Crude oil-derived hydrocarbons constitute the largest group of environmental pollutants
worldwide. The number of reports concerning their toxicity and emphasizing the ultimate …

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) biomineralizing organisms have played major roles in the
history of life and the global carbon cycle during the past 541 Ma. Both marine diversification …

The timing of divergences among metazoan lineages is integral to understanding the
processes of animal evolution, placing the biological events of species divergences into the …

Molluscs comprise the second largest phylum of animals (after arthropods), occurring in
virtually all habitats. Some are commercially important, a few are pests and some carry …

Diverse bilaterian clades emerged apparently within a few million years during the early
Cambrian, and various environmental, developmental, and ecological causes have been …

Abstract The Cambrian Period is the first period of the Phanerozoic Eon and witnessed the
explosive appearance of the metazoans, representing the beginning of the modern earth-life …

Current genomic perspectives on animal diversity neglect two prominent phyla, the molluscs
and annelids, that together account for nearly one-third of known marine species and are …

An oxygen-rich atmosphere is essential for complex animals. The early Earth had an anoxic
atmosphere, and understanding the rise and maintenance of high O2 levels is critical for …

The early diversification of animals (∼ 630 Ma), and their development into both motile and
macroscopic forms (∼ 575–565 Ma), has been linked to stepwise increases in the …

We present a framework for interpreting the carbon isotopic composition of sedimentary
rocks, which in turn requires a fundamental reinterpretation of the carbon cycle and redox …