Did high temperature rather than low O2 hinder the evolution of eukaryotes in the Precambrian?

Zhang, Fenglian; Wang, Huajian; Ye, Yuntao; Liu, Yuke; Lyu, Yitong; Deng, Yan; Lyu, Dan; Wang, Xiaomei; Wu, Huaichun; Deng, Shuai; Zhang, Shuichang

doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2022.106755

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Support for the controlling effect of temperature-both the long-term cooling trend and shortterm fluctuations-on Earth's habitability through time comes from the fossil record in four forms: [1] a long-term cooling trend is supported by the microscopic body size of almost all taxa for much of the Neoproterozoic (see (65)). In the modern, high temperature environments limit the size of both larvae and adult ectotherms and endotherms; [2] both long-term cooling and short-term fluctuations in temperature are supported by the fact that macroscopic fauna appear first in deep water refugia, which likely experienced less temperature fluctuation and cooler overall temperatures (54,65,66). The first shallow water Ediacaran fossils appear after a 20-million year lag (Fig.…”

Section: Time-dependent Variability Across Materialsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This persistent size restriction suggests that formidable evolutionary pressures kept life small. The consensus view that low dissolved oxygen concentrations was the dominant environmental parameter keeping Precambrian life microscopic and singlecelled (53), has limitations (54). For example, marine oxygen concentrations were likely spatially variable following the Great Oxidation Event as evidenced by proxy variability (i.e., (55)).…”

Section: Time-dependent Variability Across Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperature: a key driver of Earth's habitability over the last billion years

Bergmann

Boekelheide

Clarke

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The habitability and ecology of Earth is fundamentally shaped by surface temperature, but the temperature history of our planet is not easily reconstructed, especially before the evolution of early biomineralizing animals. This work presents a billion-year-long, high-resolution, mineral-specific record of oxygen isotope measurements in shallow marine rocks. Clumped isotope paleothermometry results from four minerals resolves previous ambiguity in seawater oxygen isotope composition and confirms that long-term cooling punctuated by short-lived temperature extremes are dominant components of this record. We consider post-depositional effects by comparing Phanerozoic rock and fossil records, and identify temporal and spatial controls on alteration. Furthermore, this record is suggestive of key differences in dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) formation processes between the Neoproterozoic (1000-538.8 Ma) and Phanerozoic (538.8-0 Ma), consistent with previous suggestions based on petrographic and sedimentological observations. This record, when viewed alongside the fossil record, suggests temperature change is tightly coupled to extinction and origination in the history of life and carbon cycle perturbations over the last billion years.

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