1
|
Watanabe Y, Tajika E, Ozaki K. Evolution of iron and oxygen biogeochemical cycles during the Precambrian. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:689-707. [PMID: 37622474 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
Iron (Fe) is an essential element for life, and its geochemical cycle is intimately linked to the coupled history of life and Earth's environment. The accumulated geologic records indicate that ferruginous waters existed in the Precambrian oceans not only before the first major rise of atmospheric O2 levels (Great Oxidation Event; GOE) during the Paleoproterozoic, but also during the rest of the Proterozoic. However, the interactive evolution of the biogeochemical cycles of O2 and Fe during the Archean-Proterozoic remains ambiguous. Here, we develop a biogeochemical model to investigate the coupled biogeochemical evolution of Fe-O2 -P-C cycles across the GOE. Our model demonstrates that the marine Fe cycle was less sensitive to changes in the production rate of O2 before the GOE (atmospheric pO2 < 10-6 PAL; present atmospheric level). When the P supply rate to the ocean exceeds a certain threshold, the GOE occurs and atmospheric pO2 rises to ~10-3 -10-1 PAL. After the GOE, the marine Fe(II) concentration is highly sensitive to atmospheric pO2 , suggesting that the marine redox landscape during the Proterozoic may have fluctuated between ferruginous conditions and anoxic non-ferruginous conditions with sulfidic water masses around continental margins. At a certain threshold value of atmospheric pO2 of ~0.3% PAL, the primary oxidation pathway of Fe(II) shifts from the activity of Fe(II)-utilizing anoxygenic photoautotrophs in sunlit surface waters to abiotic process in the deep ocean. This is accompanied by a shift in the primary deposition site of Fe(III) hydroxides from the surface ocean to the deep sea, providing a plausible mechanistic explanation for the observed cessation of iron formations during the Proterozoic.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yasuto Watanabe
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Eiichi Tajika
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazumi Ozaki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- Alternative Earths Team, Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Riverside, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Ontiveros DE, Beaugrand G, Lefebvre B, Marcilly CM, Servais T, Pohl A. Impact of global climate cooling on Ordovician marine biodiversity. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6098. [PMID: 37816739 PMCID: PMC10564867 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41685-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Global cooling has been proposed as a driver of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, the largest radiation of Phanerozoic marine animal Life. Yet, mechanistic understanding of the underlying pathways is lacking and other possible causes are debated. Here we couple a global climate model with a macroecological model to reconstruct global biodiversity patterns during the Ordovician. In our simulations, an inverted latitudinal biodiversity gradient characterizes the late Cambrian and Early Ordovician when climate was much warmer than today. During the Mid-Late Ordovician, climate cooling simultaneously permits the development of a modern latitudinal biodiversity gradient and an increase in global biodiversity. This increase is a consequence of the ecophysiological limitations to marine Life and is robust to uncertainties in both proxy-derived temperature reconstructions and organism physiology. First-order model-data agreement suggests that the most conspicuous rise in biodiversity over Earth's history - the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event - was primarily driven by global cooling.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Gregory Beaugrand
- Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, CNRS, Univ. Lille, UMR 8187 LOG, F-62930, Wimereux, France
| | - Bertrand Lefebvre
- Univ Lyon, Univ Lyon 1, ENSL, CNRS, LGL-TPE, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France
| | | | - Thomas Servais
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 8198-Evo-Eco-Paleo, F-59000, Lille, France
| | - Alexandre Pohl
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université de Bourgogne, 6 Boulevard Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Pohl A, Stockey RG, Dai X, Yohler R, Le Hir G, Hülse D, Brayard A, Finnegan S, Ridgwell A. Why the Early Paleozoic was intrinsically prone to marine extinction. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadg7679. [PMID: 37647393 PMCID: PMC10468122 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg7679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Revised: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
The geological record of marine animal biodiversity reflects the interplay between changing rates of speciation versus extinction. Compared to mass extinctions, background extinctions have received little attention. To disentangle the different contributions of global climate state, continental configuration, and atmospheric oxygen concentration (pO2) to variations in background extinction rates, we drive an animal physiological model with the environmental outputs from an Earth system model across intervals spanning the past 541 million years. We find that climate and continental configuration combined to make extinction susceptibility an order of magnitude higher during the Early Paleozoic than during the rest of the Phanerozoic, consistent with extinction rates derived from paleontological databases. The high extinction susceptibility arises in the model from the limited geographical range of marine organisms. It stands even when assuming present-day pO2, suggesting that increasing oxygenation through the Paleozoic is not necessary to explain why extinction rates apparently declined with time.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Pohl
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université de Bourgogne, 6 Boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Richard G. Stockey
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Xu Dai
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université de Bourgogne, 6 Boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Ryan Yohler
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Guillaume Le Hir
- Université de Paris, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Dominik Hülse
- Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Arnaud Brayard
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université de Bourgogne, 6 Boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Seth Finnegan
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Andy Ridgwell
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Vilović I, Schulze-Makuch D, Heller R. Variations in climate habitability parameters and their effect on Earth's biosphere during the Phanerozoic Eon. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12663. [PMID: 37542097 PMCID: PMC10403619 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39716-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Essential insights on the characterization and quality of a detectable biosphere are gained by analyzing the effects of its environmental parameters. We compiled environmental and biological properties of the Phanerozoic Eon from various published data sets and conducted a correlation analysis to assess variations in parameters relevant to the habitability of Earth's biosphere. We showed that environmental parameters such as oxygen, global average surface temperatures, runoff rates and carbon dioxide are interrelated and play a key role in the changes of biomass and biodiversity. We showed that there were several periods with a highly thriving biosphere, with one even surpassing present day biodiversity and biomass. Those periods were characterized by increased oxygen levels and global runoff rates, as well as moderate global average surface temperatures, as long as no large or rapid positive and/or negative temperature excursions occurred. High oxygen contents are diagnostic of biomass production by continental plant life. We find that exceptionally high oxygen levels can at least in one instance compensate for decreased relative humidities, providing an even more habitable environment compared to today. Beyond Earth, these results will help us to understand how environmental parameters affect biospheres on extrasolar planets and guide us in our search for extraterrestrial life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iva Vilović
- Astrobiology Research Group, Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Astrobiology Research Group, Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623, Berlin, Germany
- GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
- Department of Experimental Limnology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), 16775, Stechlin, Germany
- School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
| | - René Heller
- Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
- Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Hou JB, Hughes NC, Hopkins MJ, Shu D. Gill function in an early arthropod and the widespread adoption of the countercurrent exchange mechanism. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230341. [PMID: 37593708 PMCID: PMC10427831 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
Rising but fluctuating oxygen levels in the Early Palaeozoic provide an environmental context for the radiation of early metazoans, but little is known about how mechanistically early animals satisfied their oxygen requirements. Here we propose that the countercurrent gaseous exchange, a highly efficient respiratory mechanism, was effective in the gills of the Late Ordovician trilobite Triarthrus eatoni. In order to test this, we use computational fluid dynamics to simulate water flow around its gills and show that water velocity decreased distinctly in front of and between the swollen ends, which first encountered the oxygen-charged water, and slowed continuously at the mid-central region, forming a buffer zone with a slight increase of the water volume. In T. eatoni respiratory surface area was maximized by extending filament height and gill shaft length. In comparison with the oxygen capacity of modern fish and crustaceans, a relatively low weight specific area in T. eatoni may indicate its low oxygen uptake, possibly related to a less active life mode. Exceptionally preserved respiratory structures in the Cambrian deuterostome Haikouella are also consistent with a model of countercurrent gaseous exchange, exemplifying the wide adoption of this strategy among early animals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jin-Bo Hou
- State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering and Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Nigel C. Hughes
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Melanie J. Hopkins
- Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Degan Shu
- Early Life Institute and State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, People's Republic of China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Mateos K, Chappell G, Klos A, Le B, Boden J, Stüeken E, Anderson R. The evolution and spread of sulfur cycling enzymes reflect the redox state of the early Earth. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eade4847. [PMID: 37418533 PMCID: PMC10328410 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade4847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
The biogeochemical sulfur cycle plays a central role in fueling microbial metabolisms, regulating the Earth's redox state, and affecting climate. However, geochemical reconstructions of the ancient sulfur cycle are confounded by ambiguous isotopic signals. We use phylogenetic reconciliation to ascertain the timing of ancient sulfur cycling gene events across the tree of life. Our results suggest that metabolisms using sulfide oxidation emerged in the Archean, but those involving thiosulfate emerged only after the Great Oxidation Event. Our data reveal that observed geochemical signatures resulted not from the expansion of a single type of organism but were instead associated with genomic innovation across the biosphere. Moreover, our results provide the first indication of organic sulfur cycling from the Mid-Proterozoic onwards, with implications for climate regulation and atmospheric biosignatures. Overall, our results provide insights into how the biological sulfur cycle evolved in tandem with the redox state of the early Earth.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Mateos
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
- Ocean Sciences Department, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Garrett Chappell
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Aya Klos
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
| | - Bryan Le
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
| | - Joanne Boden
- University of St. Andrews, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bute Building, Queen’s Terrace, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, UK
| | - Eva Stüeken
- University of St. Andrews, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bute Building, Queen’s Terrace, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, UK
| | - Rika Anderson
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
