Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
    • Front Matter Portal
    • Journal Club
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses
  • Submit
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Accessibility Statement
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Home
Home
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
    • Front Matter Portal
    • Journal Club
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses
  • Submit
Research Article

Oxygen, ecology, and the Cambrian radiation of animals

Erik A. Sperling, Christina A. Frieder, Akkur V. Raman, Peter R. Girguis, Lisa A. Levin, and Andrew H. Knoll
  1. Departments of aEarth and Planetary Sciences and
  2. dOrganismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
  3. bCenter for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; and
  4. cMarine Biological Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Andhra University, Waltair, Visakhapatnam 530003, India

See allHide authors and affiliations

PNAS August 13, 2013 110 (33) 13446-13451; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1312778110
Erik A. Sperling
Departments of aEarth and Planetary Sciences and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: sperling@fas.harvard.edu aknoll@oeb.harvard.edu
Christina A. Frieder
bCenter for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Akkur V. Raman
cMarine Biological Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Andhra University, Waltair, Visakhapatnam 530003, India
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Peter R. Girguis
dOrganismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Lisa A. Levin
bCenter for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Andrew H. Knoll
Departments of aEarth and Planetary Sciences and
dOrganismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: sperling@fas.harvard.edu aknoll@oeb.harvard.edu
  1. Contributed by Andrew H. Knoll, July 5, 2013 (sent for review May 8, 2013)

  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

The Proterozoic-Cambrian transition records the appearance of essentially all animal body plans (phyla), yet to date no single hypothesis adequately explains both the timing of the event and the evident increase in diversity and disparity. Ecological triggers focused on escalatory predator–prey “arms races” can explain the evolutionary pattern but not its timing, whereas environmental triggers, particularly ocean/atmosphere oxygenation, do the reverse. Using modern oxygen minimum zones as an analog for Proterozoic oceans, we explore the effect of low oxygen levels on the feeding ecology of polychaetes, the dominant macrofaunal animals in deep-sea sediments. Here we show that low oxygen is clearly linked to low proportions of carnivores in a community and low diversity of carnivorous taxa, whereas higher oxygen levels support more complex food webs. The recognition of a physiological control on carnivory therefore links environmental triggers and ecological drivers, providing an integrated explanation for both the pattern and timing of Cambrian animal radiation.

  • evolution
  • hypoxia
  • Ediacaran
  • Metazoa

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: sperling{at}fas.harvard.edu or aknoll{at}oeb.harvard.edu.
  • Author contributions: E.A.S., L.A.L., and A.H.K. designed research; E.A.S. and C.A.F. performed research; C.A.F. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; E.A.S., C.A.F., and P.R.G. analyzed data; and E.A.S., C.A.F., A.V.R., P.R.G., L.A.L., and A.H.K. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1312778110/-/DCSupplemental.

View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top
Article Alerts
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Oxygen, ecology, and the Cambrian radiation of animals
(Your Name) has sent you a message from PNAS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the PNAS web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Cambrian animal radiation
Erik A. Sperling, Christina A. Frieder, Akkur V. Raman, Peter R. Girguis, Lisa A. Levin, Andrew H. Knoll
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2013, 110 (33) 13446-13451; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1312778110

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Cambrian animal radiation
Erik A. Sperling, Christina A. Frieder, Akkur V. Raman, Peter R. Girguis, Lisa A. Levin, Andrew H. Knoll
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2013, 110 (33) 13446-13451; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1312778110
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley

Article Classifications

  • Biological Sciences
  • Evolution
  • Physical Sciences
  • Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 110 (33)
Table of Contents

Submit

Sign up for Article Alerts

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Oxygen and Carnivory in Modern OMZs
    • Conclusions
    • Acknowledgments
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

You May Also be Interested in

Water from a faucet fills a glass.
News Feature: How “forever chemicals” might impair the immune system
Researchers are exploring whether these ubiquitous fluorinated molecules might worsen infections or hamper vaccine effectiveness.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Dmitry Naumov.
Reflection of clouds in the still waters of Mono Lake in California.
Inner Workings: Making headway with the mysteries of life’s origins
Recent experiments and simulations are starting to answer some fundamental questions about how life came to be.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Radoslaw Lecyk.
Cave in coastal Kenya with tree growing in the middle.
Journal Club: Small, sharp blades mark shift from Middle to Later Stone Age in coastal Kenya
Archaeologists have long tried to define the transition between the two time periods.
Image credit: Ceri Shipton.
Illustration of groups of people chatting
Exploring the length of human conversations
Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert explore why conversations almost never end when people want them to.
Listen
Past PodcastsSubscribe
Panda bear hanging in a tree
How horse manure helps giant pandas tolerate cold
A study finds that giant pandas roll in horse manure to increase their cold tolerance.
Image credit: Fuwen Wei.

Similar Articles

Site Logo
Powered by HighWire
  • Submit Manuscript
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Special Feature Articles – Most Recent
  • List of Issues

PNAS Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Classics
  • Front Matter
  • Physics
  • Sustainability Science
  • Teaching Resources

Information

  • Authors
  • Editorial Board
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers
  • Librarians
  • Press
  • Cozzarelli Prize
  • Site Map
  • PNAS Updates
  • FAQs
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Rights & Permissions
  • About
  • Contact

Feedback    Privacy/Legal

Copyright © 2021 National Academy of Sciences. Online ISSN 1091-6490