The DOI matches its Crossref record; 179 of the 181 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The energy expansions of evolution
Abstract
The history of the life-Earth system can be divided into five 'energetic' epochs, each featuring the evolution of life forms that can exploit a new source of energy. These sources are: geochemical energy, sunlight, oxygen, flesh and fire. The first two were present at the start, but oxygen, flesh and fire are all consequences of evolutionary events. Since no category of energy source has disappeared, this has, over time, resulted in an expanding realm of the sources of energy available to living organisms and a concomitant increase in the diversity and complexity of ecosystems. These energy expansions have also mediated the transformation of key aspects of the planetary environment, which have in turn mediated the future course of evolutionary change. Using energy as a lens thus illuminates patterns in the entwined histories of life and Earth, and may also provide a framework for considering the potential trajectories of life-planet systems elsewhere.
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“Fire has been a dominant ecological and evolutionary force on Earth since plants colonized the land about 400 Mya (Judson, 2017;Pausas & Keeley, 2009).”
From Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers (2020) · cites this paper as Judson, 2017
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Metadata
- Authors
- Judson, O. P.
- Affiliations
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Judson, Olivia P.
- ORCID
- Judson, Olivia P.
- Venue
- Nature Ecology & Evolution
- Published
- 2017-04-28
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 138-138
- ISSN
- 2397-334X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2609420106
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 181
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 11
- FWCI
- 8.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Ecology & Evolution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Keywords
- energy sources, evolution of life, photosynthesis, oxygenation, aerobic metabolism, fire, flesh, energy expansion, history of life, Earth system evolution, ecological complexity, exoplanet evolution
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