- NASA NExSS Virtual Planetary Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Gong Z, Wei GY, Fakhraee M, Alcott LJ, Jiang L, Zhao M, Planavsky NJ. Revisiting marine redox conditions during the Ediacaran Shuram carbon isotope excursion. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:407-420. [PMID: 36755479 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 12/18/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The Neoproterozoic carbonate record contains multiple carbon isotope anomalies, which are the subject of intense debate. The largest of these anomalies, the Shuram excursion (SE), occurred in the mid-Ediacaran (~574-567 Ma). Accurately reconstructing marine redox landscape is a clear path toward making sense of the mechanism that drives this δ13 C anomaly. Here, we report new uranium isotopic data from the shallow-marine carbonates of the Wonoka Formation, Flinders Ranges, South Australia, where the SE is well preserved. Our data indicate that the δ238 U trend during the SE is highly reproducible across globally disparate sections from different depositional settings. Previously, it was proposed that the positive shift of δ238 U values during the SE suggests an extensive, near-modern level of marine oxygenation. However, recent publications suggest that the fractionation of uranium isotopes in ferruginous and anoxic conditions is comparable, opening up the possibility of non-unique interpretations of the carbonate uranium isotopic record. Here, we build on this idea by investigating the SE in conjunction with additional geochemical proxies. Using a revised uranium isotope mass balance model and an inverse stochastic carbon cycle model, we reevaluate models for δ13 C and δ238 U trends during the SE. We suggest that global seawater δ238 U values during the SE could be explained by an expansion of ferruginous conditions and do not require a near-modern level of oxygenation during the mid-Ediacaran.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Gong
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Guang-Yi Wei
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Mojtaba Fakhraee
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Lewis J Alcott
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Lei Jiang
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Mingyu Zhao
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Noah J Planavsky
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Cribb AT, van de Velde SJ, Berelson WM, Bottjer DJ, Corsetti FA. Ediacaran-Cambrian bioturbation did not extensively oxygenate sediments in shallow marine ecosystems. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:435-453. [PMID: 36815223 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Revised: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The radiation of bioturbation during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition has long been hypothesized to have oxygenated sediments, triggering an expansion of the habitable benthic zone and promoting increased infaunal tiering in early Paleozoic benthic communities. However, the effects of bioturbation on sediment oxygen are underexplored with respect to the importance of biomixing and bioirrigation, two bioturbation processes which can have opposite effects on sediment redox chemistry. We categorized trace fossils from the Ediacaran and Terreneuvian as biomixing or bioirrigation fossils and integrated sedimentological proxies for bioturbation intensity with biogeochemical modeling to simulate oxygen penetration depths through the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. Ultimately, we find that despite dramatic increases in ichnodiversity in the Terreneuvian, biomixing remains the dominant bioturbation behavior, and in contrast to traditional assumptions, Ediacaran-Cambrian bioturbation was unlikely to have resulted in extensive oxygenation of shallow marine sediments globally.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alison T Cribb
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Sebastiaan J van de Velde
- Department of Geosciences, Environment and Society, Universté Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Operational Directorate Natural Environment, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
| | - William M Berelson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - David J Bottjer
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Frank A Corsetti
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Kozik NP, Young SA, Lindskog A, Ahlberg P, Owens JD. Protracted oxygenation across the Cambrian-Ordovician transition: A key initiator of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event? GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:323-340. [PMID: 36703593 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Fluctuations in marine oxygen concentrations have been invoked as a primary driver for changes in biodiversity throughout Earth history. Expansions in reducing marine conditions are commonly invoked as key causal mechanisms for mass extinctions, while increases in marine oxygenation are becoming an increasingly common causal mechanism invoked for biodiversification events. Here we utilize a multiproxy approach to constrain local and global marine paleoredox conditions throughout the late Cambrian-Early Ordovician from two drill core successions in Baltoscandia. Local paleoredox proxies such as manganese concentrations and iron speciation reveal that both sites in the Baltic paleobasin had persistently anoxic and predominantly euxinic (anoxic and sulfidic) bottom water conditions throughout the study interval. Corresponding trace metal datasets indicate nuanced contraction and expansion of global anoxic and euxinic conditions along continental margins during the late Cambrian-Early Ordovician. Lastly, thallium isotope data from these locally reducing sections suggest a global expansion of oxygenated shelf and deeper marine environments from the late Cambrian into the Early Ordovician. This evidence for increasingly oxic marine environments coincides with increases in burrowing depth and tiering in marine animals, as well as diversification of body fossils throughout this ~8-million-year interval. The collective geochemical datasets provide some of the first direct paleoredox evidence for an increase in marine oxygen concentrations as a key mechanism for the Ordovician radiation of marine life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nevin P Kozik
- Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Florida, Tallahassee, USA
| | - Seth A Young
- Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Florida, Tallahassee, USA
| | - Anders Lindskog
- Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Florida, Tallahassee, USA
- Department of Geology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Per Ahlberg
- Department of Geology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Jeremy D Owens
- Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Florida, Tallahassee, USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Yuan W, Liu M, Chen D, Xing YW, Spicer RA, Chen J, Them TR, Wang X, Li S, Guo C, Zhang G, Zhang L, Zhang H, Feng X. Mercury isotopes show vascular plants had colonized land extensively by the early Silurian. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eade9510. [PMID: 37115923 PMCID: PMC10146902 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade9510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The colonization and expansion of plants on land is considered one of the most profound ecological revolutions, yet the precise timing remains controversial. Because land vegetation can enhance weathering intensity and affect terrigenous input to the ocean, changes in terrestrial plant biomass with distinct negative Δ199Hg and Δ200Hg signatures may overwrite the positive Hg isotope signatures commonly found in marine sediments. By investigating secular Hg isotopic variations in the Paleozoic marine sediments from South China and peripheral paleocontinents, we highlight distinct negative excursions in both Δ199Hg and Δ200Hg at Stage level starting in the early Silurian and again in the Carboniferous. These geochemical signatures were driven by increased terrestrial contribution of Hg due to the rapid expansion of vascular plants. These excursions broadly coincide with rising atmospheric oxygen concentrations and global cooling. Therefore, vascular plants were widely distributed on land during the Ordovician-Silurian transition (~444 million years), long before the earliest reported vascular plant fossil, Cooksonia (~430 million years).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
| | - Mu Liu
- Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Daizhao Chen
- Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Corresponding author. (X.F.); (D.C.)
| | - Yao-Wu Xing
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
| | - Robert A. Spicer
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
- School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
- State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Jitao Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
- Nanjing College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China
| | - Theodore R. Them
- Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424, USA
| | - Xun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
| | - Shizhen Li
- Oil and Gas Survey, China Geological Survey, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Chuan Guo
- College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Key Laboratory of Karst Georesources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Gongjing Zhang
- Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
| | - Liyu Zhang
- Wuxi Research Institute of Petroleum Geology, Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, SINOPEC, Wuxi 214126, China
| | - Hui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
| | - Xinbin Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Corresponding author. (X.F.); (D.C.)
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Shapiro AV, Brühl C, Klingmüller K, Steil B, Shapiro AI, Witzke V, Kostogryz N, Gizon L, Solanki SK, Lelieveld J. Metal-rich stars are less suitable for the evolution of life on their planets. Nat Commun 2023; 14:1893. [PMID: 37072387 PMCID: PMC10113254 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37195-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Atmospheric ozone and oxygen protect the terrestrial biosphere against harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Here, we model atmospheres of Earth-like planets hosted by stars with near-solar effective temperatures (5300 to 6300 K) and a broad range of metallicities covering known exoplanet host stars. We show that paradoxically, although metal-rich stars emit substantially less ultraviolet radiation than metal-poor stars, the surface of their planets is exposed to more intense ultraviolet radiation. For the stellar types considered, metallicity has a larger impact than stellar temperature. During the evolution of the universe, newly formed stars have progressively become more metal-rich, exposing organisms to increasingly intense ultraviolet radiation. Our findings imply that planets hosted by stars with low metallicity are the best targets to search for complex life on land.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna V Shapiro
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany.
| | | | | | | | | | - Veronika Witzke
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nadiia Kostogryz
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Laurent Gizon
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Institute for Astrophysics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Center for Space Science, NYUAD Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
| | - Sami K Solanki
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany
- School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Republic of Korea
| | - Jos Lelieveld
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
- The Cyprus Institute, Climate and Atmosphere Research Center, Nicosia, Cyprus
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Global ocean redox changes before and during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. Nat Commun 2023; 14:815. [PMID: 36781894 PMCID: PMC9925726 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36516-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Mesozoic oceanic anoxic events are recognized as widespread deposits of marine organic-rich mudrocks temporally associated with mass extinctions and large igneous province emplacement. The Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event is one example during which expanded ocean anoxia is hypothesized in response to environmental perturbations associated with emplacement of the Karoo-Ferrar igneous province. However, the global extent of total seafloor anoxia and the relative extent of euxinic (anoxic and sulfide-rich) and non-euxinic anoxic conditions during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event are poorly constrained. Here we present estimates of the global total anoxic and euxinic seafloor areas before and during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event based on rhenium and molybdenum enrichments, respectively, in organic-rich mudrocks of the Fernie Formation (British Columbia, Canada). We find that mass balance models depict an expansion of up to ~7% total seafloor anoxia, which was dominated by euxinia, at the onset of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, followed by a contraction before the end of the event. The global ocean redox trends revealed by the rhenium data mirrors the collapse and recovery patterns of global ammonite and foraminiferal biodiversity.
