Through this always challenging and exciting course, we have finally reached the midpoint of this grand journey, completing one week in the two week in-class course with the third and final week in the British Virgin Islands doing an on-field diving trip. This is what Mr.Kirby, Dr.Gruninger, and all of us are looking forward to. As I reflect on what I have gone through and leaned in this week, I say that this blog would be too long if I were to spill out all of it, so I’m just going to net it out in a few highlights. The main point of what I learned this week was not just about the mechanics of marine biology, but about how different principals of research and areas of different sciences connect to marine biology, helping me understand this science a lot more deeply. For example, the principles of plate techtonics in which moving plates of earth’s crust push against one another and create fault lines in the ground actually greatly affects the physics of the ocean because the massive upward energy blast from that happening underwater can cause tsunmais and other large tidal shifts. In addition it can change the direction of some currents and levels of density in the water; these factors are crucial in the lives of marine organisms as a lot of them depend on certain physical pressures to be in place so they can survive. Sound like a lot to take in? It sure is, but I go through it all because I love it.
Oh and by the way what we went over today was about how certain kinds of plantkton and other organisms can affect or tip the balance of the marine ecosystem at different depths.
