User:Abyssal/Portal:Cambrian

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The Cambrian Portal

Introduction

The Cambrian ( /ˈkæmbri.ən, ˈkeɪm-/ KAM-bree-ən, KAYM-) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 485.4 Ma.

Most of the continents lay in the southern hemisphere surrounded by the vast Panthalassa Ocean. The assembly of Gondwana during the Ediacaran and early Cambrian led to the development of new convergent plate boundaries and continental-margin arc magmatism along its margins that helped drive up global temperatures. Laurentia lay across the equator, separated from Gondwana by the opening Iapetus Ocean. (Full article...)

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Modern Halobacteria sp. — Modern *Halobacteria* sp.

The Archaea (/ɑːrˈkiːə/ or /ɑːrˈkeɪə/; singular archaeon) constitute a domain or kingdom of single-celled microorganisms. These microbes are prokaryotes, meaning that they have no cell nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelles within their cells.

The Archaea show many differences in their biochemistry from other forms of life, and so they are now classified as a separate domain in the three-domain system. So far, the Archaea have been further divided into four recognized phyla. Classification is still difficult, because the vast majority have never been studied in the laboratory.

Archaea and bacteria are quite similar in size and shape, but despite this visual similarity to bacteria, archaea possess genes and several metabolic pathways that are more closely related to those of eukaryotes. Other aspects of archaean biochemistry are unique, such as their reliance on ether lipids in their cell membranes. Archaea use a much greater variety of sources of energy than eukaryotes: ranging from familiar organic compounds such as sugars, to ammonia, metal ions or even hydrogen gas. Salt-tolerant archaea use sunlight as an energy source, and other species of archaea fix carbon. Archaea reproduce asexually by binary fission, fragmentation, or budding.

Archaea are found in a broad range of habitats, includingsoils, oceans, marshlands and the human colon and navel. Archaea are now recognized as a major part of Earth's life and may play roles in both the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle. (see more...)

Did you know...

... that the 500-million-year-old Cambrian predator Hurdia was thought to be a number of separate organisms for 100 years, until the complete animal was reconstructed in March 2009?
... that the shrimp-like 510-million-year-old arthropod Waptia was named after two mountains?
... that Orsten, fossil-bearing lagerstätten in Sweden and elsewhere, are called "stinking stones" from organic content that has been preserved since the Cambrian Period?
... that the fordilloid Camya asy is one of four accepted Cambrian bivalves?
...that despite being known from many specimens, the fossil Fuxianhuia (pictured) remains one of the most controversial Cambrian arthropods?

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Agnostus pisiformis (Linnaeus, 1757) as depicted in the 47th plate of Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur..
Photo credit: User:Micha L. Rieser

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The history of paleontology traces the history of the effort to study the fossil record left behind by ancient life forms. Although fossils had been studied by scholars since ancient times, the nature of fossils and their relationship to life in the past became better understood during the 17th and 18th centuries. At the end of the 18th century the work of Georges Cuvier ended a long running debate about the reality of extinction and led to the emergence of paleontology as a scientific discipline.

The first half of the 19th century saw paleontological activity become increasingly well organized. This contributed to a rapid increase in knowledge about the history of life on Earth, and progress towards definition of the geologic time scale. As knowledge of life's history continued to improve, it became increasingly obvious that there had been some kind of successive order to the development of life. After Charles Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859, much of the focus of paleontology shifted to understanding evolutionary paths.

The last half of the 19th century saw a tremendous expansion in paleontological activity, especially in North America. The trend continued in the 20th century with additional regions of the Earth being opened to systematic fossil collection, as demonstrated by a series of important discoveries in China near the end of the 20th century. There was also a renewed interest in the Cambrian explosion that saw the development of the body plans of most animal phyla. (see more...)