Earth's first animals barely evolved until sex changed everything
Key takeaways
- A new study suggests that the earliest animals on Earth may have unintentionally slowed the rise of biodiversity.
- The findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, offer a possible solution to a long-standing paleontological mystery.
- After billions of years dominated by microscopic organisms, the Ediacaran period, which lasted from about 635 million to 539 million years ago, saw the emergence of the first animals.
Why this matters: new research or scientific developments with potential real-world impact.
A new study suggests that the earliest animals on Earth may have unintentionally slowed the rise of biodiversity. According to researchers from the University of Cambridge, the way these ancient organisms reproduced limited competition and kept evolution moving at a remarkably slow pace for millions of years.
The findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, offer a possible solution to a long-standing paleontological mystery. Although animals first appeared during the Ediacaran period, their diversity remained relatively limited for a surprisingly long time before a later burst of evolutionary innovation dramatically expanded life on Earth.
After billions of years dominated by microscopic organisms, the Ediacaran period, which lasted from about 635 million to 539 million years ago, saw the emergence of the first animals. Some of these creatures, including Fractofusus, reached heights of up to two meters, although most were much smaller.