Collapse
|
13
|
Wilmsen SM, Dzialowski EM. Changes in growth and developmental timing in Manduca sexta when exposed to altered oxygen levels. ARTHROPOD STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT 2023; 72:101231. [PMID: 36571898 DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2022.101231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 11/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The effect of chronic oxygen exposure on growth and development of insects is an active field of research. It seeks to unravel the triggers and limitations to molting and growth across many insect groups, although even now there are gaps in our knowledge and inconsistencies that need to be addressed. The oxygen dependent induction of molting (ODIM) hypothesis states that the impetus for molting is triggered by the development of hypoxic tissue due to the rapid increase in mass coupled with the fixed nature of tracheal systems between molts. In this study, we raised Manduca sexta in three chronic oxygen treatments (10, 21, & 30% O2). We measured the mass of these insects throughout their larval development and as adults. We found that both hyperoxia and hypoxia had marked effects on size and developmental times. Hyperoxia exposure resulted in increased mass throughout development and into adulthood while increasing developmental times. Hypoxia also increased developmental time and decreased mass of adult moths. We show that pupation is a critical window for exposure to altered oxygen levels. This suggests that oxygen may play a role in affecting the timing of eclosion at the end of pupation.
Collapse
|
14
|
Li Z, Zhang YG, Torres M, Mills BJW. Neogene burial of organic carbon in the global ocean. Nature 2023; 613:90-95. [PMID: 36600067 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05413-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Organic carbon buried in marine sediment serves as a net sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and a source of oxygen1,2. The rate of organic carbon burial through geologic history is conventionally established by using the mass balance between inorganic and organic carbon, each with distinct carbon isotopic values (δ13C)3,4. This method is complicated by large uncertainties, however, and has not been tested with organic carbon accumulation data5,6. Here we report a 'bottom-up' approach for calculating the rate of organic carbon burial that is independent from mass balance calculations. We use data from 81 globally distributed sites to establish the history of organic carbon burial during the Neogene (roughly 23-3 Ma). Our results show larger spatiotemporal variability of organic carbon burial than previously estimated7-9. Globally, the burial rate is high towards the early Miocene and Pliocene and lowest during the mid-Miocene, with the latter period characterized by the lowest ratio of organic-to-carbonate burial rates. This is in contrast to earlier work that interpreted enriched carbonate 13C values of the mid-Miocene as massive organic carbon burial (that is, the Monterey Hypothesis)10,11. Suppressed organic carbon burial during the warm mid-Miocene is probably related to temperature-dependent bacterial degradation of organic matter12,13, suggesting that the organic carbon cycle acted as positive feedback of past global warming.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ziye Li
- College of Marine Geosciences, Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences and Prospecting Techniques, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.,Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.,MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Yi Ge Zhang
- Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
| | - Mark Torres
- Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
15
|
Low atmospheric CO 2 levels before the rise of forested ecosystems. Nat Commun 2022; 13:7616. [PMID: 36539413 PMCID: PMC9768202 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35085-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of forests on Earth (~385 million years ago, Ma)1 has been linked to an order-of-magnitude decline in atmospheric CO2 levels and global climatic cooling by altering continental weathering processes, but observational constraints on atmospheric CO2 before the rise of forests carry large, often unbound, uncertainties. Here, we calibrate a mechanistic model for gas exchange in modern lycophytes and constrain atmospheric CO2 levels 410-380 Ma from related fossilized plants with bound uncertainties of approximately ±100 ppm (1 sd). We find that the atmosphere contained ~525-715 ppm CO2 before continents were afforested, and that Earth was partially glaciated according to a palaeoclimate model. A process-driven biogeochemical model (COPSE) shows the appearance of trees with deep roots did not dramatically enhance atmospheric CO2 removal. Rather, shallow-rooted vascular ecosystems could have simultaneously caused abrupt atmospheric oxygenation and climatic cooling long before the rise of forests, although earlier CO2 levels are still unknown.
Collapse
|
16
|
Kozik NP, Young SA, Newby SM, Liu M, Chen D, Hammarlund EU, Bond DPG, Them TR, Owens JD. Rapid marine oxygen variability: Driver of the Late Ordovician mass extinction. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabn8345. [PMID: 36399571 PMCID: PMC9674285 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn8345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The timing and connections between global cooling, marine redox conditions, and biotic turnover are underconstrained for the Late Ordovician. The second most severe mass extinction occurred at the end of the Ordovician period, resulting in ~85% loss of marine species between two extinction pulses. As the only "Big 5" extinction that occurred during icehouse conditions, this interval is an important modern analog to constrain environmental feedbacks. We present a previously unexplored thallium isotope records from two paleobasins that record global marine redox conditions and document two distinct and rapid excursions suggesting vacillating (de)oxygenation. The strong temporal link between these perturbations and extinctions highlights the possibility that dynamic marine oxygen fluctuations, rather than persistent, stable global anoxia, played a major role in driving the extinction. This evidence for rapid oxygen changes leading to mass extinction has important implications for modern deoxygenation and biodiversity declines.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nevin P. Kozik
- Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science – National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Seth A. Young
- Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science – National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Sean M. Newby
- Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science – National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Mu Liu
- Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Daizhao Chen
- Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Emma U. Hammarlund
- Tissue Development and Evolution (TiDE) Division, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - David P. G. Bond
- Department of Geography, Geology and Environment, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
| | - Theodore R. Them
- Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424, USA
| | - Jeremy D. Owens
- Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science – National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Song B, Modjewski LD, Kapust N, Mizrahi I, Martin WF. The origin and distribution of the main oxygen sensing mechanism across metazoans. Front Physiol 2022; 13:977391. [PMID: 36324306 PMCID: PMC9618697 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.977391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Oxygen sensing mechanisms are essential for metazoans, their origin and evolution in the context of oxygen in Earth history are of interest. To trace the evolution of a main oxygen sensing mechanism among metazoans, the hypoxia induced factor, HIF, we investigated the phylogenetic distribution and phylogeny of 11 of its components across 566 eukaryote genomes. The HIF based oxygen sensing machinery in eukaryotes can be traced as far back as 800 million years (Ma) ago, likely to the last metazoan common ancestor (LMCA), and arose at a time when the atmospheric oxygen content corresponded roughly to the Pasteur point, or roughly 1% of present atmospheric level (PAL). By the time of the Cambrian explosion (541–485 Ma) as oxygen levels started to approach those of the modern atmosphere, the HIF system with its key components HIF1α, HIF1β, PHD1, PHD4, FIH and VHL was well established across metazoan lineages. HIF1α is more widely distributed and therefore may have evolved earlier than HIF2α and HIF3α, and HIF1β and is more widely distributed than HIF2β in invertebrates. PHD1, PHD4, FIH, and VHL appear in all 13 metazoan phyla. The O2 consuming enzymes of the pathway, PHDs and FIH, have a lower substrate affinity, Km, for O2 than terminal oxidases in the mitochondrial respiratory chain, in line with their function as an environmental signal to switch to anaerobic energy metabolic pathways. The ancient HIF system has been conserved and widespread during the period when metazoans evolved and diversified together with O2 during Earth history.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bing Song
- Department of Biology, Institute for Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Luca David Modjewski
- Department of Biology, Institute for Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Nils Kapust
- Department of Biology, Institute for Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Itzhak Mizrahi
- Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Marcus Family Campus, Be’er-Sheva, Israel
| | - William F. Martin
- Department of Biology, Institute for Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- *Correspondence: William F. Martin,
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Krause AJ, Mills BJW, Merdith AS, Lenton TM, Poulton SW. Extreme variability in atmospheric oxygen levels in the late Precambrian. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm8191. [PMID: 36240275 PMCID: PMC9565794 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm8191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Mapping the history of atmospheric O2 during the late Precambrian is vital for evaluating potential links to animal evolution. Ancient O2 levels are often inferred from geochemical analyses of marine sediments, leading to the assumption that the Earth experienced a stepwise increase in atmospheric O2 during the Neoproterozoic. However, the nature of this hypothesized oxygenation event remains unknown, with suggestions of a more dynamic O2 history in the oceans and major uncertainty over any direct connection between the marine realm and atmospheric O2. Here, we present a continuous quantitative reconstruction of atmospheric O2 over the past 1.5 billion years using an isotope mass balance approach that combines bulk geochemistry and tectonic recycling rate calculations. We predict that atmospheric O2 levels during the Neoproterozoic oscillated between ~1 and ~50% of the present atmospheric level. We conclude that there was no simple unidirectional rise in atmospheric O2 during the Neoproterozoic, and the first animals evolved against a backdrop of extreme O2 variability.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander J. Krause
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, 5 Gower Place, London WC1E 6BS, UK
| | | | - Andrew S. Merdith
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planète, Environnement, UMR CNRS 5276, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon1, 2, rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
| | | | - Simon W. Poulton
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Reconstructing Earth's atmospheric oxygenation history using machine learning. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5862. [PMID: 36195593 PMCID: PMC9532422 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33388-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Reconstructing historical atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels at finer temporal resolution is a top priority for exploring the evolution of life on Earth. This goal, however, is challenged by gaps in traditionally employed sediment-hosted geochemical proxy data. Here, we propose an independent strategy-machine learning with global mafic igneous geochemistry big data to explore atmospheric oxygenation over the last 4.0 billion years. We observe an overall two-step rise of atmospheric O2 similar to the published curves derived from independent sediment-hosted paleo-oxybarometers but with a more detailed fabric of O2 fluctuations superimposed. These additional, shorter-term fluctuations are also consistent with previous but less well-established suggestions of O2 variability. We conclude from this agreement that Earth's oxygenated atmosphere may therefore be at least partly a natural consequence of mantle cooling and specifically that evolving mantle melts collectively have helped modulate the balance of early O2 sources and sinks.
