{"id":10737,"date":"2023-12-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=10737"},"modified":"2023-12-01T06:46:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T06:46:09","slug":"new-unified-theory-shows-how-past-landscapes-drove-the-evolution-of-earths-rich-diversity-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/new-unified-theory-shows-how-past-landscapes-drove-the-evolution-of-earths-rich-diversity-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"New unified theory shows how past landscapes drove the evolution of Earth\u2019s rich diversity of\u00a0life"},"content":{"rendered":"\nTristan Salles<\/a>, University of Sydney<\/a><\/em>; Beatriz Hadler Boggiani<\/a>, University of Sydney<\/a><\/em>; Laurent Husson<\/a>, Universit\u00e9 Grenoble Alpes (UGA)<\/a><\/em>, and Manon Lorcery<\/a>, Universit\u00e9 Grenoble Alpes (UGA)<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Earth\u2019s surface is the living skin of our planet \u2013 it connects the physical, chemical and biological systems.<\/p>\n\n

Over geological time, this surface evolves. Rivers fragment the landscape into an environmentally diverse range of habitats. These rivers also transfer sediments from the mountains to the continental plains and ultimately the oceans. <\/p>\n\n

The idea that landscapes have influenced the trajectory of life on our planet has a long history, dating back to the early 19th century scientific narratives of German polymath Alexander von Humboldt<\/a>. While we\u2019ve learnt more since then, many aspects of biodiversity evolution remain enigmatic. For example, it\u2019s still unclear why there is a 100-million-year gap between the explosion of marine life and the development of plants on continents.<\/p>\n\n

In research published in Nature<\/a> today, we propose a new theory that relates the evolution of biodiversity over the past 540 million years to sediment \u201cpulses\u201d controlled by past landscapes.<\/p>\n\n

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