What is life? Why is there life on Earth, but not on any other planets in the solar system (as far as we know…). Life on Earth occurs in a bewildering array of forms – plants, animals, fungi, protists, and bacteria, which together compose Earth’s biosphere. The biosphere is connected to the Earth System through biogeochemical cycles. Explore the links in this section to learn more about the stuff life is made of, genetics, the diversity of living things, how they coexist in ecosystems and evolve over time, and how life survives in extreme environments.
The living things that survive in the open ocean need to have a way to float or swim in ocean water. In the open ocean there are many types of swimmers including fish,whales, and sharks. Some fish, such as herring and tuna, swim in schools while others swim alone. Whales strain plankton from the sea or they eat fish.
Photosynthesis is the name of the process by which autotrophs (self-feeders) convert water, carbon dioxide, and solar energy into sugars and oxygen. It is a complex chemical process by which plants and other autotrophs create the energy needed for life.
Courtesy of NOAA
Autotrophs are organisms that can "make their own food" from an inorganic source of carbon (carbon dioxide) given a source of energy. Most autotrophs use sunlight in the process of photosynthesis to make their own food. Alga (singular of algae) is an an autotroph because it is capable of photosynthesis.
Image courtesy of Corel Photography
Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? No one knows for sure, and scientists have come up with a number of theories to explain why the dinosaurs suddenly died out about 65 million years ago. It wasn't just the dinosaurs that went extinct--roughly two thirds of all of the plant and animal species on Earth disappeared, too!
Image courtesy of the National Science Foundation.
Image has been released into public domain (found on wikipedia.org).
Plankton are a diverse set ofmarine organisms. They can live in salt and fresh water. Although some forms are able to move independently, most plankton drift with the water currents. This photo shows an amphipod, a type of plankton, at high magnification.
Image courtesy of Uwe Kils. Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.
Hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean are located at tectonicspreading ridges. While most of the water in the deep ocean is close to freezing, the water at hydrothermal vents is very hot and laden with chemicals. In thisextreme environment, certain species of Archaea andEubacteria thrive, enabling a unique food chain including fish, shrimp, giant tubeworms, mussels, crabs, and clams.
Courtesy of NASA
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