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Introduction
Biological Evolutions in Oceans, It is a known phenomenon that oceans cover roughly about 70% of the earth’s surface and supports a diversely implausible life, together with Blue Whale which is the world’s largest mammal. Moreover oceans serve as an important source of oxygen for earth and they further store and capture carbon dioxide, maintaining balance of gases in environment. Similarly marine species offer imperative ecosystem services, biological evolutions in oceans for instance provision of livelihoods, medicines and food (Mc Connaughey, 2013).
We have covered the dynamics of oceans in past assignment; however the most important component of ocean known as marine life will be discussed in this paper. There has been an increasing threat to marine biodiversity because sea resources have been over-harvested by humans. Due to this there is increasing provision of habitat destruction and over-fishing in various parts of the world that is irreversible harming our marine ecosystem. Now when the adverse implications of climate change, ocean acidification and over-fishing are understood, it is essential to protect marine biodiversity so that survival of marine species is secured (Vernberg & Vernberg, 2013).
1.1-Historical & Geological Origins of Marine Life
In order to understanding the underlying dynamics of marine biodiversity and how it is being affected over years, we need to look at their origin millions of years ago. The history of emergence of marine life can be dated back to evolution of Prokaryotes. They are very tiny in size and serve as both life supporter and as a cause of death in the form of bacteria. The evolution of Prokaryotes began 3.5 to 3.8 million years ago, while in around 2100 Ma, biological evolutions in oceans Eukaryotes formed that are considered advanced form of Prokaryotes, in terms of size and DNA composition and also these contain a cell nucleus which carries the DNA (Cowen, 2013).
Further these Eukaryotes evolved into multi-cellular forms for instance animals, fungi and plants. These Eukaryotes adapted to incorporate the process of sexual reproduction as a survival tactics. The notions of survival of fittest and natural selection also evolved. Moreover we can see protozoa and algae as simple examples of Eukaryotes. During 1100 Ma Stromatolites (Prokaryotes) started to appear along coastline and they looked with greenish grey mats forming layered structures of sediments (Wicander & Monroe, 2015).
Marine animal fossil’s assemblages started appearing in Proterozoic era or last 70 million years known as Ediacaran faunas, having soft bodies and varying structures. They were simple made from tough cuticle filled with fluid and represent first large bodied animals. On the other hand, Shelly animal evolved around 500 Ma, when huge variety of species evolved and modified their structures through natural selection. All in all scientists have found numerous species of animals and majority reside in marine domain. Majority of animals on earth are invertebrates and only 5 % are vertebrates, both of which can be found both in oceans and on land (Wilson, 2012).
1.2-Relevance of Elemental Components & Processes
Elemental components and processes that supported the evolution of marine life are primarily based upon water. These include the chemical reactions, the requisite input of energy and environmental conditions (Quigg Et al., 2003).
All the chemical reactions essential for the sustenance of marine life are intimately associated with water and can occur both in and outside cells. These chemical reactions are dependent upon two main factors i.e. the availability of requisite amount of water and the required proportion of chemicals. Where the proportion of chemicals is a natural phenomenon, Biological Evolutions in Oceans different organisms develop varying methodologies for conservation of water (Doney Et al., 2012).
The efficiency and effectiveness of the chemical reactions are closely dependent upon the input of requisite energy. For this purpose, marine animals depend upon the environmental conditions, which are exploited through development of special mechanisms. It is pertinent to mention here an important environmental component or condition which supports these chemical reactions; namely the coral reefs (Doney Et al., 2012).
The skeletons of coral polyps, both dead and living form the coral reefs by utilising calcium carbonate present in the seawater. The formation of coral reefs is also facilitated by warm temperatures. The problem of absence of oxygen in warm waters is resolved by the zooxanthellae or dinoflagellates through a symbiotic relationship. As part of this relationship, zooxanthellae produce …
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