History of Marine Biology and Oceanography

Abstract The modern scientific disciplines of marine biology and oceanography did not emerge until the twentieth century. Their historical antecedents are embedded in the natural history tradition, European global explorations and scientific‐educational reforms of the late nineteenth century. As new institutions dedicated to the marine sciences emerged around the beginning of the twentieth century, they began to diverge in two major directions, those investigating the open ocean (pelagic) while others examined the ocean's shorelines (littoral). Gradually, the two disciplines developed from this divergence, with marine biology usually studied within seaside laboratories focused initially upon marine botany and marine zoology before expanding into more specific areas of developmental biology, cytology and intertidal ecology. Oceanography, often conducted aboard research vessels, followed a similar trajectory with its disciplinary character eventually including physical, chemical, geological and biological oceanography by the 1920s. Key Concepts Biocoenosis was the early ecological notion of Karl Möbius that stressed the study of the community of organisms living together. Dynamic meteorology was the field pioneered by the Bergen School that led to the incorporation of oceanography into weather forecasting. Institutionalization of science relates the formation of specific organizations focused on an emerging area of science, such as oceanography or marine biology. International scientific cooperation is most often associated with large‐scale and expensive scientific research areas; oceanography is a primary example. Marine sociology is the idea championed initially by Torsten Gislén that emphasized the community approach for marine ecology. Microscopical research was the laboratory‐based investigation of fauna and flora pioneered in marine biology at the end of the nineteenth century. Plankton dynamics represented the study of marine plankton, a study that led to the incorporation of biological oceanography into modern oceanographic research. Plate tectonics was the mechanism suggested by Alfred Wegener to explain the movement of the earth's mantle leading to the current configuration of the planet's land masses. Scientific disciplines represent the various areas of the scientific enterprise that constitute contemporary science; marine biology and oceanography are two disciplines that emerged in the twentieth century.

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