Zoology Department Seminar: What triggered the Cambrian Radiation?

Speaker: Prof Rachel Wood, University of Edinburgh

Title: What triggered the Cambrian Radiation?

Abstract: The Cambrian radiation of animals started ca. 550 million years ago, and was terminated by the first mass extinction of the Phanerozoic. The unicellular ancestors of animals possessed similar genes to those implicated in the development of animal traits, so why did it take so long for animals to appear and become ecologically dominant? I will explore the role of oxygen in creating habitable space for animals to diversify, and show that this radiation was not linear, but cyclical.

Our Departmental Seminars run weekly on Thursdays during term time. They cover recent research on a wide variety of topics from evolutionary genetics through behavioural ecology to ecology and natural history.  

Everyone in Zoology is invited, and Part II undergraduate zoologists are particularly encouraged to attend.  Please click here for a list of all of this term's seminars.