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July 2 (UPI) – The small marine organisms, the oldest in the world, exerted a disproportionate effect on the oceans and the atmosphere of the Earth, causing a major global warming.
they discovered a drop in oxygen levels of the ocean between 540 and 520 million years ago.
Meanwhile, small marine organisms began to break down organic matter, a process that eats oxygen and triggers the release of CO2. Like worms in a garden, tiny creatures on the seabed disrupt, mix and recycle dead organic matter – a process known as bioturbation, "Professor Tim Lenton told Exeter in a press release. "Because the effect of the animal search is so great, you expect to see big changes in the environment when the entire ocean floor goes from an undisturbed state to a bioturbated state. "
Scientists have measured a decrease in oxygen The first animals on the Earth have barely disturbed the upper layers of seabed sediments. "This means that the animals living in the seabed were not very active and did not move very deep in the seabed," explains Simon Poulton. , professor at the University of Leeds. "At first glance, these two observations did not seem to add up."
However, after further analysis, scientists realized that these small communities of marine organisms could have a significant impact. Even today, smaller animals – like phytoplankton, for example – can have significant impacts on the environment.
"The first bioturbators had a massive impact," Poulton said.
to simulate the chemical impacts of these early marine bioturbators, they realized that creatures accounted for significant changes in the composition of the Earth's atmosphere.
"The evolution of these small animals decreased oxygen in the ocean and the atmosphere, carbon dioxide levels to such an extent that it caused a global warming, "said Benjamin Mills, a researcher in Leeds." We knew that the warming was happening at this stage of the Earth's history, but did not realize that it could be driven by Animals. "
The researchers shared their groundbreaking analysis in an article published in the journal Nature Communications, according to the authors of the study, the results remind us that the inhabitants of the Earth can alter the climate of the planet. Early global warming has made life more difficult for the first creatures on the planet and probably explains several massive extinctions over the first 100 million years of animal evolution
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