What triggered the Cambrian Explosion?

Nov 27, 2025, 14:15 Uhr

MARUM Seminar Room 2070 (Atlantic Ocean)

Rachel Wood

The University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences, Grant Institute

The Cambrian radiation of animals started ca. 550 million years ago, and was terminated by the first mass extinction of the Phanerozoic. The unicellular ancestors of animals possessed similar genes to those implicated in the development of animal traits, so why did it take so long for animals appear? I will explore the role of oxygen in creating habitable space for animals to diversify, and show that this radiation was not linear, but cyclical.