What exactly is a marine biologist?

What does a marine biologist do?

• I am interested in ocean life especially dolphins/whales and turtles. So i was thinking of being a marine biologist. Please could someone tell me in detail exactly what a marine biologist does and what qualifications i need to have to be one, and any other useful information that you think would hep. Thanks :)

• Answer:

  Marine Biology is a very wide field and as such there is no general answer. Marine biologists study the oceans, this encompasses everything from the study of marine animal and plant/ algae taxonomy, physiology, ecology and behaviour to chemical processes such as phosphorous and carbon cycles and physical processes such as tides and currents. A lot of people seem to believe that marine biologists all work with dolphins, whales and sharks but that is simply not true. These jobs are very rare and only a fortunate few work in that field. Most marine biologist don't study animals at all. A large percentage study algae, phytoplankton and chemical and physical oceanography looking at cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous and at processes determining tides and ocean currents. The vast majority of living organisms that are studied are zooplankton, tiny invertebrates that live in the water column. Many others study other invertebrates, mainly molluscs such as barnacles , a lot study commercially important species such as oysters or mussels. Fewer study vertebrates although there are a lot of fishery scientists looking at overfishing and population trends of commercially important species. There is two major components to a career in marine biology; schooling and experience. You will need at least a Bachelors degree to find a job in this field. A BSc will not get you far however, obtaining a Masters or even a Phd. (a Doctorate) is highly recommended as it will dramatically increase job opportunities. Bangor and Southampton are generally recommended as top marine biology schools in the UK. Bangor do offer a course that is called Marine Vertebrate Zoology: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/courses/undergrad/index.php.en?view=course&prospectustype=undergraduate&courseid=283&subjectarea=5 But I would not recommend it, I don't think it's a good idea to specialise that early. Despite what the name promises, Bangor does not have a lot of mammal people and I doubt you will be doing significantly more dolphin stuff. The Marine Biology/Zoology course, however, is quite good: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/oceansciences/prospective/listcourses.php.en?view=course&prospectustype=undergraduate&courseid=131&subjectarea=5 Peter Evans, head of the Sea Watch foundation is currently also an honorary lecturer at Bangor and runs a third year Marine Mammal Observer course so there is potential for a little bit of a marine mammal element. St. Andrews is the most renowned university in the UK for marine mammal science: http://www.smru.st-and.ac.uk/ A lot of students from different universities have also done cetacean based projects in collaboration with Sea Watch: http://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/research.php?uid=33 I'm not so well versed in turtles but I know Dr. Jon Houghton at Queen's University, Belfast does a lot of research on sea turtles. Marine Biology is very competitive, especially if you want to work with 'charismatic megafauna' (dolphins/whales and turtles) however, so you usually need a lot of experience as well; volunteering or interning at relevant places greatly increase your chances; aquariums, marine labs or even natural history museums, any experience is good experience and it's good to start early. Check out: http://www.marinebiology.co.uk/working-in-marine-biology/jobs-sites-in-the-uk t's worth mentioning that many people have slightly distorted views on the work of marine biologists and zoologists based on what is shown on TV documentaries ; people working with big charismatic animals, out in the field in glorious weather all day witnessing amazing behaviours. But TV programs are produced to appeal to the majority of people and the majority of people want to see big charismatic animals doing exciting stuff. Most people do not work with mammals or even vertebrates and even when you are working with charismatic megafauna, it's not as glamorous as it's made to look on the TV, for every day of field work you are looking at several days of data entry and processing and statistics and it's all decidedly hands off, not crocodile hunter style Have a look here: http://marinebio.org/students.asp http://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/education.php?uid=38 http://dolphin1.net/network/dolphinsong/strategies.htm for career advise http://marinebioblog.blogspot.com/ http://seawatchfoundation.blogspot.com/ For real life accounts of working/gaining work experience in marine bio