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Since liquid water flows, ocean waters cycle and flow in currents around the world. Since water easily changes phase, it can be carried into the atmosphere as water vapour or frozen as an iceberg. It can then precipitate or melt to become liquid water again. All marine life is immersed in water, the matrix and womb of life itself. [7]
Marine microorganisms are defined by their habitat as microorganisms living in a marine environment, that is, in the saltwater of a sea or ocean or the brackish water of a coastal estuary. A microorganism (or microbe ) is any microscopic living organism or virus , which is invisibly small to the unaided human eye without magnification .
The ocean plays a key role in the water cycle as it is the source of 86% of global evaporation. [2] The water cycle involves the exchange of energy, which leads to temperature changes. When water evaporates, it takes up energy from its surroundings and cools the environment. When it condenses, it releases energy and warms the environment.
Water carried into the mantle eventually returns to the surface in eruptions at mid-ocean ridges and hotspots. [8] This circulation of water into the mantle and back is known as the deep water cycle or the geologic water cycle. [9] [10] [11] [5] Estimates of the amount of water in the mantle range from 1 ⁄ 4 to 4 times the water in the ocean ...
Different marine habitats support very different fungal communities. Fungi can be found in niches ranging from ocean depths and coastal waters to mangrove swamps and estuaries with low salinity levels. [5] Marine fungi can be saprobic or parasitic on animals, saprobic or parasitic on algae, saprobic on plants or saprobic on dead wood. [2]
This redox chemistry is the basis for life in deep sea sediments and determines the obtainability of energy to organisms that live there. From the water interface moving toward deeper sediments, the order of these acceptors is oxygen, nitrate, manganese, iron, and sulfate. The zonation of these favored acceptors can be seen in Figure 1.
Sea water is 827 times denser than air. Due to the higher density of sea water (1,030 kg m −3) than air (1.2 kg m −3), the force exerted by the same velocity on an organism is 827 times stronger in the ocean. When waves crash on the shore, the force exerted on littoral organisms can be equivalent to several tons.
Sea spray containing marine microorganisms, including prokaryotes, can be swept high into the atmosphere where they become aeroplankton, and can travel the globe before falling back to earth. The earliest evidence for life on earth comes from biogenic carbon signatures and stromatolite fossils discovered in 3.7 billion-year-old rocks.