The DOI matches its Crossref record; 54 of the 54 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 3 of the 31 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals
Open accessAbstract
A rise in the oxygen content of the atmosphere and oceans is one of the most popular explanations for the relatively late and abrupt appearance of animal life on Earth. In this scenario, Earth's surface environment failed to meet the high oxygen requirements of animals up until the middle to late Neoproterozoic Era (850-542 million years ago), when oxygen concentrations sufficiently rose to permit the existence of animal life for the first time. Although multiple lines of geochemical evidence support an oxygenation of the Ediacaran oceans (635-542 million years ago), roughly corresponding with the first appearance of metazoans in the fossil record, the oxygen requirements of basal animals remain unclear. Here we show that modern demosponges, serving as analogs for early animals, can survive under low-oxygen conditions of 0.5-4.0% present atmospheric levels. Because the last common ancestor of metazoans likely exhibited a physiology and morphology similar to that of a modern sponge, its oxygen demands may have been met well before the enhanced oxygenation of the Ediacaran Period. Therefore, the origin of animals may not have been triggered by a contemporaneous rise in the oxygen content of the atmosphere and oceans. Instead, other ecological and developmental processes are needed to adequately explain the origin and earliest evolution of animal life on Earth.
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Claims the paper makes
3 of 31 cited sources checked · 1 supported · 0 flagged · accuracy not yet measured
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Internal anoxia, however, does appear to be a common feature of sponge physiology (34,35).”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [34] 34. Hoffmann F, et al. (2005) An anaerobic world in sponges. Geomicrobiol J 22(1-2):1-10. source
- Partly supportedcites [35] 35. Hoffmann F, et al. (2008) Oxygen dynamics and transport in the Mediterranean sponge Aplysina aerophoba. Mar Biol 153(6):1257-1264. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Abstract and the Discussion section on oxygen dynamics report internal anoxia in non-pumping A. aerophoba, with tissue becoming anoxic within 15 minutes after pumping stops. They do not establish that internal anoxia is common across sponges; the Discussion also notes that prolonged non-pumping was not observed in an in situ study of A. aerophoba unless the sponge was disturbed. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesA result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Overall, the patterns of oxygen uptake observed during the initial drawdown to anoxia followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with a V max of 2.42% air saturation/h•g dry weight , or 7.93 μM O 2 /h•g dry weight , and a K m of 4.86% of air saturation, or 15.9 μM O 2 , at the water salinity and temperature of our experiments (Fig. 3).”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesA conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Here we show that modern demosponges, serving as analogs for early animals, can survive under low-oxygen conditions of 0.5-4.0%present atmospheric levels.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIn the paper
“Sponges were also observed on the Volcano 7 seamount in the eastern tropical Pacific, where oxygen concentrations ranged from 4.5 to 7.2 μM O 2 (31) .”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Significance
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [31] 31. Levin LA, Huggett CL, Wishner KF (1991) Control of deep-sea benthic community structure by oxygen and organic matter gradients in the eastern Pacific Ocean. J Mar Res 49(4):763-800. source
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesA conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Therefore, the origin of animals may not have been triggered by a contemporaneous rise in the oxygen content of the atmosphere and oceans.”
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesA conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Because the last common ancestor of metazoans likely exhibited a physiology and morphology similar to that of a modern sponge, its oxygen demands may have been met well before the enhanced oxygenation of the Ediacaran Period.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesA conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It would appear, then, that LMA sponges, such as H. panicea, may be better adapted to lowoxygen conditions than HMA sponges.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIn the paper
“Numerous phylogenetic analyses conclude that sponges are the earliest diverging extant metazoan group (11,12,(20)(21)(22).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites (11,12,(20)(21)(22)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, although these theoretical efforts provide some guidance, they are based on highly simplified, idealized organisms that do not reflect the complexity of living animals.”
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIn the paper
“Choanoflagellates, in turn, are the closest living relatives of animals (24)(25)(26)(27)(28).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites (24)(25)(26)(27)(28)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passes- Not matched
- It may state two separate claims as one. 15
- Probably not a substantial claim. 3
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Indeed, oxygen levels this high may have been reached as early as the Great Oxidation Event some 2.3-2.4 billion years ago (43,45) and may have persisted at these levels through much of the intervening time (43,44), with some likely swings to lower levels, however, around 1.8 billion years ago (46).”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Sponge Evolution and Environmental Oxygen Levels.
