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.
Skip to main content. Search. Marine biology is not a separate discipline in biology. It is the application of different specialties in biology to the study of the particular organisms which live in the marine environment. It requires an understanding of the unique characteristics of the sea and its inhabitants and the particular adaptations and special relationships of those organisms to that environment.