History of Life in the Oceans, or

4 billion years in 50 minutes

Warren Allmon
Paleontological Research Institution
and Dept. of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences

!
wda1@cornell.edu

The Paleontological Research Institution,

the Museum of the Earth,
and Cayuga Nature Center

Cornell students!!
!

volunteers
paid and unpaid interns
research and classes
!

wda1@cornell.edu
2

The Geological
Time Scale

The Phanerozoic:
The age of visible life

The Precambrian

Milestones in the history

of Earth & life (in the oceans)
!

The Cambrian Explosion - 550-544 Ma ?

Origin of skeletons - 550 Ma ?
Origin of animals - 800-600 Ma ?
Origin of multicellularity >2 Ga ?
Origin of eukaryotes - > 1.8 Ga (> 2.7 Ga ?)
Oxygenation of atmosphere 3.0-2.5 Ga
Origin of life 4.0 [4.2?]-3.8 Ga
Oldest known rocks (as of 9/08) 4.28 Ga
Origin of the Earth ca. 4.6 Ga

Milestones in the history

of Earth & life (in the oceans)
!

The Cambrian Explosion - 550-544 Ma ?

Origin of skeletons - 550 Ma ?
Origin of animals - 800-600 Ma ?
Origin of multicellularity >2 Ga ?
Origin of eukaryotes - > 1.8 Ga (> 2.7 Ga ?)
Oxygenation of atmosphere 3.0-2.5 Ga
Origin of life 4.0 [4.2?]-3.8 Ga
Oldest known rocks (as of 9/08) 4.28 Ga
Origin of the Earth ca. 4.6 Ga

Types of Fossils
Body fossils
!
!

Trace Fossils
!
!

Chemical fossils

Isua, Greenland
ca. 3.7 Ga

Carbon isotope ratios as evidence for early life

INORGANIC

ORGANIC

The oldest known (trace) fossils: Stromatolites

1 cm

Archaean stromatolite from the

Warrawoona Group, Western Australia
10

Archean stromatolites, South Africa

11

Modern Stromatolites

Photos courtesy of A.H. Knoll &

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/stromats.jpg
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13

Cyanobacteria
(aka blue-green algae)

Spirulina, a modern cyanobacterium

14

The oldest known

(body) fossils:
Bacterial filaments

Fig Tree Chert (ca. 3.4 Ga)

South Africa

Apex Chert (3.465 Ga)

Western Australia

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G331/lectures/331arche.html
http://www.uni-muenster.de/GeoPalaeontologie/Palaeo/Palbot/seite1.html
15

Milestones in the history

of Earth & life (in the oceans)
!

The Cambrian Explosion - 550-544 Ma ?

Origin of skeletons - 550 Ma ?
Origin of animals - 800-600 Ma ?
Origin of multicellularity >2 Ga ?
Origin of eukaryotes - > 1.8 Ga (> 2.7 Ga ?)
Oxygenation of atmosphere 3.0-2.5 Ga
Origin of life 4.0 [4.2?]-3.8 Ga
Oldest known rocks (as of 9/08) 4.28 Ga
Origin of the Earth ca. 4.6 Ga

16

Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

17

The oldest undisputed

fossil eukaryotes:
Roper Group
Australia
ca 1.6 GA

Knoll et al., 2006, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, 361: 1023

18

More Proterozoic Eukaryotes

(from Porter, 2004)

19

More Proterozoic Eukaryotes

Acritarchs

Vase-shaped microfossils

20

Milestones in the history

of Earth & life (in the oceans)
!

The Cambrian Explosion - 550-544 Ma ?

Origin of skeletons - 550 Ma ?
Origin of animals - 800-600 Ma ?
Origin of multicellularity >2 Ga ?
Origin of eukaryotes - > 1.8 Ga (> 2.7 Ga ?)
Oxygenation of atmosphere 3.0-2.5 Ga
Origin of life 4.0 [4.2?]-3.8 Ga
Oldest known rocks (as of 9/08) 4.28 Ga
Origin of the Earth ca. 4.6 Ga

21

When did the first multicellular

eukaryotes arise?
Body fossils
good fossil evidence at 600-800 Ma
Grypania at ca 2 Ga
!

Molecular clocks
wide variety of dates (600-1500 Ma)
most dates focus on 800-1000 Ma

22

The oldest known multicellular eukaryote?

Grypania, ca. 2.1 Ga from Michigan
1 cm

23

When was the origin of animals?