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [43] 43. Kump LR (2008) The rise of atmospheric oxygen. Nature 451(7176):277-278. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [45] 45. Bekker A, Holland HD (2012) Oxygen overshoot and recovery during the early Pale- oproterozoic. Earth Planet Sci Lett 317-318:295-304. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [44] 44. Canfield DE (2014) Proterozoic Atmospheric Oxygen. Treatise on Geochemistry, eds Holland HD, Turekian KK (Elsevier, Oxford), 2nd Ed., pp 197-216. source
- Partly supportedcites [46] 46. Canfield DE, et al. (2013) Oxygen dynamics in the aftermath of the Great Oxidation of Earth's atmosphere. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110(42):16736-16741. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Significance section (page unavailable) places a rise in oxygen at the Great Oxidation Event about 2.3 billion years ago, followed by elevated levels for roughly 200 million years and then a collapse. The Results and Discussion section (page unavailable) describes later low-oxygen episodes, but the paper does not establish the cited 0.5–4% PAL range or its persistence through much of the intervening time. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“Indeed, according to present evidence, the earliest proposed signs of animals in the rock record (9,10), as well as molecular clock divergence estimates (11,12), predate the earliest evidence for deep ocean oxygenation (1), potentially by tens of millions of years.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [9] 9. Love GD, et al. (2009) Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period. Nature 457(7230):718-721. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [10] 10. Maloof AC, et al. (2010) Possible animal-body fossils in pre-Marinoan limestones from South Australia. Nat Geosci 3(9):653-659. source
- Supportedcites [11] 11. Peterson KJ, Butterfield NJ (2005) Origin of the Eumetazoa: Testing ecological pre- dictions of molecular clocks against the Proterozoic fossil record. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102(27):9547-9552. source
The Results (page unavailable) give molecular-clock estimates for early animal divergences: the minimum-evolution analysis dates the origin of Metazoa to 664 Ma and brackets eumetazoan evolution between 634 and 604 Ma. This paper supports the molecular-clock dates attributed to citations (11,12); the separate citation (1), not this paper, is offered for the timing of deep-ocean oxygenation. (LLM, conf=0.86)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [12] 12. Erwin DH, et al. (2011) The Cambrian conundrum: Early divergence and later eco- logical success in the early history of animals. Science 334(6059):1091-1097. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [1] 1. Sahoo SK, et al. (2012) Ocean oxygenation in the wake of the Marinoan glaciation. Nature 489(7417):546-549. source
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We show that although sensitive to oxygen, H. panicea can both tolerate and grow at low oxygen levels from 0.5% to 4% PAL.”
- Also stated in: § Results and Discussion · plain
“Overall, the sponges were able to both respire and feed to oxygen levels cycling between 0.5% and 4% PAL.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Significance
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Also stated in: § Results and Discussion · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“functional gene and 16S rRNA analyses reveal a significant population of ammonium-oxidizing Archaea and betaproteobacteria, as well as other aerobic organisms (Fig. S6 and Table S1).”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Therefore, the majority of the oxygen uptake and Rhodomonas consumption observed during the experiments can be attributed to the sponges, with the background rates likely attributed to free-living microbes in our experimental system.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our results suggest that H. panicea is sensitive to both anoxia and prolonged exposure to relatively stagnant seawater.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“This K m is less than half of the 10% PAL serving as the estimated minimum level of atmospheric oxygen thought to have permitted the oxygenation of the deep oceans around 580 Ma (2), as well as the level estimated to permit the existence of millimeter-width, diffusionlimited animals (15).”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [2] 2. Canfield DE, Poulton SW, Narbonne GM (2007) Late-Neoproterozoic deep-ocean oxygenation and the rise of animal life. Science 315(5808):92-95. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [15] 15. Catling DC, Glein CR, Zahnle KJ, McKay CP (2005) Why O2 is required by complex life on habitable planets and the concept of planetary "oxygenation time" Astrobiology 5(3):415-438. source
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Although levels of atmospheric oxygen may have reached 10% PAL by 580 Ma, the geochemical record does not preclude oxygen levels of 0.5-4% PAL during the Cryogenian Period (43,44).”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Sponge Evolution and Environmental Oxygen Levels.
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [43] 43. Kump LR (2008) The rise of atmospheric oxygen. Nature 451(7176):277-278. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [44] 44. Canfield DE (2014) Proterozoic Atmospheric Oxygen. Treatise on Geochemistry, eds Holland HD, Turekian KK (Elsevier, Oxford), 2nd Ed., pp 197-216. source
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Such evidence can reasonably be obtained by studying modern animals that resemble the earliest metazoans.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Given the complete absence of necrosis in the sponges maintained at both low and high oxygen levels during this run, the necrosis observed during experiment 1 was likely due to the infrequent exchange of fresh seawater and not necessarily the low oxygen levels.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This suggests that although 3-4% PAL oxygen may not compromise H. panicea's growth or maintenance of healthy tissue, anoxia still does.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“This suggests that the similarities between choanocytes and choanoflagellates were inherited from a common ancestor and that the choanocytebased feeding mode, as retained by sponges, is likely ancestral to all animals (29).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [29] 29. Nichols SA, Dayel MJ, King N (2009) Genomic, phylogenetic, and cell biological in- sights into metazoan origins. Animal Evolution: Genes, Genomes, Fossils and Trees, eds Telford MJ, Littlewood DTJ (Oxford University Press, Oxford), pp 24-32. source
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Furthermore, to establish that low levels of atmospheric oxygen, in fact, delayed the origin of animal life on Earth, it is necessary to know the minimum oxygen requirements of early animals.”
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Therefore, to more conclusively determine the minimum oxygen requirements of metazoans, direct experimental evidence is required.”
Load-bearingStrength:boosted· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✗ Checkable: fails✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“LMA sponges are known to have shorter and wider water canals (38), as well as larger choanoflagellate chambers (39), than high-microbial abundance (HMA) sponges.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Results and Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [38] 38. Vacelet J, Donadey C (1977) Electron-microscope study of association between some sponges and bacteria. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 30(3):301-314. source
- Not matchedcites [39] 39. Boury-Esnault N, de Vos L, Donadey C, Vacelet J (1990) Ultrastructure of Choanosome and Sponge Classification (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC), pp 237-244.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Under this scenario, the origin of animal life was not a response to atmospheric oxygenation but part of the ecological reworking of marine biogeochemical cycles.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Sponge Evolution and Environmental Oxygen Levels.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Recent molecular clock estimates place the last common ancestor of all sponges at nearly 800 Ma (12), whereas putative sponge-like body fossils are found in rocks dated between 660 and 635 Ma (10) in the Cryogenian Period (850-635 Ma).”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Sponge Evolution and Environmental Oxygen Levels.
