PANTA RHEI - everything flows
Our earth is a water planet. Continents are distributed like large islands in the sea. The cycle of the water joins the oceans to the atmosphere and the land areas, forming an interconnected system with the biosphere. The sea shapes all ecosystems of the world, as well as the life of their denizens.
- photo: Getty Images
In the ocean essential steps of evolution took place during aeons of earth history. Plants and animals initially populated the oceans, spread and diversified, and finally conquered the land and the air. However metabolisms and reproduction of organisms always remained dependent on the seawater. So the mean salt content of living cells is still being equivalent to the salinity of seawater. But there are still unknown areas and organisms to be discovered. We know more about the surface of Mars than about the depths of the oceans on our home planet!
- photo: Getty Images
Humans are the only species known to have developed the ability to change its planet. Especially at the coasts mutual exchange with the habitats of the seas is intense. We undertake journeys to explore and use the seas, - but always return to the land. Anthropogenic changes in the sea at first do not seem to impact us. By our use of marine resources, however we interfere with the natural cycle and modify them. Since a long time the number of reports about losses of species and the irreversible destruction of resources of the sea are increasing.
- photo: Getty Images
Today changes have direct effects, e.g. as climate change, sea level rise or shortage of food resources. Today, more than ever, it is important to secure the existence of ecologically intact habitats and species-rich ecosystems for humanity. Only then the children of the earth will get the chance of a future worth living, and will be able to learn to know the oceans and their unique beauty.