Collapse
|
20
|
Continental configuration controls ocean oxygenation during the Phanerozoic. Nature 2022; 608:523-527. [PMID: 35978129 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05018-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The early evolutionary and much of the extinction history of marine animals is thought to be driven by changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations ([O2]) in the ocean1-3. In turn, [O2] is widely assumed to be dominated by the geological history of atmospheric oxygen (pO2)4,5. Here, by contrast, we show by means of a series of Earth system model experiments how continental rearrangement during the Phanerozoic Eon drives profound variations in ocean oxygenation and induces a fundamental decoupling in time between upper-ocean and benthic [O2]. We further identify the presence of state transitions in the global ocean circulation, which lead to extensive deep-ocean anoxia developing in the early Phanerozoic even under modern pO2. Our finding that ocean oxygenation oscillates over stable thousand-year (kyr) periods also provides a causal mechanism that might explain elevated rates of metazoan radiation and extinction during the early Palaeozoic Era6. The absence, in our modelling, of any simple correlation between global climate and ocean ventilation, and the occurrence of profound variations in ocean oxygenation independent of atmospheric pO2, presents a challenge to the interpretation of marine redox proxies, but also points to a hitherto unrecognized role for continental configuration in the evolution of the biosphere.
Collapse
|
21
|
Pohl A, Wong Hearing T, Franc A, Sepulchre P, Scotese CR. Dataset of Phanerozoic continental climate and Köppen–Geiger climate classes. Data Brief 2022; 43:108424. [PMID: 35845094 PMCID: PMC9278035 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2022.108424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
This article describes a suite of global climate model output files that provide continental climatic conditions (monthly temperatures, precipitation, evaporation, precipitation minus evaporation balance, runoff) together with the calculated Köppen–Geiger climate classes and topography, for 28 evenly spaced time slices through the Phanerozoic (Cambrian to Quaternary, 540 Ma to 0 Ma). Climatic variables were simulated with the Fast Ocean Atmosphere Model (FOAM), using a recent set of open-access continental reconstructions with paleotopography and recent atmospheric CO2 and solar luminosity estimates. FOAM is a general circulation model frequently used in paleoclimate studies, especially in the Palaeozoic. Köppen–Geiger climate classes were calculated based on simulated temperature and precipitation fields using Wong Hearing et al.’s [1] implementation of Peel et al.’s [2] updated classification. This dataset provides a unique window onto changing continental climate throughout the Phanerozoic that accounts for the simultaneous evolution of paleogeography (continental configuration and topography), atmospheric composition and greenhouse gas forcing, and solar luminosity.
Collapse
|
22
|
Cermeño P, García-Comas C, Pohl A, Williams S, Benton MJ, Chaudhary C, Le Gland G, Müller RD, Ridgwell A, Vallina SM. Post-extinction recovery of the Phanerozoic oceans and biodiversity hotspots. Nature 2022; 607:507-511. [PMID: 35831505 PMCID: PMC9300466 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04932-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The fossil record of marine invertebrates has long fuelled the debate as to whether or not there are limits to global diversity in the sea1-5. Ecological theory states that, as diversity grows and ecological niches are filled, the strengthening of biological interactions imposes limits on diversity6,7. However, the extent to which biological interactions have constrained the growth of diversity over evolutionary time remains an open question1-5,8-11. Here we present a regional diversification model that reproduces the main Phanerozoic eon trends in the global diversity of marine invertebrates after imposing mass extinctions. We find that the dynamics of global diversity are best described by a diversification model that operates widely within the exponential growth regime of a logistic function. A spatially resolved analysis of the ratio of diversity to carrying capacity reveals that less than 2% of the global flooded continental area throughout the Phanerozoic exhibits diversity levels approaching ecological saturation. We attribute the overall increase in global diversity during the Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras to the development of diversity hotspots under prolonged conditions of Earth system stability and maximum continental fragmentation. We call this the 'diversity hotspots hypothesis', which we propose as a non-mutually exclusive alternative to the hypothesis that the Mesozoic marine revolution led this macroevolutionary trend12,13.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Cermeño
- Institut de Ciències del Mar, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Carmen García-Comas
- Institut de Ciències del Mar, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Alexandre Pohl
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282, UBFC/CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Simon Williams
- State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
- EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Chhaya Chaudhary
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Guillaume Le Gland
- Institut de Ciències del Mar, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain
| | - R Dietmar Müller
- EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Andy Ridgwell
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Sergio M Vallina
- Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Gijón, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Abstract
Massive carbon (C) release with abrupt warming has occurred repeatedly during greenhouse states, and these events have driven episodes of ocean deoxygenation and extinction. Records from these paleo events, coupled with biogeochemical modeling, provide clear evidence that with continued warming, the modern oceans will experience substantial deoxygenation. There are, however, few constraints from the geologic record on the effects of rapid warming under icehouse conditions. We document a C-cycle perturbation that occurred under an Earth system state experiencing recurrent glaciation. A suite of proxies suggests increased seafloor anoxia during this event in step with abrupt increase in CO2 partial pressure and a biodiversity nadir. Warming-mediated increases in marine anoxia may be more pronounced in a glaciated versus unglaciated climate state. Piecing together the history of carbon (C) perturbation events throughout Earth’s history has provided key insights into how the Earth system responds to abrupt warming. Previous studies, however, focused on short-term warming events that were superimposed on longer-term greenhouse climate states. Here, we present an integrated proxy (C and uranium [U] isotopes and paleo CO2) and multicomponent modeling approach to investigate an abrupt C perturbation and global warming event (∼304 Ma) that occurred during a paleo-glacial state. We report pronounced negative C and U isotopic excursions coincident with a doubling of atmospheric CO2 partial pressure and a biodiversity nadir. The isotopic excursions can be linked to an injection of ∼9,000 Gt of organic matter–derived C over ∼300 kyr and to near 20% of areal extent of seafloor anoxia. Earth system modeling indicates that widespread anoxic conditions can be linked to enhanced thermocline stratification and increased nutrient fluxes during this global warming within an icehouse.
Collapse
|
24
|
Eukaryogenesis and oxygen in Earth history. Nat Ecol Evol 2022; 6:520-532. [PMID: 35449457 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01733-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The endosymbiotic origin of mitochondria during eukaryogenesis has long been viewed as an adaptive response to the oxygenation of Earth's surface environment, presuming a fundamentally aerobic lifestyle for the free-living bacterial ancestors of mitochondria. This oxygen-centric view has been robustly challenged by recent advances in the Earth and life sciences. While the permanent oxygenation of the atmosphere above trace concentrations is now thought to have occurred 2.2 billion years ago, large parts of the deep ocean remained anoxic until less than 0.5 billion years ago. Neither fossils nor molecular clocks correlate the origin of mitochondria, or eukaryogenesis more broadly, to either of these planetary redox transitions. Instead, mitochondria-bearing eukaryotes are consistently dated to between these two oxygenation events, during an interval of pervasive deep-sea anoxia and variable surface-water oxygenation. The discovery and cultivation of the Asgard archaea has reinforced metabolic evidence that eukaryogenesis was initially mediated by syntrophic H2 exchange between an archaeal host and an α-proteobacterial symbiont living under anoxia. Together, these results temporally, spatially and metabolically decouple the earliest stages of eukaryogenesis from the oxygen content of the surface ocean and atmosphere. Rather than reflecting the ancestral metabolic state, obligate aerobiosis in eukaryotes is most probably derived, having only become globally widespread over the past 1 billion years as atmospheric oxygen approached modern levels.
