Marine biology contributes to human society in many ways. Humans are completely dependant on resources from natural ecosystems.. all food, water, building and other materials, and medicines come from natural ecosystems around us. Many of these resources are found directly in the ocean (food, chemicals from plants and animals for medicine and other products, oxygen and other nutrients). In fact 70% of the protein that humans consume is from the sea. Not only this, but the ocean and all of its organisms are a vital component to the rest of the earth's biosphere. The ocean covers 70% of the earth, and the many processes that go on within it are connected to the non-marine ecosystems that we depend on.