I always knew feces was the key to complex life -- why do you think the best jokes involve poop? Scientists have long sought to explain the evolutionary explosion of life that occurred 500 million years ago during the Cambrian period; this population boom eventually gave rise to the ancestors of complex life. Biogeochemist Graham Logan argues that feces-producing creatures, which actually arrived about 40 million years before the start of the Cambrian, were the key that enabled single-celled organisms to expand.
Before pooping creatures, bacteria consumed most of the available oxygen. Plankton produced oxygen slowly, but bacteria would consume most of it in order to digest dead plankton. The dearth of oxygen didn't allow for much multicellular development.
Then the crappers came to the rescue.
When feces producing creatures arrived on the scene, they ate plankton instead of bacteria, sending the remaining feces to sink to the bottom floor. Without as much plankton to eat and with less access to the feces at the bottom of the ocean, bacteria populations starved and shrank, leaving more oxygen for everyone else.
Logan’s backs up his theory with research on the ratio of carbon 12 and carbon 13 isotopes in rocks from the Cambrian period formed from dead pooping creatures. Animals that eat other animals have greater ratios of carbon 13 in them. Before the Cambrian period, C 13 levels were very high, which fits the idea that bacteria were eating large amounts of dead plankton. Once crapping animals arrived, however, C 13 levels dropped since there was less food for bacteria to eat.
This is just one compelling idea to explain the Cambrian life explosion among many, but I'm officially adopting it. That way, from now on, when I tell people I have to go drop "the miracle of life," they'll know what I'm talking about.
Comments
Tony Elshout says:
Apparently shit does happen!
December 4, 2007 5:08 PM
Steve Maffin says:
If poop provided the opportunity for multicellular life then there must have been a single celled life that pooped first. Any single cell candidates for the excretion of heavier than water poop?
December 4, 2007 7:49 PM
jeremy says:
good article crappers. nice combination of information and humour.
December 4, 2007 11:40 PM
Rick Curry says:
I'm with Mr. Maffin on this. There had to be a 'first pooper'. Since there was a "dearth of oxygen... " which "... didn't allow for much multicellular development", how did the 'first pooper' originate?
I am skeptic on many of these evolutionary theories. Too many holes for me. The fossil evidence is present, if we are reading it correctly, and there is a lot of speculation on what it means. I get and believe in evolutionary capabilities and physical adaptation to fit a changing environment -- survival of the fitest, etc. For me, the leaps are too large.
It is all very interesting 'stuff'. Thank you for sharing as I do enjoy reading about it. I may doubt -- I also continue to seek more knowledge and understanding so I might know.
December 5, 2007 10:07 AM
Joe cowden says:
I always knew a good crap was a thing of joy
December 5, 2007 10:45 AM
Pavel Kabrt says:
Stupid evolutionists
December 5, 2007 10:54 AM
James says:
In the beginning the earth was barren and without substance. Then God put a whole pile of substance upon the face of the earth, and the water was polluted. Thus, it all started.
I know it sounds crappy, but really, look around!
Do you REALLY think people--alone--could pull off this much crap? Nope! We had help.
So it is written, so it be. Bitchin' don-gonna-help.
December 7, 2007 1:45 AM
Randy says:
The issue of the first poop needs to be researched further. I wonder if there is a government grant for poop research? It is nice to know that pooping adds to life. Of course, you know what that means: Human beings are full of .... Perhaps the first pooper was a politician. Something to think about.
December 7, 2007 10:55 AM
Randy says:
This gives the Big Bang theory a whole new meaning!
December 8, 2007 9:51 PM
peskeyplumber says:
Youtube poop my friend.
December 9, 2007 2:07 PM
Jack Dube says:
If you want to be taken seriously spell it correctly. The word is faeces. Jack
PS Even the spell-check got it wrong!
December 9, 2007 6:16 PM
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