New research identifies a previously overlooked global event which changed the course of the evolution of life in the oceans. It coincided with a rise in calcium carbonate-secreting plankton and their subsequent deposition on the ocean floor.
The ocean as we understand it today was shaped by a global evolutionary regime shift around 170 million years ago, according to new research.
Until that point, the success of organisms living within the marine environment had been strongly controlled by non-biological factors, including ocean chemistry and climate. However, from the middle of the Jurassic period onwards (some 170 million years ago), biological factors such as predator-prey relationships became increasingly important.
Writing in Nature Geoscience, scientists say this change coincided with the proliferation of calcium carbonate-secreting plankton and their subsequent deposition on the ocean floor.
They believe the rise of this plankton stabilised the chemical composition of the ocean and provided the conditions for one of the most prominent diversifications of marine life in Earth’s history. (1)
Evolution evolves.
And through the ages of existence.
Even Being redefines itself.
Eternal change.
Towards a goal which keeps shifting.
Everlasting life.
Walking a road that keeps going.
Poor man.
How much do you really need to walk into the clearing?
Before you realize you shouldn’t have left the clearing?
Look up.
You haven’t walked a single step.