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [12] 12. Erwin DH, et al. (2011) The Cambrian conundrum: Early divergence and later eco- logical success in the early history of animals. Science 334(6059):1091-1097. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [10] 10. Maloof AC, et al. (2010) Possible animal-body fossils in pre-Marinoan limestones from South Australia. Nat Geosci 3(9):653-659. source
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We provide experimental evidence suggesting that the last common ancestor of animals could have thrived in oxygen levels as low as 0.5% to 4% of present atmospheric levels, which were likely met on Earth well before animals evolved.”
§ Oxygen requirements of the earliest animals > Significance
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
The paper relies on this without support.
The minimum oxygen requirements of modern sponges and their metabolic response to low oxygen had not been investigated prior to this study.
“Despite these observations, however, the minimum oxygen requirements of modern sponges and their metabolic response to low oxygen have not, to our knowledge, been investigated.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Indeed, under most conditions, the estimated tolerance range for basal metazoan organisms (12) is only safely exceeded throughout the year at p O2 on the order of ∼ 5 -10% PAL.”
From Earth's oxygen cycle and the evolution of animal life (2016) · cites this paper as [12]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Experimental work with the modern demosponge Halichondria panacea suggests an empirical O2 threshold of ∼ 0.5 -4.0% of the present atmospheric level (PAL; corresponding to an equilibrium concentration of ∼ 1 -10 μ mol · kg -1 for air-saturated water at 25 °C and a salinity of 35 ‰ ) for basal metazoan life (12)”
From Earth's oxygen cycle and the evolution of animal life (2016) · cites this paper as [12]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Finally, in the greater context of what triggered the emergence of complex animal ecosystems on Earth, our isotope data and models suggest that there were ample amounts of O2 for animals in the surface ocean at the onset of the Cambrian (69).”
From Atmosphere-ocean oxygen and productivity dynamics during early animal radiations (2019) · cites this paper as [69]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“The early originating suspension-feeding sponges had low O2 requirements63, and may have helped consume the large dissolved organic carbon reservoir that acted as a major redox buffer in the Proterozoic ocean12.”
From Rise to modern levels of ocean oxygenation coincided with the Cambrian radiation of animals (2015) · cites this paper as [63]
The check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“The BACE pre-dates the first appearance of Treptichnus pedum (31,32)”
From Integrated records of environmental change and evolution challenge the Cambrian Explosion (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
In the citing paper
“Recent work by Mills et al. (2014), however, suggests that primitive metazoans, such as sponges, may have needed very little oxygen in the water column in order to thrive.”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Mills et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“This billion-year stagnation in eukaryotic diversification is often attributed to the late rise of atmospheric oxygen (e.g., Nursall, 1959;Knoll and Carrol, 1999;Fedonkin, 2003;Planavksy et al., 2014a) to levels required by metazoans (i.e.0.5% to 4% PAL; Mills et al., 2014).”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Mills et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“This level of dissolved O2 in surface waters is generally consistent with the 0.1-1% PAL proposed as necessary for early animals”
From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Mills et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“The recognition that modern sponges can survive at very low oxygen levels (e.g.Mills et al., 2014;though it has not yet been demonstrated that they can complete their entire life cycle under such conditions) suggests that the initial evolution of animals may have taken place at lower oxygen levels than are generally assumed necessary.”
From Remarkable insights into the paleoecology of the Avalonian Ediacaran macrobiota (2015) · cites this paper as Mills et al., 2014
Citations
Cites
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“Recent molecular clock estimates place the last common ancestor of all sponges at nearly 800 Ma (12), whereas putative sponge-like body fossils are found in rocks dated between 660 and 635 Ma (10) in the Cryogenian Period (850–635 Ma).”
BackgroundThe genome of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis and the origin of metazoans
King, N., Westbrook, M. J., Young, S. L., Kuo, A., Abedin, M., Chapman, J., Fairclough, S., Hellsten, U., Isogai, Y., Letunic, I., et al. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06617 · Cited by 1,139
Resolving difficult phylogenetic questions: Why more sequences are not enough
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Late-Neoproterozoic Deep-Ocean Oxygenation and the Rise of Animal Life
Canfield, D. E., Poulton, S. W., & Narbonne, G. M. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1135013 · Cited by 1,000 · cited 5×
“G evidence points to the general oxygenation of the oceans around 635 million years ago (Ma) (1), with an oxygenation of the deep oceans around 580 Ma, likely requiring a minimum of 10% present atmospheric levels (PAL) (2).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationMicroelectrodes: Their Use in Microbial Ecology
Revsbech, N. P., & Jørgensen, B. B. (1986) · Advances in Microbial Ecology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-0611-6_7 · Cited by 853
Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period
Love, G. D., Grosjean, E., Stalvies, C., Fike, D. A., Grotzinger, J. P., Bradley, A. S., Kelly, A. E., Bhatia, M., Meredith, W., Snape, C. E., et al. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07673 · Cited by 731 · cited 2×
“Indeed, according to present evidence, the earliest proposed signs of animals in the rock record (9, 10), as well as molecular clock divergence estimates (11, 12), predate the earliest evidence for deep ocean oxygenation (1), potentially by tens of millions of years.”