Two sources of data
Molecular clocks
The fossil record

24

Milestones in the history

of Earth & life (in the oceans)
!

The Cambrian Explosion - 550-544 Ma ?

Origin of skeletons - 550 Ma ?
Origin of animals - 800-600 Ma ?
Origin of multicellularity >2 Ga ?
Origin of eukaryotes - > 1.8 Ga (> 2.7 Ga ?)
Oxygenation of atmosphere 3.0-2.5 Ga
Origin of life 4.0 [4.2?]-3.8 Ga
Oldest known rocks (as of 9/08) 4.28 Ga
Origin of the Earth ca. 4.6 Ga

25

The Cambrian Explosion:

What is it?
The relatively sudden appearance and
diversification of almost all of the phyla in the early
Cambrian.

Museum of the Earth

26

Whats a phylum?
The Linnean Hierarchy
!
phylum

class
order
family
genus
species

27

Major phyla of the fossil record

Porifera sponges
Cnidaria corals etc
Arthropoda arthropods
Brachiopoda brachiopods
Bryozoa bryozoans
Mollusca mollusks
Echinodermata echinoderms
Chordata vertebrates etc.

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Doushantuo

29

Doushantuo embryos

http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/fossils0204.html

30

Bengtson & Zhao 1997, a SEM image depicting a suggested metazoan embryo
possibly Olivooides multisulcatus at approximately the 256-cell stage.

Doushantuo

31

The Ediacara Biota

Parvancorina
Dickensonia

Cyclomedusa

Tribrachidium

Mawsonites
32

Traditional reconstructions
of the Ediacara Biota

33

Doushantuo

34

Neoproterozoic trace fossils

Simple trace fossils on the upper surface of a sandstone

bed. Neoproterozoic, South Australia. Scale bar is 10 mm

A. Archaeonassa sp. White Sea, north-west Russia. B Archaeonassa isp. in the

Ediacara Member, Flinders Ranges, South Australia, reflecting depth of animal
movement within the sediment. Scale bars = 10 mm.

S. Jensen, Integ. Compar. Biol., 43:219228 (2003)

35

Doushantuo

36

The Chengjiang Fauna

Discovered in early 1990s
Early Cambrian (ca 520 Ma)
> 150 taxa described
Burgess-style preservation
Many soft-bodied forms
Many taxa in common w/ Burgess
Shows that many taxa first appear
in Early Cambrian

Outcrop in the Qiongzhusi Formation near Chengjiang, Yunnan Province. (c) 1997 by E. Landing
37

Microdictyon an onychophoran
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Canadaspis an arthropod

39

Haikouella
The oldest known vertebrate??
40

Doushantuo

41

(1989)
Charles D. Walcott
-Discovered the
Burgess Shale in 1909
42

Wiwaxia
- a mollusk?

43

Aysheaia
- an onychophoran
44

New reconstruction
Old reconstruction

Hallucigenia an onychophoran
45

Pikaia
- a chordate
46

Opabinia affinities unknown

47

Marella an arthropod
48

Reconstruction of the Burgess Shale fauna

www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/ farabee/BIOBK/1ord04b.gif
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What caused the

Cambrian Explosion?

Snowball Earth

50

Doushantuo

More Milestones in the history

of Earth & life

51

Late Devonian mass extinction

364 Ma
First land vertebrates (tetrapods)
380 Ma
First land animals ca 420 Ma?
First land plants ca 440 Ma
Origin of vertebrate jaws 420
Ma?
Origin of bone 500 Ma?
End-Ordovician mass extinction
450 Ma
Ordovician Radiations 490 Ma
Cambrian Explosion - 550-544
Ma

Marine Phanerozoic diversity

(the Sepkoski curve)

From Futuyma (2005) Evolution, after Sepkoski

52

Phanerozoic Marine Diversity:

The Sepkoski Curve

Sepkoski, Paleobiology, 1981, 7(1): 36

53

The
Three
Evolutionary
Faunas

54

Cambrian
fauna

Paleozoic
fauna
Modern
fauna
55

The Cambrian Fauna

56

The Ordovician Radiations

Brachiopods
Corals
Bryozoans
Cephalopods
Bivalves

57

The Paleozoic Fauna: Ordovician

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/link/images/ hist_img_03_ordo.jpg
58

Giant orthocone nautiloids

(cephalopods)
Ordovician

PRI

Harvard MCZ
59

The largest known trilobite

Isotelus rex, Late Ordovician,
northern Manitoba

60

www.palaeos.com/Paleozoic/Devonian/ Images/dev16b.jpg
www.fallsoftheohio.org/virtualtour/images/FALLS4.JPG

