define life. (i.e. Whether to consider something to be alive if it metabolizes or whether it has genetics.) Personally Ithink that to consider something to be living, it must have genetics. We then related this to marine biology because one of the most supported theories of the origins of life suggests that life originated in/next to geothermal vents. After debating about the origins of life, we then discussed plate techtonics and how itis related to the ocean and marine biology. We learned that the plates that the earth’s crust are slowly but surely moving. We discovered that the landmasses we know today did not use to be that way but rather one massive landmass called PANGEA. We discovered that this land migration affects oceans because ov the next millions of years, the Atlantic Ocean will be larger than the Pacific Ocean. Plate techtonics are also important to marine biology because it can influence where very deep sea wildlife are located and how they act.
