Cambrian Explosion: role of oxygen (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, February 18, 2014, 15:53 (3720 days ago) @ David Turell

Because oxygen content rose to near present levels in pre-Cambrian times it is proposed to be one of the major triggers of the explosion. Not so fast says this new paper. Many animals can survive on very low oxygen:-"However new studies of a common sea sponge from Kerteminde Fjord in Denmark shows that this explanation needs to be reconsidered. The sponge studies show that animals can live and grow even with very limited oxygen supplies.
 
"In fact animals can live and grow when the atmosphere contains only 0.5 per cent of the oxygen levels in today's atmosphere.
 
"Our studies suggest that the origin of animals was not prevented by low oxygen levels", says Daniel Mills, PhD at the Nordic Center for Earth Evolution at the University of Southern Denmark."-
 Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-02-theory-animals-earliest-animal-life.html#jCp-But of course, these low use of oxygen animals could have started with a high use metabolism and then lowered it.