{"id":614394,"date":"2026-09-04T15:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/614394\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T15:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:44:16","slug":"life-evolved-thanks-to-an-giant-poop-explosion-say-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/614394\/","title":{"rendered":"Life evolved thanks to an giant poop explosion, say scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We may have a huge poop explosion to thank for the existence of complex life on Earth, according to scientists.<\/p>\n<p>A new study, published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/trends\/ecology-evolution\/abstract\/S0169-5347(26)00156-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0169534726001564%3Fshowall%3Dtrue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution<\/a>, has credited this \u2018faecal revolution\u2019 with influencing one of the most significant turning points in animal and environmental <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/nature\/evolution\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">evolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers from Flinders University have suggested that a build-up of excrement from primitive sea creatures may have been a core trigger for the Cambrian explosion \u2013 a period around 540 million years ago when most major animal groups emerged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNext to rising oxygen levels and other contributing factors, the importance of faeces in ancient ecosystems is often overlooked,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/researchnow.flinders.edu.au\/en\/persons\/russell-bicknell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Dr Russell Bicknell<\/a>, an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellow at Flinders University\u2019s College of Science and Engineering.<\/p>\n<p>Poop from prehistoric sea creatures, said the scientists, encouraged marine life to evolve and diversify.<\/p>\n<p>Bicknell explained that \u201cincreasingly sophisticated digestive systems\u201d were part of a bigger picture that helped more nutrients pour into ancient oceans.<\/p>\n<p>This, he continued, sped up the development of marine ecosystems in the later Ediacaran and early Cambrian periods.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Evolutionary-explosion-1.jpg\" alt=\"A graphic showing the biodiversity of prehistoric oceans before faecal matter and afterwards \u2013\u00a0full of animals from the Cambrian explosionA graphic showing the biodiversity of prehistoric oceans before faecal matter and afterwards \u2013\u00a0full of animals from the Cambrian explosion\" class=\"wp-image-218460\"\/>A graphic showing the biodiversity of prehistoric oceans before faecal matter and afterwards \u2013\u00a0full of animals from the Cambrian explosion &#8211; Credit: R Bicknell (Flinders University)<\/p>\n<p>Fossilised faeces, known as coprolites, contain vital information that logs the history of our planet\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the study, researchers observed how the variety of coprolites increased as the Cambrian period progressed \u2013\u00a0a key indicator of evolution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe faecal matter includes microscopic pellets through to centimetre-scale coprolites containing shells and other animal fragments,\u201d said Bicknell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt becomes clear in the fossil record that the evolution of feeding strategies aligns with the production and distribution of organic carbon and nutrients, to start creating conditions we see in modern oceans and later on land, where fertiliser today is used to produce our food.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We may have a huge poop explosion to thank for the existence of complex life on Earth, according&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,82],"class_list":["post-614394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}