The rise of algae in Cryogenian oceans and the emergence of animals

by Jochen J. Brocks et al., August 2017, in Nature


The ‘Rise of Algae’ created food webs with more efficient nutrient and energy transfers, driving ecosystems towards larger and increasingly complex organisms. This effect is recorded by the concomitant appearance of biomarkers for sponges and predatory rhizarians, and the subsequent radiation of eumetazoans in the Ediacaran period.

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