When we think about habitats, it’s easy to picture the rich diversity on land—vast prairies, scorching deserts, lush forests, and intricate wetlands. But what if I told you the ocean is just as diverse, filled with ecosystems as unique and vital as any on land? The only difference? We can’t see them as easily—but that doesn’t make them any less important.
Today’s guest is Dr. Judith Gobin, joining us all the way from Trinidad and Tobago. Judith is a recently retired professor of Marine Biology from the University of the West Indies.
And she’s here to tell us about tropical marine habitats, such as mangroves, sea grass, and coral reefs. She has a particular interest in deep sea habitats, such as cold methane seeps and even whale falls. It’s a bit morbid, but weighing up to 300,000 pounds, in the case of a blue whale, a dead whale literally creates its own habitat.
To my surprise, I learned that the ocean floor more than 200 kilometers away from national coast lines is basically a free-for-all for exploration and resource extraction. Judi tells us about a new treaty that aims to better control these operations, which can disproportionately harm island nations such as Trinidad and Tobago.
It’s a deep dive into ocean science, conservation, and awe-inspiring ecosystems.
Links
Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty
Deep Sea Videos mentioned by Dr. Gobin
Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!
Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com
Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!