Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40315312›Full record

ArticleScience advances2025

Episodic body size variations of early Paleozoic trilobites associated with marine redox changes.

Zhixin Sun, Fangchen Zhao, Han Zeng, Douglas H Erwin, Maoyan Zhu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Zhixin SunState Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.ORCID 0000-0003-0547-8671
Fangchen ZhaoState Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8473-4439
Han ZengState Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5728-7896
Douglas H ErwinDepartment of Paleobiology, MRC-121, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2518-5614
Maoyan ZhuState Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.ORCID 0000-0001-7327-9856

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Body size greatly affects how organisms interact with their environments. However, the macroevolutionary patterns of body size across many major metazoan clades and their constraining mechanisms remain elusive. A new high-resolution body size dataset covering 2435 species from 1091 genera of Cambrian and Ordovician trilobites reveals that body size evolution changes episodically, with three marked reductions in size. Such a pattern rules out a persistent Cope's rule dynamic. Rather, we find a strong temporal link between body size changes and major fluctuations in marine redox, supporting the hypothesis that marine oxygen levels exerted a primary control on the tempo and mode of trilobite body size evolution. These further imply a dominant role for marine oxygen in early animal evolution.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionBody SizeAnimalsAquatic OrganismsFossilsOxidation-ReductionOxygenPhylogenyOxygen

Identifiers

PMID40315312
PMCPMC12047424

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.