BackgroundThe Early Evolution of Eukaryotes: A Geological Perspective
Knoll, A. H. (1992) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1585174 · Cited by 684
EVOLUTIONARY AND ECOLOGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF OXYGEN‐DEFICIENT MARINE BASINS
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The Multiple Origins of Complex Multicellularity
Knoll, A. H. (2011) · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences · doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.031208.100209 · Cited by 562
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- N Boury-Esnault, L de Vos, C Donadey, J Vacelet Ultrastructure of Choanosome and Sponge Classification (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC), pp. 237–244 (1990).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–200 of 354
Riisgård, H. U., Kumala, L., & Charitonidou, K. (2016) · Marine Biology Research · doi:10.1080/17451000.2016.1206941 · Cited by 44
“The respiration rate (R) of H. panicea was estimated according to Mills et al. (2014) who found that the maximum weight-specific respiration rate measured between 40 and 100% air saturation was R = 7.93 µM O2 h −1 (g DW)−1 = (7.93 × 32/1000 × 0.7 = ) 0.178 ml O2 h −1 (g DW)−1.”
MethodInfluentialMechanisms and evolution of resistance to environmental extremes in animals
Boothby, T. C. (2019) · EvoDevo · doi:10.1186/s13227-019-0143-4 · Cited by 48
“5–4% of present atmospheric levels of oxygen) [12].”
BackgroundFood sources for the Ediacara biota communities
Bobrovskiy, I., Hope, J. M., Golubkova, E. Y., & Brocks, J. J. (2020) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15063-9 · Cited by 46
Nitrogen cycle perturbations linked to metazoan diversification during the early Cambrian
Xu, D., Wang, X., Shi, X., Tang, D., Zhao, X., Feng, L., & Song, H. (2019) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109392 · Cited by 41
Was the Ediacaran–Cambrian radiation a unique evolutionary event?
Erwin, D. H. (2015) · Paleobiology · doi:10.1017/pab.2014.2 · Cited by 40
“Several workers have now suggested that the ventilation of the oceans was driven largely by biological processes (Butterfield 2009; Erwin and Valentine 2013; Lenton et al. 2014; Mills et al. 2014).”
BackgroundMouro, L. D., Rakociński, M., Marynowski, L., Pisarzowska, A., Musabelliu, S., Zatoń, M., Carvalho, M. A., Fernandes, A. C., & Waichel, B. L. (2017) · Global and Planetary Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.09.017 · Cited by 42
Dwindling vanadium in seawater during the early Cambrian, South China
Han, T., Fan, H., & Wen, H. (2018) · Chemical Geology · doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.05.022 · Cited by 42
Kabanov, P., & Jiang, C. (2020) · Global and Planetary Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103153 · Cited by 39
The subject as cause and effect of evolution
Godfrey‐Smith, P. (2017) · Interface Focus · doi:10.1098/rsfs.2017.0022 · Cited by 46
Increase of seawater Mo inventory and ocean oxygenation during the early Cambrian
Wang, X., Shi, X., Zhao, X., & Tang, D. (2015) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.09.003 · Cited by 39
Lingam, M., & Loeb, A. (2018) · International Journal of Astrobiology · doi:10.1017/s1473550418000083 · Cited by 42
“…emergence of metazoans and the rise of atmospheric oxygen in the late Neoproterozoic era (Planavsky et al., 2010, 2014; Knoll and Sperling, 2014; Reinhard et al., 2016, 2017; Knoll, 2017) but alternative chronologies have been proposed recently by Mills et al. (2014) and Zhang et al. (2016).”
BackgroundBotting, J. P., Muir, L. A., Wang, W., Qie, W., Tan, J., Zhang, L., & Zhang, Y. (2018) · Gondwana Research · doi:10.1016/j.gr.2018.04.014 · Cited by 40
Zhang, J., Fan, T., Zhang, Y., Lash, G. G., Li, Y., & Wu, Y. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-07904-3 · Cited by 39
Disentangling compartment functions in sessile marine invertebrates
Hughes, D. J., Raina, J., Nielsen, D. A., Suggett, D. J., & Kühl, M. (2022) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2022.04.008 · Cited by 38
Pulses of atmosphere oxygenation during the Cambrian radiation of animals
Jiang, L., Zhao, M., Shen, A., Huang, L., Chen, D., & Cai, C. (2022) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117565 · Cited by 40
Adaptive mechanisms and physiological effects of suspended and settled sediment on barrel sponges
McGrath, E. C., Smith, D. J., Jompa, J., & Bell, J. J. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology · doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2017.07.013 · Cited by 35
Krissansen‐Totton, J., Kipp, M. A., & Catling, D. C. (2021) · Geobiology · doi:10.1111/gbi.12440 · Cited by 38
“The answer may inform the search for life elsewhere (Meadows et al., 2018) and elucidate the evolution of complex life on Earth (Catling et al., 2005; Catling & Zahnle, 2020; Mills et al., 2014; Reinhard et al., 2016; Sperling et al., 2013).”
BackgroundA diverse Ediacara assemblage survived under low-oxygen conditions
Cherry, L. B., Gilleaudeau, G. J., Grazhdankin, D. V., Romaniello, S. J., Martin, A. J., & Kaufman, A. J. (2022) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-35012-y · Cited by 39
Wood, R. A., Donoghue, P. C. J., Lenton, T. M., Liu, A., & Poulton, S. W. (2020) · Interface Focus · doi:10.1098/rsfs.2020.0024 · Cited by 39
“The O2 requirement of some extant sponges has been established and found to be very low [29,30] (but of course one can question whether the O2 requirements of extant animals reflect those of their earlier ancestors).”
