ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2006
Darwin's dilemma: the realities of the Cambrian 'explosion'.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed.
- Widespread presence of bone marrow-like hematopoietic stem cell niche in invertebrate skeletons.Science advances · 2025Article
- On growth and form of animal behavior.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2024Article
- The Cambrian cirratuliformProceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- The Repertoire of Tissue Inhibitors of Metalloproteases: Evolution, Regulation of Extracellular Matrix Proteolysis, Engineering and Therapeutic Challenges.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Towards a unified framework to study causality in Earth-life systems.Molecular ecology · 2021Article
- The genetic factors of bilaterian evolution.eLife · 2020Article
- Darwin's Other Dilemmas and the Theoretical Roots of Emotional Connection.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Review
- Maintenance of a Protein Structure in the Dynamic Evolution of TIMPs over 600 Million Years.Genome biology and evolution · 2016Article
- Understanding complexity in the HIF signaling pathway using systems biology and mathematical modeling.Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) · 2016Review
- Molecular clocks and the early evolution of metazoan nervous systems.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2015Review
- Form and function remixed: developmental physiology in the evolution of vertebrate body plans.The Journal of physiology · 2014Review
- Characterization of cardiolipins and their oxidation products by LC-MS analysis.Chemistry and physics of lipids · 2014Review
- Article
- Microevolutionary, macroevolutionary, ecological and taxonomical implications of punctuational theories of adaptive evolution.Biology direct · 2013Review
- The chromatin insulator CTCF and the emergence of metazoan diversity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2012Article
- Distinguishing geology from biology in the Ediacaran Doushantuo biota relaxes constraints on the timing of the origin of bilaterians.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
- Cambrian stalked echinoderms show unexpected plasticity of arm construction.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
- The evolution of an ancient metazoan biomineralization strategy was supported by a horizontal gene transfer.Mobile genetic elements · 2011Article
- Mitochondrial DNA, chloroplast DNA and the origins of development in eukaryotic organisms.Biology direct · 2010Article
- Tentaculate fossils from the Cambrian of Canada (British Columbia) and China (Yunnan) interpreted as primitive deuterostomes.PloS one · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Cambrian 'explosion' is widely regarded as one of the fulcrum points in the history of life, yet its origins and causes remain deeply controversial. New data from the fossil record, especially of Burgess Shale-type Lagerstätten, indicate, however, that the assembly of bodyplans is not only largely a Cambrian phenomenon, but can already be documented in fair detail. This speaks against a much more ancient origin of the metazoans, and current work is doing much to reconcile the apparent discrepancies between the fossil record, including the Ediacaran assemblages of latest Neoproterozoic age and molecular 'clocks'. Hypotheses to explain the Cambrian 'explosion' continue to be generated, but the recurrent confusion of cause and effect suggests that the wrong sort of question is being asked. Here I propose that despite its step-like function this evolutionary event is the inevitable consequence of Earth and biospheric change.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.