Microbial oceanography as a means to better understand the conditions of life (and survival) in the Anthropocene era.
In recent years, a new field of scientific research has emerged called microbial oceanography, which is concerned with the biology and
ecology of the microorganisms that live in the sea. Oceanography combines techniques of molecular biology, gene sequencing, bioinformatics, and remote sensing, among others. Oceans are a crucial in regulating the planet's climate—a necessary condition to ensure human survival on earth. Findings of oceanography can help people living in the Anthropocene to better understand life (and survival). Not only are all life-forms of marine origin, but the oceans also host extremophiles: microbial life-forms that live under extreme conditions of heat, cold, and lack of light, and are integral in understanding how to adapt and survive. To reverse anthropogenic forces, such as overfishing, pollution, deep-sea mining, and acidification, we need to shift our vision of the ocean so that it can heal and continue to play the major role on which all of life depends.