BackgroundPresent, T. M., Gutierrez, M., Paris, G., Kerans, C., Grotzinger, J. P., & Adkins, J. F. (2019) · Sedimentology · doi:10.1111/sed.12615 · Cited by 38
“These organisms almost certainly could not have tolerated anoxic or sulphidic conditions (Grieshaber & V€ olkel, 1998; Theissen & Martin et al., 2008; Riedel et al., 2012; Mills et al., 2014).”
BackgroundHe, W., Batty-Stuart, S., Lee, J. E., & Ohh, M. (2021) · Journal of Molecular Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2021.167244 · Cited by 40
Extensive sea-floor oxygenation during the early Mesoproterozoic
Xu, D., Qin, Z., Wang, X., Li, J., Shi, X., Tang, D., & Liu, J. (2023) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2023.06.007 · Cited by 36
Wu, H.-P., Jiang, S., Palmer, M. R., Wei, H., & Yang, J.-H. (2018) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2018.10.019 · Cited by 37
Adaptive strategies of sponges to deoxygenated oceans
Micaroni, V., Strano, F., McAllen, R., Woods, L., TURNER, J. R. G., Harman, L. A., & Bell, J. J. (2021) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.16013 · Cited by 37
“Mills et al. (2014) showed that Halichondria panicea can feed and respire with oxygen levels down to 4% of air saturation.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialRecurrent photic zone euxinia limited ocean oxygenation and animal evolution during the Ediacaran
Zheng, W., Zhou, A., Sahoo, S., Nolan, M. R., Ostrander, C. M., Sun, R., Anbar, A. D., Xiao, S., & Chen, J. (2023) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-023-39427-z · Cited by 38
Huang, W., Tarduno, J. A., Zhou, T., Ibáñez-Mejía, M., Olmo‐Barbosa, L. D., Koester, E., Blackman, E. G., Smirnov, A. V., Ahrendt, G. C., Cottrell, R. D., et al. (2024) · Communications Earth & Environment · doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01360-4 · Cited by 34
Zhang, L., Chang, S., Khan, M. Z., Feng, Q., Danelian, T., Clausen, S., Tribovillard, N., & Steiner, M. (2018) · Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.12.007 · Cited by 33
Cell biology of photosynthesis over geologic time
Flamholz, A. I., & Shih, P. M. (2020) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.076 · Cited by 33
Yu, Y., Chen, Y., Li, D., & Su, J. (2021) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106527 · Cited by 33
Late Proterozoic Transitions in Climate, Oxygen, and Tectonics, and the Rise of Complex Life
Planavsky, N. J., Tarhan, L. G., Bellefroid, E. J., Evans, D. A. D., Reinhard, C. T., Love, G. D., & Lyons, T. W. (2015) · The Paleontological Society Papers · doi:10.1017/s1089332600002965 · Cited by 32
Of early animals, anaerobic mitochondria, and a modern sponge
Mentel, M., Roettger, M., Leys, S. P., Tielens, A. G. M., & Martin, W. F. (2014) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/bies.201400060 · Cited by 32
“[10] experiment filtered (a cost for other sponges of about 1 6% of available oxygen) and even grew branches, there is a deficit.”
BackgroundInfluentialVilanova, E., dos Santos, G. R. C., Aquino, R. S., Valle‐Delgado, J. J., Anselmetti, D., Fernàndez‐Busquets, X., & Mourão, P. A. S. (2016) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.m115.708958 · Cited by 31
“The structure of DAF sulfated polysaccharide (DaSP), which was characterized using solution NMR analysis, consists of a central backbone composed of -Glc units partially sulfated at 2- and 4-positions and branches of Pyr(4,6) -Gal3 -Fuc2(SO3)3 -Glc4(SO3)3 -Glc3; this was the first time that the structure of a complexs…”
BackgroundInfluentialA benthic oxygen oasis in the early Neoproterozoic ocean
Wang, H., Liu, A., Li, C., Feng, Q., Tang, S., Cheng, M., & Algeo, T. J. (2021) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2020.106085 · Cited by 32
A revised lower estimate of ozone columns during Earth's oxygenated history.
Cooke, G., Marsh, D., Walsh, C. M., Black, B. A., & Lamarque, J.-F. (2022) · White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) · Cited by 32
Stepwise oxygenation of early Cambrian ocean controls early metazoan diversification
Zhao, X., Wang, X., Shi, X., Tang, D., & Shi, Q. (2018) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.05.009 · Cited by 32
Cheng, M., Wang, H., Li, C., Luo, G., Huang, J., She, Z., Lei, L., Ouyang, G., Zhang, Z., Dodd, M. S., et al. (2021) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106485 · Cited by 30
Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals
Kirkegaard, J. B., Bouillant, A., Marron, A. O., Leptos, K. C., & Goldstein, R. E. (2016) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.18109 · Cited by 34
“[36] DB Mills, LM Ward, C Jones, B Sweeten, M Forth, AH Treusch, and DE Canfield.”