Collapse
|
25
|
Jain S, Fang C, Achal V. A critical review on microbial carbonate precipitation via denitrification process in building materials. Bioengineered 2021; 12:7529-7551. [PMID: 34652267 PMCID: PMC8806777 DOI: 10.1080/21655979.2021.1979862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The naturally occurring biomineralization or microbially induced calcium carbonate (MICP) precipitation is gaining huge attention due to its widespread application in various fields of engineering. Microbial denitrification is one of the feasible metabolic pathways, in which the denitrifying microbes lead to precipitation of carbonate biomineral by their basic enzymatic and metabolic activities. This review article explains all the metabolic pathways and their mechanism involved in the MICP process in detail along with the benefits of using denitrification over other pathways during MICP implementation. The potential application of denitrification in building materials pertaining to soil reinforcement, bioconcrete, restoration of heritage structures and mitigating the soil pollution has been reviewed by addressing the finding and limitation of MICP treatment. This manuscript further sheds light on the challenges faced during upscaling, real field implementation and the need for future research in this path. The review concludes that although MICP via denitrification is an promising technique to employ it in building materials, a vast interdisciplinary research is still needed for the successful commercialization of this technique.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Surabhi Jain
- Environmental Science and Engineering Program, Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou, China
| | - Chaolin Fang
- Environmental Science and Engineering Program, Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou, China
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Varenyam Achal
- Environmental Science and Engineering Program, Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou, China
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Zhao X, Yu Y, Clapham ME, Yan E, Chen J, Jarzembowski EA, Zhao X, Wang B. Early evolution of beetles regulated by the end-Permian deforestation. eLife 2021; 10:72692. [PMID: 34747694 PMCID: PMC8585485 DOI: 10.7554/elife.72692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) led to a severe terrestrial ecosystem collapse. However, the ecological response of insects—the most diverse group of organisms on Earth—to the EPME remains poorly understood. Here, we analyse beetle evolutionary history based on taxonomic diversity, morphological disparity, phylogeny, and ecological shifts from the Early Permian to Middle Triassic, using a comprehensive new dataset. Permian beetles were dominated by xylophagous stem groups with high diversity and disparity, which probably played an underappreciated role in the Permian carbon cycle. Our suite of analyses shows that Permian xylophagous beetles suffered a severe extinction during the EPME largely due to the collapse of forest ecosystems, resulting in an Early Triassic gap of xylophagous beetles. New xylophagous beetles appeared widely in the early Middle Triassic, which is consistent with the restoration of forest ecosystems. Our results highlight the ecological significance of insects in deep-time terrestrial ecosystems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xianye Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yilun Yu
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Matthew E Clapham
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States
| | - Evgeny Yan
- Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Jun Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, China
| | - Edmund A Jarzembowski
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
| | - Xiangdong Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Freeze tolerance influenced forest cover and hydrology during the Pennsylvanian. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2025227118. [PMID: 34635589 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025227118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The distribution of forest cover alters Earth surface mass and energy exchange and is controlled by physiology, which determines plant environmental limits. Ancient plant physiology, therefore, likely affected vegetation-climate feedbacks. We combine climate modeling and ecosystem-process modeling to simulate arboreal vegetation in the late Paleozoic ice age. Using GENESIS V3 global climate model simulations, varying pCO2, pO2, and ice extent for the Pennsylvanian, and fossil-derived leaf C:N, maximum stomatal conductance, and specific conductivity for several major Carboniferous plant groups, we simulated global ecosystem processes at a 2° resolution with Paleo-BGC. Based on leaf water constraints, Pangaea could have supported widespread arboreal plant growth and forest cover. However, these models do not account for the impacts of freezing on plants. According to our interpretation, freezing would have affected plants in 59% of unglaciated land during peak glacial periods and 73% during interglacials, when more high-latitude land was unglaciated. Comparing forest cover, minimum temperatures, and paleo-locations of Pennsylvanian-aged plant fossils from the Paleobiology Database supports restriction of forest extent due to freezing. Many genera were limited to unglaciated land where temperatures remained above -4 °C. Freeze-intolerance of Pennsylvanian arboreal vegetation had the potential to alter surface runoff, silicate weathering, CO2 levels, and climate forcing. As a bounding case, we assume total plant mortality at -4 °C and estimate that contracting forest cover increased net global surface runoff by up to 6.1%. Repeated freezing likely influenced freeze- and drought-tolerance evolution in lineages like the coniferophytes, which became increasingly dominant in the Permian and early Mesozoic.
Collapse
|
28
|
Zhang J, Li C, Zhang Y. Geological evidences and mechanisms for oceanic anoxic events during the Early Paleozoic. CHINESE SCIENCE BULLETIN-CHINESE 2021. [DOI: 10.1360/tb-2021-0535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
|
29
|
Decreasing Phanerozoic extinction intensity as a consequence of Earth surface oxygenation and metazoan ecophysiology. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2101900118. [PMID: 34607946 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101900118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The decline in background extinction rates of marine animals through geologic time is an established but unexplained feature of the Phanerozoic fossil record. There is also growing consensus that the ocean and atmosphere did not become oxygenated to near-modern levels until the mid-Paleozoic, coinciding with the onset of generally lower extinction rates. Physiological theory provides us with a possible causal link between these two observations-predicting that the synergistic impacts of oxygen and temperature on aerobic respiration would have made marine animals more vulnerable to ocean warming events during periods of limited surface oxygenation. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that changes in surface oxygenation exerted a first-order control on extinction rates through the Phanerozoic using a combined Earth system and ecophysiological modeling approach. We find that although continental configuration, the efficiency of the biological carbon pump in the ocean, and initial climate state all impact the magnitude of modeled biodiversity loss across simulated warming events, atmospheric oxygen is the dominant predictor of extinction vulnerability, with metabolic habitat viability and global ecophysiotype extinction exhibiting inflection points around 40% of present atmospheric oxygen. Given this is the broad upper limit for estimates of early Paleozoic oxygen levels, our results are consistent with the relative frequency of high-magnitude extinction events (particularly those not included in the canonical big five mass extinctions) early in the Phanerozoic being a direct consequence of limited early Paleozoic oxygenation and temperature-dependent hypoxia responses.
