Today in class we learned about how the tectonic plates are related to marine biology. This was interesting to me. In my mind, I had always thought of the continental land masses and the seven oceans being complete opposites. They are clearly separated today. This is where the continental drift theory, the theory that explains how the tectonic plates are moving and forming the shapes of the continents and oceans that exist today. The tectonic plates move about 2.5 centimeters each year. This slow movement makes me really stop and think about how long the earth has been in existence and how it has changed over billions of years. There was a single landmass, called Pangea, in the beginning, and it was surrounded by a single, huge body of water. Through continental drift, that land mass split, and pieces of it drifted all over earth. I started to wonder how this relates to marine biology. We learned how, through continental drift, some marine spieces were separated and then adapted to their new environments to evolve differently. To wrap up, I look forward to learning about how closely related species can survive in different environments in different parts of earth.
