Ocean ecosystems and currents as subsystems of a planetary organism

Authors

  • Josep L. Pelegrí Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC.

Abstract

The oceans are origin and instrument for the life of a planet that, paradoxically, we call Earth. The oceans keep most of the water and other properties that flow in the cycle of life, all of them conditioned by the energy that comes from the Sun. This insolation reaches the surface waters according to latitude and time, and it is incorporated and distributed through the oceans as heat and mechanical and chemical energy. During the processes of incorporation and transformation, the thermodynamic and dynamic conditions of the regional habitats are defined, which give rise to biogeochemical properties and typical communities, and the ocean currents, with a broad range of temporal patterns and spatial structures, shape a circulatory system analogous to other living organisms. A complex network of subsystems with complementary tasks is established: the great planetary organism emerges!

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