Collapse
|
30
|
Krissansen-Totton J, Kipp MA, Catling DC. Carbon cycle inverse modeling suggests large changes in fractional organic burial are consistent with the carbon isotope record and may have contributed to the rise of oxygen. GEOBIOLOGY 2021; 19:342-363. [PMID: 33764615 PMCID: PMC8359855 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2020] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Abundant geologic evidence shows that atmospheric oxygen levels were negligible until the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) at 2.4-2.1 Ga. The burial of organic matter is balanced by the release of oxygen, and if the release rate exceeds efficient oxygen sinks, atmospheric oxygen can accumulate until limited by oxidative weathering. The organic burial rate relative to the total carbon burial rate can be inferred from the carbon isotope record in sedimentary carbonates and organic matter, which provides a proxy for the oxygen source flux through time. Because there are no large secular trends in the carbon isotope record over time, it is commonly assumed that the oxygen source flux changed only modestly. Therefore, declines in oxygen sinks have been used to explain the GOE. However, the average isotopic value of carbon fluxes into the atmosphere-ocean system can evolve due to changing proportions of weathering and outgassing inputs. If so, large secular changes in organic burial would be possible despite unchanging carbon isotope values in sedimentary rocks. Here, we present an inverse analysis using a self-consistent carbon cycle model to determine the maximum change in organic burial since ~4 Ga allowed by the carbon isotope record and other geological proxies. We find that fractional organic burial may have increased by 2-5 times since the Archean. This happens because O2 -dependent continental weathering of 13 C-depleted organics changes carbon isotope inputs to the atmosphere-ocean system. This increase in relative organic burial is consistent with an anoxic-to-oxic atmospheric transition around 2.4 Ga without declining oxygen sinks, although these likely contributed. Moreover, our inverse analysis suggests that the Archean absolute organic burial flux was comparable to modern, implying high organic burial efficiency and ruling out very low Archean primary productivity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Krissansen-Totton
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences/Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Virtual Planetary Laboratory, NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Michael A Kipp
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences/Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Virtual Planetary Laboratory, NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, Seattle, WA, USA
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - David C Catling
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences/Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Virtual Planetary Laboratory, NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, Seattle, WA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Sperling EA, Melchin MJ, Fraser T, Stockey RG, Farrell UC, Bhajan L, Brunoir TN, Cole DB, Gill BC, Lenz A, Loydell DK, Malinowski J, Miller AJ, Plaza-Torres S, Bock B, Rooney AD, Tecklenburg SA, Vogel JM, Planavsky NJ, Strauss JV. A long-term record of early to mid-Paleozoic marine redox change. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/28/eabf4382. [PMID: 34233874 PMCID: PMC8262801 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf4382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The extent to which Paleozoic oceans differed from Neoproterozoic oceans and the causal relationship between biological evolution and changing environmental conditions are heavily debated. Here, we report a nearly continuous record of seafloor redox change from the deep-water upper Cambrian to Middle Devonian Road River Group of Yukon, Canada. Bottom waters were largely anoxic in the Richardson trough during the entirety of Road River Group deposition, while independent evidence from iron speciation and Mo/U ratios show that the biogeochemical nature of anoxia changed through time. Both in Yukon and globally, Ordovician through Early Devonian anoxic waters were broadly ferruginous (nonsulfidic), with a transition toward more euxinic (sulfidic) conditions in the mid-Early Devonian (Pragian), coincident with the early diversification of vascular plants and disappearance of graptolites. This ~80-million-year interval of the Paleozoic characterized by widespread ferruginous bottom waters represents a persistence of Neoproterozoic-like marine redox conditions well into the Phanerozoic.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Erik A Sperling
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | - Michael J Melchin
- Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | | | - Richard G Stockey
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Una C Farrell
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Liam Bhajan
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Tessa N Brunoir
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Devon B Cole
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Benjamin C Gill
- Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic University and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Alfred Lenz
- Department of Earth Sciences, Western University Canada, London, ON, Canada
| | - David K Loydell
- School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
| | | | - Austin J Miller
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Beatrice Bock
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Alan D Rooney
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | | | - Jacqueline M Vogel
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Noah J Planavsky
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Justin V Strauss
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Quantitative comparison of geological data and model simulations constrains early Cambrian geography and climate. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3868. [PMID: 34162853 PMCID: PMC8222365 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24141-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Marine ecosystems with a diverse range of animal groups became established during the early Cambrian (~541 to ~509 Ma). However, Earth's environmental parameters and palaeogeography in this interval of major macro-evolutionary change remain poorly constrained. Here, we test contrasting hypotheses of continental configuration and climate that have profound implications for interpreting Cambrian environmental proxies. We integrate general circulation models and geological observations to test three variants of the 'Antarctocentric' paradigm, with a southern polar continent, and an 'equatorial' configuration that lacks polar continents. This quantitative framework can be applied to other deep-time intervals when environmental proxy data are scarce. Our results show that the Antarctocentric palaeogeographic paradigm can reconcile geological data and simulated Cambrian climate. Our analyses indicate a greenhouse climate during the Cambrian animal radiation, with mean annual sea-surface temperatures between ~9 °C to ~19 °C and ~30 °C to ~38 °C for polar and tropical palaeolatitudes, respectively.
Collapse
|
33
|
Wong TE, Cui Y, Royer DL, Keller K. A tighter constraint on Earth-system sensitivity from long-term temperature and carbon-cycle observations. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3173. [PMID: 34039993 PMCID: PMC8154887 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23543-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The long-term temperature response to a given change in CO2 forcing, or Earth-system sensitivity (ESS), is a key parameter quantifying our understanding about the relationship between changes in Earth’s radiative forcing and the resulting long-term Earth-system response. Current ESS estimates are subject to sizable uncertainties. Long-term carbon cycle models can provide a useful avenue to constrain ESS, but previous efforts either use rather informal statistical approaches or focus on discrete paleoevents. Here, we improve on previous ESS estimates by using a Bayesian approach to fuse deep-time CO2 and temperature data over the last 420 Myrs with a long-term carbon cycle model. Our median ESS estimate of 3.4 °C (2.6-4.7 °C; 5-95% range) shows a narrower range than previous assessments. We show that weaker chemical weathering relative to the a priori model configuration via reduced weatherable land area yields better agreement with temperature records during the Cretaceous. Research into improving the understanding about these weathering mechanisms hence provides potentially powerful avenues to further constrain this fundamental Earth-system property. Earth-system sensitivity (ESS) describes the long-term temperature response for a given change in atmospheric CO2 and, as such, is a crucial parameter to assess future climate change. Here, the authors use a Bayesian model with data from the last 420 Myrs to reduce uncertainties and estimate ESS to be around 3.4 °C.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tony E Wong
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA.
| | - Ying Cui
- Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA.
| | - Dana L Royer
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA
| | - Klaus Keller
- Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.,Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Sønderholm F, Bjerrum CJ. Minimum levels of atmospheric oxygen from fossil tree roots imply new plant-oxygen feedback. GEOBIOLOGY 2021; 19:250-260. [PMID: 33608990 PMCID: PMC8248171 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The appearance and subsequent evolution of land plants is among the most important events in the earth system. Plant resulted in a change of earth surface albedo and the hydrological cycle, as well as increased rock weatherability thereby causing a persistent change in atmospheric CO2 and O2 . Land plants are, however, themselves dependent on O2 for respiration and long-term survival, something not considered in current geochemical models. In this perspective, we highlight two aspects of land plants' dependency on O2 relevant for the geobiological community: (a) fossil root systems can be used as a proxy for minimum levels of past atmospheric O2 consistent with a given fossil root depth; and (b) by identifying a positive feedback mechanism involving atmospheric O2 , root intensity, terrestrial primary production and organic carbon burial. As an example, we consider archaeopterid fossil root systems, resembling those of modern mature conifers. Our soil-plant model suggest that atmospheric O2 with 1 SD probably reached pressures of 18.2 ± 1.9 kPa and 16.8 ± 2.1 kPa by the Middle and Late Devonian, respectively, that is 86 ± 9% and 79 ± 10% of the present-day 21.2 kPa.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fredrik Sønderholm
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource ManagementUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagen KDenmark
| | - Christian J. Bjerrum
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource ManagementUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagen KDenmark
- Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource ManagementUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagen KDenmark
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Li C, Shi W, Cheng M, Jin C, Algeo TJ. The redox structure of Ediacaran and early Cambrian oceans and its controls. Sci Bull (Beijing) 2020; 65:2141-2149. [PMID: 36732967 DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2020.09.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The rapid diversification of early animals during the Ediacaran (635-541 Ma) and early Cambrian (ca. 541-509 Ma) has frequently been attributed to increasing oceanic oxygenation. However, the pattern of oceanic oxygenation and its relationship to early animal evolution remain in debate. In this review, we examine the redox structure of Ediacaran and early Cambrian oceans and its controls, offering new insights into contemporaneous oceanic oxygenation patterns and their role in the coevolution of environments and early animals. We review the development of marine redox models which, in combination with independent distal deep-ocean redox proxies, supports a highly redox-stratified shelf and an anoxia-dominated deep ocean during the Ediacaran and early Cambrian. Geochemical and modeling evidence indicates that the marine redox structure was likely controlled by low atmospheric O2 levels and low seawater vertical mixing rates on shelves at that time. Furthermore, theoretical analysis and increasing geochemical evidence, particularly from South China, show that limited sulfate availability was a primary control on the attenuation of mid-depth euxinia offshore, in contrast to the existing paradigm invoking decreased organic carbon fluxes distally. In light of our review, we infer that if oceanic oxygenation indeed triggered the rise of early animals, it must have done so through a shelf oxygenation which was probably driven by elevated oxidant availability. Our review calls for further studies on Ediacaran-Cambrian marine redox structure and its controls, particularly from regions outside of South China, in order to better understand the coevolutionary relationship between oceanic redox and early animals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
| | - Wei Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Meng Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Chengsheng Jin
- Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
| | - Thomas J Algeo
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; State Key Laboratory of Geological Process and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH45221, USA
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Hammarlund EU, Flashman E, Mohlin S, Licausi F. Oxygen-sensing mechanisms across eukaryotic kingdoms and their roles in complex multicellularity. Science 2020; 370:370/6515/eaba3512. [PMID: 33093080 DOI: 10.1126/science.aba3512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Oxygen-sensing mechanisms of eukaryotic multicellular organisms coordinate hypoxic cellular responses in a spatiotemporal manner. Although this capacity partly allows animals and plants to acutely adapt to oxygen deprivation, its functional and historical roots in hypoxia emphasize a broader evolutionary role. For multicellular life-forms that persist in settings with variable oxygen concentrations, the capacity to perceive and modulate responses in and between cells is pivotal. Animals and higher plants represent the most complex life-forms that ever diversified on Earth, and their oxygen-sensing mechanisms demonstrate convergent evolution from a functional perspective. Exploring oxygen-sensing mechanisms across eukaryotic kingdoms can inform us on biological innovations to harness ever-changing oxygen availability at the dawn of complex life and its utilization for their organismal development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Emma U Hammarlund
- Translational Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Scheelevägen 8, 223 81 Lund, Sweden. .,Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark.,Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
| | - Emily Flashman
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK
| | - Sofie Mohlin
- Translational Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Scheelevägen 8, 223 81 Lund, Sweden.,Division of Pediatrics, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
| | - Francesco Licausi
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK. .,PlantLab, Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore, Sant'Anna, 56124 Pisa, Italy.,Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
The rise and fall of globins in the amphibia. COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY D-GENOMICS & PROTEOMICS 2020; 37:100759. [PMID: 33202310 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbd.2020.100759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2020] [Revised: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
The globin gene repertoire of gnathostome vertebrates is dictated by differential retention and loss of nine paralogous genes: androglobin, neuroglobin, globin X, cytoglobin, globin Y, myoglobin, globin E, and the α- and β-globins. We report the globin gene repertoire of three orders of modern amphibians: Anura, Caudata, and Gymnophiona. Combining phylogenetic and conserved synteny analysis, we show that myoglobin and globin E were lost only in the Batrachia clade, but retained in Gymnophiona. The major amphibian groups also retained different paralogous copies of globin X. None of the amphibian presented αD-globin gene. Nevertheless, two clades of β-globins are present in all amphibians, indicating that the amphibian ancestor possessed two paralogous proto β-globins. We also show that orthologs of the gene coding for the monomeric hemoglobin found in the heart of Rana catesbeiana are present in Neobatrachia and Pelobatoidea species we analyzed. We suggest that these genes might perform myoglobin- and globin E-related functions. We conclude that the repertoire of globin genes in amphibians is dictated by both retention and loss of the paralogous genes cited above and the rise of a new globin gene through co-option of an α-globin, possibly facilitated by a prior event of transposition.
