The Cambrian explosion, the evolutionary “big bang” that led to the emergence of a trove of complex life forms, was caused by multiple events, researchers argue.
Genetic changes allowing for complex body plans combined with rising sea levels and an influx of chemicals into the ocean probably created the unique conditions needed to set off the Cambrian explosion, researchers argue in a perspectives paper published Sept. 19 in the journal Science.
“There was this cascade of events,” said study co-author Paul Smith, a paleobiologist at the University of Oxford’s Museum of Natural History. “You can see how one process might feed into one another and possibly amplify it as it feeds back.”
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