BackgroundFossils, Feeding, and the Evolution of Complex Multicellularity
Knoll, A. H., & Lahr, D. J. G. (2016) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/10525.003.0006 · Cited by 33
“Both ecological surveys of present day oxygen minimum zones (summarized by Sperling et al., 2013a,b) and physiological experiments on sponges (Mills et al., 2014) make it clear that small and anatomically simple animals could have originated when pO 2 was as low as 1-4 % of present atmospheric…”
BackgroundMicaroni, V., McAllen, R., TURNER, J. R. G., Strano, F., Morrow, C. C., PICTON, B. E., Harman, L. A., & Bell, J. J. (2021) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147708 · Cited by 31
A revised lower estimate of ozone columns during Earth’s oxygenated history
Cooke, G. J., Marsh, D. R., Walsh, C., Black, B. A., & Lamarque, J.-F. (2022) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.211165 · Cited by 44
“Thus, how changing oxygen levels have influenced the evolution of life through time is uncertain [5,53,55] because of early-evolving animals such as sponges that can survive at very low O2 concentrations [54].”
BackgroundCyanobacterial Evolution: Fresh Insight into Ancient Questions
Shih, P. M. (2015) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.12.046 · Cited by 28
Stolper, D. A., Love, G. D., Bates, S. M., Lyons, T. W., Young, E., Sessions, A. L., & Grotzinger, J. P. (2017) · Geobiology · doi:10.1111/gbi.12236 · Cited by 27
“Thus, a key question is whether sponges living at low dissolved O2 concentrations is reasonable to propose? Theoretical and experimental studies show that sponges can survive at around ~1% of present atmospheric oxygen levels (Mills et al., 2014; Sperling, Halverson, Knoll, Macdonald, & Johnston, 2013).”
BackgroundInfluentialKeratolite–stromatolite consortia mimic domical and branched columnar stromatolites
Lee, J.-H., & Riding, R. (2021) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110288 · Cited by 26
Sarangi, S., Mohanty, S., & Barik, A. (2017) · Journal of Asian Earth Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2017.08.016 · Cited by 27
Wei, B.-L., Tang, D.-J., Shi, X.-Y., Lechte, M. A., Zhou, L.-M., Zhou, X.-Q., & Song, H.-Y. (2021) · Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems · doi:10.1029/2020gc009612 · Cited by 18
“5%–4% PAL may be sufficient to support the ecosystems of early stem-group animals (Mills et al., 2014).”
BackgroundLife on the Edge: The Cambrian Marine Realm and Oxygenation
Pruss, S. B., & Gill, B. C. (2023) · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences · doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-031621-070316 · Cited by 29
“…oxygen is necessary for the diversity and complexity of Cambrian and Ordovician ecosystems, the oxygen demands of these organisms were likely lower (Mills et al. 2014, Sperling & Stockey 2018, Sperling et al. 2013), and these ecosystems evolved and thrived in an overall lower oxygen world…”
BackgroundA miniature Ordovician hurdiid from Wales demonstrates the adaptability of Radiodonta
Pates, S., Botting, J. P., McCobb, L. M. E., & Muir, L. A. (2020) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.200459 · Cited by 28
Wu, Y., Yin, R., Li, C., Chen, C., Grasby, S. E., Li, T., Ji, S., Tian, H., & Peng, P. (2022) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117551 · Cited by 25
Rodler, A., Frei, R., Gaucher, C., Korte, C., Rosing, S. A., & Germs, G. J. B. (2017) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2017.05.006 · Cited by 25
Diamond, C. W., Ernst, R. E., Zhang, S., & Lyons, T. W. (2021) · Geophysical Monograph Series · doi:10.1002/9781119507444.ch21 · Cited by 25
Marine redox and nutrient dynamics linked to the Cambrian radiation of animals
Liu, Y., Bowyer, F. T., Zhu, M., Xiong, Y., He, T., Han, M., Tang, X., Zhang, J., & Poulton, S. W. (2024) · Geology · doi:10.1130/g52220.1 · Cited by 26
Adaptation to a Viscous Snowball Earth Ocean as a Path to Complex Multicellularity
Simpson, C. (2021) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/716634 · Cited by 23
“Animals such as sponges, ctenophores, and cnidarians have lowmetabolic needs (Mills et al. 2014, 2018), and sponges, ctenophores, and cnidarians have a remarkable ability to move large volumes of water (De Goeij et al. 2013; Leys and Kahn 2018), which may reverse the causal arrow linking body size…”
BackgroundLiu, P., Liu, J., Ji, A., Reinhard, C. T., Planavsky, N. J., Babikov, D., Najjar, R. G., & Kasting, J. F. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2105074118 · Cited by 25
Time Domains of Hypoxia Responses and -Omics Insights
Yu, J. J., Non, A. L., Heinrich, E. C., Gu, W., Alcock, J., Moya, E. A., Lawrence, E. S., Tift, M. S., O’Brien, K. A., Storz, J. F., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.885295 · Cited by 29
“Many major events in the evolutionary history of life coincided with rising atmospheric O 2 levels (Falkowski et al., 2005; Berner et al., 2007; Mills et al., 2014).”
Microbial ecology in Hydra: Why viruses matter
Bosch, T. C. G., Grasis, J. A., & Lachnit, T. (2015) · The Journal of Microbiology · doi:10.1007/s12275-015-4695-2 · Cited by 23
“Living in the Ediacaran oceans, Cnidaria (jellyfish, corals, and hydroids) evolved early during the phylogenesis of multicellular animals (Metazoa) (Philippe et al., 2011; Nosenko et al., 2013; Knoll and Sperling, 2014; Mills et al., 2014).”
