Ah! Unda' Da Sea!

Oceans are a mystical land...or should I say land of seas? Bodies of water where there are more species and plants than the mind can imagine. Beneath the big blue waves lives a world unknown to the average boat rider. An article describes how half of the Earth's life may very well may be under the sea. After I skimmed through Huffington Post's 'Green' stories, I found a link to a story on McClatchydc.com. "Buried alive: Half of Earth's life may lie below land, sea" captures readers from the get-go. The writer, Robert S. Boyd, describes astronauts' duties seamlessly into biologists' jobs. He uses strong, catchy verbs like scour. Those kind of verbs are what make good writing.

The story goes on to say that scientists believe half the living organisms on the planet are buried in the ocean or places alike. A few examples: rocks, soil, tree roots and aquifers. Along with the writing accompanies a graphic depicting the 'subsurface biosphere'.

The area that half of our living things are in the dark, Earth's basement, as Boyd says. I've always wondered what lies underneath all that sand we see, lurking down under the sand.

There was a fascinating quote in the article about what may be beneath the surface. Boyd quotes a microbiologist saying,"The organisms that live in this environment may collectively have a mass equivalent to that of all of Earth's surface dwellers." Isn't that profound? Could you imagine having twice as many living animals and plants as we do now? We simply don't have room. The microbiologist goes on to say that these creatures may help essential environmental, agricultural and industrial problems.

I didn't like the way the writer set-up these quotes. They were combined into one paragraph; it's hard to distinguish. I think he should have separated them more clearly. He described the microbiologist in the same paragraph all bunched together; that was distracting.

In 2011, several scientists will venture to North Pond in the Atlantic to drill four holes in the seafloor to observe what lies beneath. Boyd ends his story with this last bit about the future plans. This is the perfect way for readers to look for more.

Here's a link to another story I found similar to this one. Check it out! World's Largest Live Underwater