science

History of Marine Animal Populations

History of Marine Animal Populations is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand History of Marine Animal Populations rather than just read about it. In short: The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) is an international, interdisciplinary research initiative. It comprises the historical component of the Census of Marine Life and is designed to measure and explain patterns of long-term change in the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the oceans.

Key takeaways

History of Marine Animal Populations belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect History of Marine Animal Populations to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of History of Marine Animal Populations from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) is an international, interdisciplinary research initiative. It comprises the historical component of the Census of Marine Life and is designed to measure and explain patterns of long-term change in the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the oceans.

Aim The overarching aim of the HMAP project is to improve knowledge and understanding of the interaction of humankind with the marine environment since the earliest times. Attaining this goal will yield information on long-term changes in stock abundance, the historic ecological impact of large-scale human harvesting and the role of marine resource utilization in the development of human societies. Such evidence, in turn, will broaden and deepen knowledge of the contemporary condition of the marine environment and provide the time series and ecological insight required to assess the future sustainability of marine animal populations.

Activities HMAP engages in three principal types of activity: Discipline building To further the twin sub-disciplines of marine environmental history and historical ecology, HMAP organises graduate summer schools, conferences and workshops; the HMAP approach is firmly embedded in the teaching and research effort of several universities around the globe: Roskilde University and Technical University of Denmark, University of Hull and Cambridge University, UK, University of New Hampshire and University of Connecticut, USA, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, Murdoch University, Australia, Simon Bolivar University, Caracas, Venezuela, University of Haifa, Israel, and European University of St Petersburg, Russia. Research To enhance knowledge and understanding of ecosystem dynamics, HMAP sponsors teams of historians, archaeologists, marine ecologists, biologists and fisheries scientists to analyse historical and environmental data relating to the exploitation by humans of marine animal populations over the last 2,000 years. This research effort is currently focused on the following regional and thematic case studies (c = research completed):

South West African Shelf (lead: University of Cape Town) c South East Australian Shelf and Slope (CSIRO, Tasmania) c South West Pacific (NIWA, Wellington, NZ) Indonesian Shark Fishery (Murdoch, Western Australia) Filipino Whale Fishery (Manila, Philippines) Taiwanese Tuna Fishery (Murdoch, Western Australia) Caribbean Sea (Scripps Institution, San Diego) Newfoundland & Grand Banks (University of Hull) c Gulf of Maine Cod Fishery (University of New Hampshire) White and Barents Seas (European University at St Petersburg) Baltic Sea (Estonian Marine Institute/DIFRES, Copenhagen) North Sea (medieval) (University of York) North Sea (modern) (University of Hull, Roskilde University) Mediterranean and Black Sea (Universities of Haifa & Southern Denmark) World Whaling (University of New Hampshire) Mega Molluscs (Simon Bolivar University, Venezuela) History of Nearshore (Roskilde University & Suffolk University, MA) Outreach and legacy To maximize public dissemination and secure the legacies of the project, HMAP is currently focusing on regional policy briefings and web products while ensuring the publication of research syntheses.

An interdisciplinary approach The structure and vision of HMAP highlights the power of an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the long-term development of life in the ocean. Historical research reveals what we can know about the history of ocean exploitation and changing coastal communities. Ecological and historical analysis offers insight into the changes in human and natural systems over historical time. It also reveals what we do not yet know and, in some cases, cannot know about these changes. Only the interdisciplinary combination of expertise can fully develop the scope of what is known, unknown and unknowable about the environmental history of the oceans.

Results The findings of the HMAP research effort are disseminated in the following forms: Research Datasets: the HMAP Data Pages (at Hull University) is an open access facility that currently holds approximately 750,000 records drawn from historical archives relating to the case studies listed above.

Books Oceans Past: Management Insights from the History of Marine Animal Populations, edited by David J. Starkey, P. Holm & Michaela Barnard (London, 2007) Fisheries Research, HMAP Special Issue, edited by B.R. MacKenzie & H. Ojaveer (2007) Early Human Impact on Megamolluscs, edited by Andrzej Antczak and Roberto Cipriani (Archaeopress, Publishers on British Archaeological Reports, 2008) Il Mare Com’era, The English title: Human-environment interactions in the Mediterranean Sea since the Roman period until the 19th century: an historical and ecological perspective on fishing activities, (eds.), R. Gertwagen, S. Raicevich, T. Fortibuoni, O. Giovanardi, (Chioggia, 2008) Dutch Herring, An Environmental History, c. 1600-1860, Bo Poulsen (Amsterdam, 2008) An Environmental History of North Sea Ling and Cod Fisheries, 1840-1914, René Taudal Poulsen (Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Esbjerg, 2007) The Exploited Seas: New Directions in Marine Environmental History, edited by P. Holm, T.D. Smith & David J Starkey (St John's, Nfld, 2001) Shifting Baselines in the Sea: Using the Past to Inform the Present, edited by J.B.C. Jackson, E.S. Sala (University of California Press, in review)

References

Further reading and external links HMAP website Census of Marine Life website HMAP at Hull University Web article--includes interviews with project researchers WhyFiles.org

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with History of Marine Animal Populations

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what History of Marine Animal Populations claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to History of Marine Animal Populations before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about History of Marine Animal Populations ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of History of Marine Animal Populations

In research: History of Marine Animal Populations appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses History of Marine Animal Populations in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: History of Marine Animal Populations is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Marine animals, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for History of Marine Animal Populations outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study History of Marine Animal Populations in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what History of Marine Animal Populations means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain History of Marine Animal Populations out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is History of Marine Animal Populations in simple terms?

Why does History of Marine Animal Populations matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study History of Marine Animal Populations?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on History of Marine Animal Populations.