The geological consequences of evolution

By Andrew H. Knoll. 2003

172 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Geobiologists seek to understand the role of organisms in the Earth system. By extension, one can ask how evolutionary innovations and, more generally, the population genetic processes that mediate evolution have influenced the Earth's surface through time. The example of oxygenic photosynthesis and the redox history of atmospheres and oceans illustrates the complex relationship between evolution and environmental change. Biological innovations determine the dimensions of biological participation in the Earth system, but by themselves they seldom generate lasting environmental change. More commonly, environments change when physical drivers exceed the limited environmental buffering capacity conferred by population genetics and nutritional codependence. Environmental change, in turn, feeds back on biology, creating new opportunities for evolutionary innovation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/03051c01cb41a2eaaf51567e73ac624d5a22eea5

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Citations in the corpus

The Geological Succession of Primary Producers in the Oceans (2007, background): “All known geobiological records from Archean rocks are consistent with an early evolution of cyanobacteria, but few if any require such an interpretation (Knoll 2003a).”
Feedbacks between geomorphology and biota controlling Earth surface processes and landforms: A review of foundation concepts and current understandings (2011, background): “, 2008), principally caused by the increasing oxygen content of the atmosphere resulting from photosynthesis (Knoll, 2003).”
Biogeochemical signatures through time as inferred from whole microbial genomes (2005, background): “However, since the carbon isotopic results from the more ancient Akilia Island seem to show greater 13C-depletion, an explanation of this carbon is more complicated (also see Knoll, 2003).”
Mars Science Laboratory Mission and Science Investigation (2012, background): “The main challenge in establishment of a biosignature is finding patterns, either chemical or textural, that are not easily explained by physical processes (Knoll 2003).”
Global biogeochemical impacts of phytoplankton: a trait‐based perspective (2015, background): “This major evolutionary innovation likely happened only once and changed the atmosphere of our planet from anoxic to oxygenic after two billion years in the former state (Knoll 2003).”
Pelagic functional group modeling: Progress, challenges and prospects (2006, unknown): “Chemical evidence from Archean shales suggests that photosynthetic organisms were present in the ocean 2.7 billion years ago (Ga) if not earlier (Knoll, 1992, 2003; Brocks et al., 1999).”