BackgroundMulling and nulling the coeval rise of Ediacaran oxygen and animals
Ostrander, C. M. (2023) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118187 · Cited by 25
Follow the Oxygen: Comparative Histories of Planetary Oxygenation and Opportunities for Aerobic Life
Ward, L. M., Stamenković, V., Hand, K. P., & Fischer, W. W. (2019) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2017.1779 · Cited by 25
“The Pasteur point corresponds to an O 2 concentration of about 1% of PAL dissolved in seawater, or about 3 m M.”
InfluentialSelf-citationEnvironmental Oxygen is a Key Modulator of Development and Evolution: From Molecules to Ecology
Cordeiro, I. R., & Tanaka, M. (2020) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/bies.202000025 · Cited by 26
Kumala, L., & Canfield, D. E. (2018) · Frontiers in Marine Science · doi:10.3389/fmars.2018.00410 · Cited by 22
Self-citationSponge functional roles in a changing world
Bell, J. J., Strano, F., Broadribb, M., Wood, G., Harris, B., Resende, A. C., Novak, E., & Micaroni, V. (2023) · Advances in marine biology · doi:10.1016/bs.amb.2023.07.002 · Cited by 24
Qi, C., Li, C., Gabbott, S. E., Ma, X., Xie, L., Deng, W., Jin, C., & Hou, X. (2018) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.07.010 · Cited by 22
Metabolic remodelling of mice by hypoxic-hypercapnic environment: imitating the naked mole-rat
Tolstun, D. A., Knyazer, A., Tushynska, T. V., Dubiley, T. A., Bezrukov, V. V., Fraifeld, V. E., & Muradian, K. K. (2019) · Biogerontology · doi:10.1007/s10522-019-09848-9 · Cited by 21
Wei, W., Dong, L.-H., Xiao, S., Lin, Y.-B., Xu, L., Wei, G., Wang, W., Tian, L., Wei, H., & Huang, F. (2024) · National Science Review · doi:10.1093/nsr/nwae237 · Cited by 22
“…level may have reached the threshold to support the physiology of early animals (possibly as low as 0.5%–4.0% of the present atmospheric levels) [60 ] before their ecological rise, early Edi-acaran animals such as those in the Lantian and Weng’an biotas were likely limited to local ly wel…”
BackgroundInfluentialRole of stellar physics in regulating the critical steps for life
Lingam, M., & Loeb, A. (2019) · International Journal of Astrobiology · doi:10.1017/s1473550419000016 · Cited by 25
“…for early animals (akin to modern demosponges) were sufficiently low (Sperling et al. 2013; Knoll and Sperling 2014; Mills and Canfield 2014; Mills et al. 2014), or if the earliest metazoans were anaerobic altogether such as some species belonging to the phylum Loricifera (Danovaro et al.…”
BackgroundMarine chemical structure during the Cambrian explosion
Xiao, W., Cao, J., Wang, X., Xiao, D., Shi, C., & Zhang, S. (2024) · Earth-Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104716 · Cited by 21
Nutrient-dependent growth underpinned the Ediacaran transition to large body size
Cuthill, J. F. H., & Morris, S. C. (2017) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0222-7 · Cited by 20
238U/235U in calcite is more susceptible to carbonate diagenesis
Chen, X., Robinson, S. A., Romaniello, S. J., & Anbar, A. D. (2022) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2022.03.027 · Cited by 20
Huang, K., Cheng, M., Algeo, T. J., Hu, J., Wang, H., Zhang, Z., Dodd, M. S., Wu, Y., Guo, W., & Li, C. (2022) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2022.106814 · Cited by 19
Shan, H., Liu, J., Ding, X., Chen, X., Yu, X., Liu, Z., & Xu, Z. (2022) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117874 · Cited by 21
Niculescu, V. F. (2015) · Stem Cell Biology and Research · doi:10.7243/2054-717x-2-2 · Cited by 23
Li, W.-P., Zhao, Y.-Y., Zhao, M.-Y., Zha, X.-P., & Zheng, Y.-F. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-47142-3 · Cited by 19
Tarduno, J. A., Zhou, T., Huang, W., & Jodder, J. (2025) · National Science Review · doi:10.1093/nsr/nwaf082 · Cited by 22
Retallack, G. J., Chen, Z., Huang, Y., & Fang, Y. (2021) · Precambrian Research · doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106361 · Cited by 20
Adaptive specialization of a unique sponge body from the Cambrian Qingjiang biota
Yun, H., Luo, C., Chang, C., Li, L., Joachim Reitner, A., & Zhang, X. (2022) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2022.0804 · Cited by 19
Ye, Y., Shen, J., Feng, Q., & Lash, G. G. (2020) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109672 · Cited by 19
Schuster, A., Strehlow, B. W., Eckford-Soper, L., McAllen, R., & Canfield, D. E. (2021) · mSphere · doi:10.1128/msphere.00991-20 · Cited by 20
“Thus, it is possible that hypoxic environmental conditions are beneficial for the holobiont, given the low-oxygen requirements of sponges (16, 17) and the high abun-”
BackgroundSelf-citationNo Furongian Biodiversity Gap: Evidence from South China
Deng, Y., Fan, J., Yang, S., Shi, Y., Lu, Z., Xu, H., Sun, Z., Zhao, F., & Hou, Z.-S. (2022) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111492 · Cited by 18
Earth: Atmospheric Evolution of a Habitable Planet
Olson, S. L., Schwieterman, E. W., Reinhard, C. T., & Lyons, T. W. (2018) · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Cited by 18
Late Paleozoic oxygenation of marine environments supported by dolomite U-Pb dating
Israel, M. B., Holder, R., Nelson, L. L., Smith, E. F., Kylander-Clark, A. R. C., & Ryb, U. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46660-7 · Cited by 16
“…of animal life 4,8 – 11 (possiblyreachingvaluesashighasmodernoceansbytheearly Cambrian 8 ); to minor (0.5 – 10% of the modern ocean levels 12 – 14 ), local, and/or episodic oxygenation 15 – 20 , prior to the late Paleozoic-early Mesozoic eras, when evolutionary steps such as the expansion of…”
InfluentialLow oxygen but dynamic marine redox conditions permitted the Cambrian Radiation
Alexander, R. D., Zhuravlev, A. Y., Bowyer, F. T., Pichevin, L., Poulton, S. W., Kouchinsky, A., & Wood, R. A. (2025) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.ads2846 · Cited by 22
“Furthermore, modern sponges can tolerate oxygen levels of 4% PAL ( 65 , 66 ), and the slow, motile gastropods Patella spp. and Haliotis fulgens , which both belong to ancient lineages, are able to decrease their oxygen demands under hypoxia ( 67 , 68 ).”