Devonian seascapes
!

www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/dev15b.gif
61

Odontochile formosa
Phacops rana
Dipleura dekayi

Devonian Trilobites

Greenops
Terataspis
62

Devonian Brachiopods

63

Devonian Rugose Corals

64

The Modern Fauna

65

66

Dominant taxa in reefs through time

Cenozoic: corals
Cretaceous: rudist bivalves
Jurassic: sponges
Triassic: stromatolites
Carboniferous-Permian: corals, bryozoans, brachiopods,
sponges
Ordovician-Devonian: corals, stromatoporoids
Cambrian: Archaeocyathids
Pre-Cambrian: stromatolites

67

The
Three
Evolutionary
Faunas

68

The Big 5 Mass Extinctions

(in the marine realm)

69

Still more milestones in the history

of Earth & life:
Vertebrates in the sea
Marine mammals
Marine reptiles

Devonian the Age of fishes

Origin of jaws ca 420 Ma
Oldest known bone ca 500 Ma

70

The Age of Fishes

71

Placoderms: 6 orders, 30 families, 100 genera

mostly Devonian (U. Sil. To Carb.)
Dunkelosteus
Devonian,
NY, Ohio

72

Dunkleosteus

73

Dunkleosteus at Museum of the Earth

74

Chondrichthyes Cartilagenous fish

(sharks and rays)
Devonian
!
Today

75

Mesozoic Marine Reptiles: Ichthyosaurs

76

Mesozoic Marine Reptiles: Plesiosaurs

77

Mesozoic Marine Reptiles: Mosasaurs

- Jurassic-Cretaceous
- marine
- up to 50 ft long
78

Teleost (Ray-finned fishes (~30,000 living species)

The most diverse group of vertebrates (by far)

79

Most Teleosts are marine

80

Milestones in the history

of Earth & life (continued)

Northern hemisphere glaciation 3.5 Ma

Evolutionary expansion of plankton and
whales ca 35-20 Ma
Beginning of Antarctic glaciation 35 Ma
End-Cretaceous mass extinction 65 Ma
Mesozoic Marine Revolution ca. 130-70 Ma
End-Triassic mass extinction 200 Ma
Origin of dinosaurs and mammals ca 220 Ma
End-Permian mass extinction 251 Ma

81

Meanwhile back on the Reef

Reconstruction of a rudist-dominated reef, Cretaceous period

C. Johnson (2002) American Scientist, 90(2): 148

82

Rudists (Rudistid bivalves)

Subclass Heterodonta
Order Hippuritoida

83

Rudistid biostrome, Pyrenees, France

84

AMMONITES!!

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/seamonsters/photogallery/ammonites.html
85

Giant
Ammonites

86

Reconstructions
of Heteromorph
Ammonoids

87

Giant heteromorph ammonite

Upper Cretaceous
Seymour Island, Antarctica
!
(now in the PRI collection)

88

The Evolution of Seafood

The Mesozoic Marine Revolution

Increase in marine
primary producers
Increase in predation
and predators in
Jurassic-Cretaceous
Increase in protective
adaptations in prey

89

burrowing urchins

predatory snails
crushing crabs

burrowing clams

predatory bony
(ray-finned) fish
90

Chalk

http://www.greenelectron-images.co.uk/sem/images/chalk-2_web.jpg
http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/chalkformationfossils.htm
91

Phanerozoic Marine Diversity:

The Sepkoski Curve

Sepkoski, Paleobiology, 1981, 7(1): 36

92

The Big 5 Mass Extinctions

(in the marine realm)

93

Milestones in the history

of Earth & life (continued)

Northern hemisphere glaciation 3.5 Ma

Evolutionary expansion of plankton and
whales ca 35-20 Ma
Beginning of Antarctic glaciation 35 Ma
End-Cretaceous mass extinction 65 Ma
Mesozoic Marine Revolution ca. 130-70 Ma
End-Triassic mass extinction 200 Ma
Origin of dinosaurs and mammals ca 220 Ma
End-Permian mass extinction 251 Ma

94

Schematic phylogeny of whales

http://www.archaeocete.org/Barnes%20PhylogenySuborder3.jpg
95

Warren Allmon
Paleontological Research Institution
and
Dept. of Earth &Atmospheric Sciences
!

wda1@cornell.edu

96