Collapse
|
38
|
Fuchsman CA, Stüeken EE. Using modern low-oxygen marine ecosystems to understand the nitrogen cycle of the Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic oceans. Environ Microbiol 2020; 23:2801-2822. [PMID: 32869502 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Revised: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
During the productive Paleoproterozoic (2.4-1.8 Ga) and less productive Mesoproterozoic (1.8-1.0 Ga), the ocean was suboxic to anoxic and multicellular organisms had not yet evolved. Here, we link geologic information about the Proterozoic ocean to microbial processes in modern low-oxygen systems. High iron concentrations and rates of Fe cycling in the Proterozoic are the largest differences from modern oxygen-deficient zones. In anoxic waters, which composed most of the Paleoproterozoic and ~40% of the Mesoproterozoic ocean, nitrogen cycling dominated. Rates of N2 production by denitrification and anammox were likely linked to sinking organic matter fluxes and in situ primary productivity under anoxic conditions. Additionally autotrophic denitrifiers could have used reduced iron or methane. 50% of the Mesoproterozoic ocean may have been suboxic, promoting nitrification and metal oxidation in the suboxic water and N2 O and N2 production by partial and complete denitrification in anoxic zones in organic aggregates. Sulfidic conditions may have composed ~10% of the Mesoproterozoic ocean focused along continental margins. Due to low nitrate concentrations in offshore regions, anammox bacteria likely dominated N2 production immediately above sulfidic zones, but in coastal regions, higher nitrate concentrations probably promoted complete S-oxidizing autotrophic denitrification at the sulfide interface.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Clara A Fuchsman
- Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD, 21613, USA
| | - Eva E Stüeken
- School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9AL, Scotland, UK
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Genomic and fossil windows into the secret lives of the most ancient fungi. Nat Rev Microbiol 2020; 18:717-730. [PMID: 32908302 DOI: 10.1038/s41579-020-0426-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Fungi have crucial roles in modern ecosystems as decomposers and pathogens, and they engage in various mutualistic associations with other organisms, especially plants. They have a lengthy geological history, and there is an emerging understanding of their impact on the evolution of Earth systems on a large scale. In this Review, we focus on the roles of fungi in the establishment and early evolution of land and freshwater ecosystems. Today, questions of evolution over deep time are informed by discoveries of new fossils and evolutionary analysis of new genomes. Inferences can be drawn from evolutionary analysis by comparing the genes and genomes of fungi with the biochemistry and development of their plant and algal hosts. We then contrast this emerging picture against evidence from the fossil record to develop a new, integrated perspective on the origin and early evolution of fungi.
Collapse
|
40
|
Buatois LA, Mángano MG, Minter NJ, Zhou K, Wisshak M, Wilson MA, Olea RA. Quantifying ecospace utilization and ecosystem engineering during the early Phanerozoic-The role of bioturbation and bioerosion. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eabb0618. [PMID: 32851171 PMCID: PMC7428343 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb0618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/02/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The Cambrian explosion (CE) and the great Ordovician biodiversification event (GOBE) are the two most important radiations in Paleozoic oceans. We quantify the role of bioturbation and bioerosion in ecospace utilization and ecosystem engineering using information from 1367 stratigraphic units. An increase in all diversity metrics is demonstrated for the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, followed by a decrease in most values during the middle to late Cambrian, and by a more modest increase during the Ordovician. A marked increase in ichnodiversity and ichnodisparity of bioturbation is shown during the CE and of bioerosion during the GOBE. Innovations took place first in offshore settings and later expanded into marginal-marine, nearshore, deep-water, and carbonate environments. This study highlights the importance of the CE, despite its Ediacaran roots. Differences in infaunalization in offshore and shelf paleoenvironments favor the hypothesis of early Cambrian wedge-shaped oxygen minimum zones instead of a horizontally stratified ocean.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luis A. Buatois
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada
- Corresponding author.
| | - M. Gabriela Mángano
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - Nicholas J. Minter
- School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO1 3QL, UK
| | - Kai Zhou
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - Max Wisshak
- Marine Research Department, Senckenberg am Meer, Südstrand 40, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
| | - Mark A. Wilson
- Department of Earth Sciences, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691, USA
| | - Ricardo A. Olea
- Eastern Energy Resources, United States Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, VA 20192, USA
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Hammarlund EU. Harnessing hypoxia as an evolutionary driver of complex multicellularity. Interface Focus 2020; 10:20190101. [PMID: 32642048 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2019.0101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal tissue requires low-oxygen conditions for its maintenance. The need for low-oxygen conditions contrasts with the idea of an evolutionary leap in animal diversity as a result of expanding oxic conditions. To accommodate tissue renewal at oxic conditions, however, vertebrate animals and vascular plants demonstrate abilities to access hypoxia. Here, I argue that multicellular organisms sustain oxic conditions first after internalizing hypoxic conditions. The 'harnessing' of hypoxia has allowed multicellular evolution to leave niches that were stable in terms of oxygen concentrations for those where oxygen fluctuates. Since oxygen fluctuates in most settings on Earth's surface, the ancestral niche would have been a deep marine setting. The hypothesis that 'large life' depends on harnessing hypoxia is illustrated in the context of conditions that promote the immature cell phenotype (stemness) in animal physiology and tumour biology and offers one explanation for the general rarity of diverse multicellularity over most of Earth's history.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Emma U Hammarlund
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Translational Cancer Research, Lund University, Scheelevägen 2, Medicon Village Building 404, 223 81 Lund, Sweden.,Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Large mass-independent sulphur isotope anomalies link stratospheric volcanism to the Late Ordovician mass extinction. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2297. [PMID: 32385286 PMCID: PMC7210970 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16228-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2019] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Volcanic eruptions are thought to be a key driver of rapid climate perturbations over geological time, such as global cooling, global warming, and changes in ocean chemistry. However, identification of stratospheric volcanic eruptions in the geological record and their causal link to the mass extinction events during the past 540 million years remains challenging. Here we report unexpected, large mass-independent sulphur isotopic compositions of pyrite with Δ33S of up to 0.91‰ in Late Ordovician sedimentary rocks from South China. The magnitude of the Δ33S is similar to that discovered in ice core sulphate originating from stratospheric volcanism. The coincidence between the large Δ33S and the first pulse of the Late Ordovician mass extinction about 445 million years ago suggests that stratospheric volcanic eruptions may have contributed to synergetic environmental deteriorations such as prolonged climatic perturbations and oceanic anoxia, related to the mass extinction. Identification of stratospheric volcanic eruptions in the geological record and their link to mass extinction events during the past 540 million years remains challenging. Here, the authors report unexpected, large mass-independent sulphur isotopic compositions of pyrite in Late Ordovician sedimentary rocks, which they suggest originates from stratospheric volcanism linked to the first pulse of the Late Ordovician mass extinction.