Oxygen and Oxygen Toxicity: The Birth of Concepts
Zhu, H., Santo, A., Trush, M. A., & Li, Y. R. (2016) · Reactive Oxygen Species · doi:10.20455/ros.2016.801 · Cited by 19
“The rise of oxygen in Earth’s early atmosphere and ocean led to the emergence and diversification of animals [9, 10].”
BackgroundSickle Cell Disease: A Genetic Disorder of Beta-Globin
Cordovil, K. (2018) · InTech eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.74778 · Cited by 16
“Probably many organisms that emerged in the early days used these gases for their own subsistence [56].”
BackgroundMarine oxygenation, deoxygenation, and life during the Early Paleozoic: An overview
Zhang, J., Edwards, C. T., Diamond, C., Lyons, T. W., & Zhang, Y. (2021) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110715 · Cited by 18
Chromium isotope evidence for oxygenation events in the Ediacaran ocean
Xu, D., Wang, X., Zhu, J., Jiang, G., Shi, X., Wang, X., & Sahoo, S. (2022) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2022.02.019 · Cited by 15
Eta-Earth Revisited II: Deriving a Maximum Number of Earth-Like Habitats in the Galactic Disk
Scherf, M., Lammer, H., & Sproß, L. (2024) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2023.0076 · Cited by 19
Absar, N., Raza, M. Q., Augustine, S., Managave, S., Sarma, D. S., & Balakrishnan, S. (2018) · Society of Earth Scientists series · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-89698-4_13 · Cited by 16
Oxygen: a new look at an old therapy
Beasley, R. W., Mackle, D., & Young, P. J. (2019) · Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand · doi:10.1080/03036758.2019.1566154 · Cited by 15
“This conundrum of needing to achieve the optimal risk/benefit balance has applied to all living species that have evolved since the atmospheric oxygen level began rising about 2.4 billion years ago (Lane 2002; Hsia et al. 2013, Mills et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2016).”
BackgroundInfluentialMatheson, E. J., & Frank, T. D. (2020) · Sedimentology · doi:10.1111/sed.12731 · Cited by 14
Refining the early Cambrian marine redox profile by using pyrite sulfur and iron isotopes
Liu, Y., Ding, W., Lang, X., Xing, C., Wang, R., Huang, K., Fu, B., Ma, H., Peng, Y., & Shen, B. (2022) · Global and Planetary Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.103817 · Cited by 15
Zhang, J., Lyons, T. W., Li, C., Fang, X. M., Chen, Q., Botting, J. P., & Zhang, Y. (2022) · Global and Planetary Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.103917 · Cited by 15
Yang, D. M., Guo, X., Xie, T., & Luo, X. (2017) · Journal of Environmental Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.jes.2017.05.035 · Cited by 14
Zhang, L., Chang, S., Khan, M. Z., Feng, Q., Luo, C., Steiner, M., Forel, M., Liu, K., & Clausen, S. (2020) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109696 · Cited by 14
Mouro, L. D., Pacheco, M. L. A. F., Ricetti, J. H. Z., Scomazzon, A. K., Horodyski, R. S., Fernandes, A. C., Carvalho, M. A., Weinschütz, L. C., Silva, M. S., Waichel, B. L., et al. (2020) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109850 · Cited by 16
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Metadata
- Authors
- Mills, D. B., Ward, L. M., Jones, C., Sweeten, B., Forth, M., Treusch, A. H., & Canfield, D. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2014-02-18
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 4168-4172
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3964089
- OpenAlex
- W2029322624
- Semantic Scholar
- ac41b42cf0cc457afe8379a4d86261edcc53d9e5
- Cited by
- 355
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 11
- FWCI
- 22.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Agouron Institute
- National Research Foundation
- Danmarks Grundforskningsfond (Grant DNRF 53, DNRF 53)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Keywords
- origin of animals, Ediacaran, oxygen requirement, demosponges, low oxygen tolerance, atmospheric oxygenation, Neoproterozoic, animal evolution
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Biological, Animals, Atmosphere, Base Sequence, Denmark, Biological Evolution, Kinetics, Molecular Sequence Data, Oxygen, Oxygen Consumption, Porifera, Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Microbiota
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-11, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-11 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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