Low Oxygen on Earth May Have Held Up Animal Evolution

Washington Post ^ | Rachel Feltman

[JimSEA]

Why did complex life evolve precisely when it did? According to a new study, simpler life forms may have been waiting on a proper oxygen supply -- for as long as a billion years.

[JimSEA]

The full report may be found at AAAS Science.

[YourAdHere]

Global warming.

[Bratch]

Bush’s fault.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Low oxygen retards evolution?

Al Franken explained.

[Eccl 10:2]

You mean complex life as we know it requires oxygen?!?

The things you learn from science...

[Alex Murphy]

According to a new study, simpler life forms may have been waiting on a proper oxygen supply -- for as long as a billion years.

As someone else wisely stated on a thread last month, "may" can also mean "may not". It's a study that didn't reach a conclusion, only a guess.

[oh8eleven]

Low Oxygen on Earth May Have Held Up Animal Evolution
Hmmm, another possibility could have been ...

[MNDude]

“If Planavsky’s estimation of these oxygen levels are correct, it could mean that simple organisms were ready to evolve into complexity for ages before they actually got the chance.”

So in other words, their DNA contained complexities before they evolved. Like fish contained feet DNA years before they grew feet.

It would not make any sense to me how anything could evolve traits in their DNA that would not benefit them immediately.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

It has long been suspected that the real culprit in keeping Earth’s atmosphere low oxygen was iron.

http://paleobiology.si.edu/geotime/main/htmlversion/proterozoic4.html

“In the absence of free oxygen, iron dissolves in water. This resulted in ocean waters that contained a great deal of dissolved iron. The dissolved iron bonded with oxygen released into ocean water by photosynthesizing cyanobacteria to form magnetite (Fe3O4). This magnetite was then deposited on the ocean floor.

“A vast amount of iron dissolved in the oceans was available to react chemically with oxygen, which kept oxygen from accumulating in the ocean and atmosphere. Once all of the dissolved iron was used up, the oxygen released by photosynthetic organisms could escape directly into the atmosphere. As gaseous oxygen built up, the atmosphere began to change from one that was chemically reducing to one that was oxidizing (i.e., rust-forming), like today’s.

“(This is seen today in) Banded iron formations in rock, which are silica-rich and iron-rich sedimentary layers in what was sea floor.”

[JimSEA]

Exactly. The amount of oxygen tied up in banded iron formations kept Cyanobacteria busy for “the boring billion”.

[stinkerpot65]

Evolution claims and Global Warming claims both have that tinge of desperation.

[Arkansas Toothpick]

Yep.

A good read on this is very subject is Darwin’s Dilemma, by Stephen Meyer.

[aimhigh]

Why did complex life evolve precisely when it did? According to a new study, . . . may have . . . . they believe . . . . . . . may have had . . . . the data suggests . . . . If . . . , it could mean . . . . . they may have been exposed . . . . . . . he'll need more data . .

Ya, that's science.

[PATRIOT1876]

It makes you wonder about how anything that flies got along for millions of years with unformed wings getting it their way and threatening their survival. How they jumped off cliffs for thousands of year when the wings were almost formed.

Or perhaps one wing sprouted 100 million years before the other one.

...or perhaps God is not a Liar...

[stinkerpot65]

I love “Arkansas Toothpick” as a handle ...

[adorno]

...simpler life forms may have been waiting on a proper oxygen supply

That's an awful lot of patience.

Do the people at Guinness have a record for patience?

[onedoug]

Yet it works. That you’re reading this proves it.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks JimSEA.

[colorado tanker]

Hasn’t this been known for quite some time?

[JimSEA]

Pretty much suspected but tools for measuring ancient atmospheres from remnant rocks is improving.