The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition signals a drastic change in both diversity and
ecosystem construction. The Ediacara biota (consisting of various metazoan stem lineages …

Recent studies challenge the classical view that the origin of animal life was primarily
controlled by atmospheric oxygen levels. For example, some modern sponges, representing …

Construction and assembly of the Geologic Time Scale involves:(a) constructing a relative
(chronostratigraphic) standard scale for key periods in the Earth's rock record;(b) identifying …

In terminal Ediacaran strata of South China, the onset of calcareous biomineralization is
preserved in the paleontological transition from Conotubus to Cloudina in repetitious …

It remains a standing problem how and why the first nervous systems evolved. Molecular
and genomic information is now rapidly accumulating but the macroscopic organization and …

Kim Sterelny and Daniel McShea for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier papers
on the topic that I also included within the present work. Kristian Köchy for a series of …

The appearance of multicellular animals and subsequent radiation during the
Ediacaran/Cambrian transition may have significantly changed the oceanic ecosystem …

Clay minerals formed through chemical weathering have long been implicated in the burial
of organic matter (OM), but because diagenesis and metamorphism commonly obscure the …

Animals evolved in seas teeming with bacteria, yet the influences of bacteria on animal
origins are poorly understood. Comparisons among modern animals and their closest living …

The possible role of Ca2+ as a promoter of the major steps in the evolution of early life is
reviewed. The existing biological knowledge about the role of calcium in living systems is …