A food chain symbolizes the path of energy within an ecosystem: Primary producers such as green plants translate solar energy into carbohydrates, which are then tapped by primary and secondary consumers and ultimately recycled by decomposers. Each tier represents a different *trophic* level.
Marine biology. Marine biology is the scientific study of the plants, animals, and other organisms that live in the ocean. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy.
Marine biology differs from marine ecology as marine ecology is focused on how organisms interact with each other and the environment, while biology is the study of the organisms themselves. A large proportion of all life on Earth lives in the ocean.arine life also flourishes around seamounts that rise from the depths, where fish and other sea life congregate to spawn and feed. Hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridge spreading centers act as oases, as do their opposites, cold seeps.