Evolution (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, January 04, 2011, 00:49 (4868 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Evolution occurred, but how is now becoming a major question.
> 
> An article in The Guardian while I was away reported amazing fossil finds in south-west China dating from after the mass extinction 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian period, when about 96% of marine species and 70% of land vertebrates were wiped out. (I wonder how they get such figures). The following statements leap off the page:
> 
> "The loss of so many species at the end of the Permian gave new creatures the chance to thrive."
> 
> "Part of it is a rebuilding of the ecosystem from the grim survivors, but there are also opportunities for new groups. There were no marine reptiles before the extinction but this gave them a way in."
> 
> My question is: where the heck did these new creatures spring from?-Novel forms that became the 37 animal phyla appeared in the Cambrian Explosion appeared by that same mechansim, whatever it is.