Studie verlängert Lebenshoroskop um fast 1,5 Milliarden Jahre. Versteinerte Skelette und Muscheln zeigen deutlich, wie sich Evolution und Aussterben in den letzten einer halben Milliarde Jahren abspielten, aber eine neue Analyse der Virginia Tech erweitert die Lebenskurve auf die Zeit vor fast 2 Milliarden Jahren.

**Quantifying the global biodiversity of Proterozoic eukaryotes**

Abstract

The global diversity of Proterozoic eukaryote fossils is poorly quantified despite its fundamental importance to the understanding of macroevolutionary patterns and dynamics on the early Earth. Here we report a new construction of fossil eukaryote diversity from the Paleoproterozoic to early Cambrian based on a comprehensive data compilation and quantitative analyses. The resulting taxonomic richness curve verifies Cryogenian glaciations as a major divide that separates the “Boring Billion” and Ediacaran periods, with the former characterized by a prolonged stasis, and the latter by greater diversity, more-rapid turnover, and multiple radiations and extinctions. These contrasting evolutionary patterns and dynamics provide a framework to test competing hypotheses on biosphere and geosphere coevolution in the Proterozoic Eon.

[https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm9137](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm9137)