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Beginning of animal evolution. [54] [55] 720–630 Ma Possible global glaciation [56] [57] which increased the atmospheric oxygen and decreased carbon dioxide, and was either caused by land plant evolution [58] or resulted in it. [59] Opinion is divided on whether it increased or decreased biodiversity or the rate of evolution. [60] [61] [62 ...
The evolution of biological complexity is one important outcome of the process of evolution. [1] Evolution has produced some remarkably complex organisms – although the actual level of complexity is very hard to define or measure accurately in biology, with properties such as gene content, the number of cell types or morphology all proposed as possible metrics.
Evolutionary taxonomy, evolutionary systematics or Darwinian classification is a branch of biological classification that seeks to classify organisms using a combination of phylogenetic relationship (shared descent), progenitor-descendant relationship (serial descent), and degree of evolutionary change.
For animals, there are standard suffixes for taxa only up to the rank of superfamily. [30] Uniform suffix has been suggested (but not recommended) in AAAS [31] as -ida / ɪ d ə / for orders, for example; protozoologists seem to adopt this system. Many metazoan (higher animals) orders also have such suffix, e.g. Hyolithida and Nectaspida ...
The idea of a tree of life arose from ancient notions of a ladder-like progression from lower into higher forms of life (such as in the Great Chain of Being).Early representations of "branching" phylogenetic trees include a "paleontological chart" showing the geological relationships among plants and animals in the book Elementary Geology, by Edward Hitchcock (first edition: 1840).
Mosaic evolution – Evolution of characters at various rates both within and between species; Parallel evolution – Similar evolution in distinct species; Quantum evolution – Evolution where transitional forms are particularly unstable and do not last long; Recurrent evolution – The repeated evolution of a particular character
The Paleozoic (/ ˌ p æ l i. ə ˈ z oʊ. ɪ k,-i. oʊ-, ˌ p eɪ-/ PAL-ee-ə-ZOH-ik, -ee-oh-, PAY-; [1] or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. . Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of the Mesozoic Er
The concept of the three great evolutionary faunas of marine animals from the Cambrian to the present (that is, the entire Phanerozoic) was introduced by Jack Sepkoski in 1981 using factor analysis of the fossil record. [1]