Collapse
|
43
|
When is Chemical Disequilibrium in Earth-like Planetary Atmospheres a Biosignature versus an Anti-biosignature? Disequilibria from Dead to Living Worlds. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020. [DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab7b81] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
|
44
|
Alcott LJ, Mills BJW, Poulton SW. Stepwise Earth oxygenation is an inherent property of global biogeochemical cycling. Science 2019; 366:1333-1337. [PMID: 31826958 DOI: 10.1126/science.aax6459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 10/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere and oceans occurred across three major steps during the Paleoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Paleozoic eras, with each increase having profound consequences for the biosphere. Biological or tectonic revolutions have been proposed to explain each of these stepwise increases in oxygen, but the principal driver of each event remains unclear. Here we show, using a theoretical model, that the observed oxygenation steps are a simple consequence of internal feedbacks in the long-term biogeochemical cycles of carbon, oxygen, and phosphorus, and that there is no requirement for a specific stepwise external forcing to explain the course of Earth surface oxygenation. We conclude that Earth's oxygenation events are entirely consistent with gradual oxygenation of the planetary surface after the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lewis J Alcott
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
| | | | - Simon W Poulton
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Zimorski V, Mentel M, Tielens AGM, Martin WF. Energy metabolism in anaerobic eukaryotes and Earth's late oxygenation. Free Radic Biol Med 2019; 140:279-294. [PMID: 30935869 PMCID: PMC6856725 DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2019.03.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Revised: 03/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Eukaryotes arose about 1.6 billion years ago, at a time when oxygen levels were still very low on Earth, both in the atmosphere and in the ocean. According to newer geochemical data, oxygen rose to approximately its present atmospheric levels very late in evolution, perhaps as late as the origin of land plants (only about 450 million years ago). It is therefore natural that many lineages of eukaryotes harbor, and use, enzymes for oxygen-independent energy metabolism. This paper provides a concise overview of anaerobic energy metabolism in eukaryotes with a focus on anaerobic energy metabolism in mitochondria. We also address the widespread assumption that oxygen improves the overall energetic state of a cell. While it is true that ATP yield from glucose or amino acids is increased in the presence of oxygen, it is also true that the synthesis of biomass costs thirteen times more energy per cell in the presence of oxygen than in anoxic conditions. This is because in the reaction of cellular biomass with O2, the equilibrium lies very far on the side of CO2. The absence of oxygen offers energetic benefits of the same magnitude as the presence of oxygen. Anaerobic and low oxygen environments are ancient. During evolution, some eukaryotes have specialized to life in permanently oxic environments (life on land), other eukaryotes have remained specialized to low oxygen habitats. We suggest that the Km of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase of 0.1-10 μM for O2, which corresponds to about 0.04%-4% (avg. 0.4%) of present atmospheric O2 levels, reflects environmental O2 concentrations that existed at the time that the eukaryotes arose.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Verena Zimorski
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Marek Mentel
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, 851 04, Bratislava, Slovakia.
| | - Aloysius G M Tielens
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - William F Martin
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
Copper and its Isotopes in Organic-Rich Sediments: From the Modern Peru Margin to Archean Shales. GEOSCIENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences9080325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The cycling of copper (Cu) and its isotopes in the modern ocean is controlled by the interplay of biology, redox settings, and organic complexation. To help build a robust understanding of Cu cycling in the modern ocean and investigate the potential processes controlling its behavior in the geological past, this study presents Cu abundance and isotope data from modern Peru Margin sediments as well as from a suite of ancient, mostly organic-rich, shales. Analyses of an organic-pyrite fraction extracted from bulk modern sediments suggest that sulphidation is the main control on authigenic Cu enrichments in this setting. This organic-pyrite fraction contains, in most cases, >50% of the bulk Cu reservoir. This is in contrast to ancient samples, for which a hydrogen fluoride (HF)-dissolvable fraction dominates the total Cu reservoir. With <20% of Cu found in the organic-pyrite fraction of most ancient sediments, interpretation of the associated Cu isotope composition is challenging, as primary signatures may be masked by secondary processes. But the Cu isotope composition of the organic-pyrite fraction in ancient sediments hints at the potential importance of a significant Cu(I) reservoir in ancient seawater, perhaps suggesting that the ancient ocean was characterized by different redox conditions and a different Cu isotope composition to that of the modern ocean.
Collapse
|
47
|
Li WP, Zhao YY, Zhao MY, Zha XP, Zheng YF. Enhanced weathering as a trigger for the rise of atmospheric O 2 level from the late Ediacaran to the early Cambrian. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10630. [PMID: 31337817 PMCID: PMC6650434 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47142-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2019] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
A shift toward a higher oxygen level in both ocean and atmosphere systems during the late Ediacaran to the early Cambrian has been suggested from multiple indirect proxies. However, the mechanism and magnitude of this oxidation remain unclear. To solve this issue, we measured carbon isotopes in both carbonate and organic matter as well as their trace element compositions for an Ediacaran-Cambrian sequence in the Lower Yangtze basin, South China. The δ13Corg and δ13Ccarb excursions of this sequence are coupled and can be compared with contemporaneous global carbon isotope curves. A 2‰ rise in Δ13Ccarb-org occurred from the late Ediacaran to the early Cambrian, suggesting a substantial increase in atmospheric oxygen level from 16% to 30% of the present atmospheric level (PAL). Furthermore, the distribution pattern of rare earth elements and the concentrations of water-insoluble elements in the carbonates indicate a sudden enhancement in chemical weathering of the continental crust during the early Cambrian, which may be a trigger for the rise of atmospheric O2 level. Both the supply of a large amount of nutrients due to the enhanced continental weathering and the contemporary increase of atmospheric oxygen concentrations may have promoted the appearance of large metazoans in the early Cambrian.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Ping Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Yan-Yan Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences and Prospecting Techniques, Ministry of Education, Institute for Advanced Ocean Study, College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China.
- Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resources, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China.
| | - Ming-Yu Zhao
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA
| | - Xiang-Ping Zha
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Yong-Fei Zheng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
He T, Zhu M, Mills BJ, Wynn PM, Zhuravlev AY, Tostevin R, Pogge von Strandmann PAE, Yang A, Poulton SW, Shields GA. Possible links between extreme oxygen perturbations and the Cambrian radiation of animals. NATURE GEOSCIENCE 2019; 12:468-474. [PMID: 31178922 PMCID: PMC6548555 DOI: 10.1038/s41561-019-0357-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2018] [Accepted: 03/27/2019] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
The role of oxygen as a driver for early animal evolution is widely debated. During the Cambrian explosion, episodic radiations of major animal phyla occurred coincident with repeated carbon isotope fluctuations. However, the driver of these isotope fluctuations and potential links to environmental oxygenation are unclear. Here, we report high-resolution carbon and sulphur isotope data for marine carbonates from the southeastern Siberian Platform that document the canonical explosive phase of the Cambrian radiation from ~524 to ~514 Myr ago. These analyses demonstrate a strong positive covariation between carbonate δ13C and carbonate-associated sulphate δ34S through five isotope cycles. Biogeochemical modelling suggests that this isotopic coupling reflects periodic oscillations in atmospheric O2 and the extent of shallow ocean oxygenation. Episodic maxima in the biodiversity of animal phyla directly coincided with these extreme oxygen perturbations. Conversely, the subsequent Botoman-Toyonian animal extinction events (~514 to ~512 Myr ago) coincided with decoupled isotope records that suggest a shrinking marine sulphate reservoir and expanded shallow marine anoxia. We suggest that fluctuations in oxygen availability in the shallow marine realm exerted a primary control on the timing and tempo of biodiversity radiations at a crucial phase in the early history of animal life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tianchen He
- London Geochemistry and Isotope Centre (LOGIC), Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University College London and Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Maoyan Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy & Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China
- College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | | | - Peter M. Wynn
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Andrey Yu. Zhuravlev
- Department of Biological Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory 1(12), Moscow 119234, Russia
| | - Rosalie Tostevin
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK
| | - Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann
- London Geochemistry and Isotope Centre (LOGIC), Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University College London and Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Aihua Yang
- State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Simon W. Poulton
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Graham A. Shields
- London Geochemistry and Isotope Centre (LOGIC), Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University College London and Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Boag TH, Stockey RG, Elder LE, Hull PM, Sperling EA. Oxygen, temperature and the deep-marine stenothermal cradle of Ediacaran evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 285:20181724. [PMID: 30963899 PMCID: PMC6304043 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2018] [Accepted: 11/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Ediacaran fossils document the early evolution of complex megascopic life, contemporaneous with geochemical evidence for widespread marine anoxia. These data suggest early animals experienced frequent hypoxia. Research has thus focused on the concentration of molecular oxygen (O2) required by early animals, while also considering the impacts of climate. One model, the Cold Cradle hypothesis, proposed the Ediacaran biota originated in cold, shallow-water environments owing to increased O2 solubility. First, we demonstrate using principles of gas exchange that temperature does have a critical role in governing the bioavailability of O2-but in cooler water the supply of O2 is actually lower. Second, the fossil record suggests the Ediacara biota initially occur approximately 571 Ma in deep-water facies, before appearing in shelf environments approximately 555 Ma. We propose an ecophysiological underpinning for this pattern. By combining oceanographic data with new respirometry experiments we show that in the shallow mixed layer where seasonal temperatures fluctuate widely, thermal and partial pressure ( pO2) effects are highly synergistic. The result is that temperature change away from species-specific optima impairs tolerance to low pO2. We hypothesize that deep and particularly stenothermal (narrow temperature range) environments in the Ediacaran ocean were a physiological refuge from the synergistic effects of temperature and low pO2.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas H. Boag
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Richard G. Stockey
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Leanne E. Elder
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Pincelli M. Hull
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Erik A. Sperling
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| |
Collapse
|