Scientists explore possible links between Earth's orbit & evolution of species

A recent study revealed that fluctuations in the Earth's orbit may have influenced the evolution of at least certain creatures on the planet. Researchers highlighted the fact that the species which have been used as the subject of the study are “responsible for half of the limestone produced in the oceans and therefore play a major role in the carbon cycle and in determining ocean chemistry,” according to Sputnik. 

After researching coccoliths, which are sheets of limestone made by tiny algae called coccolithophores, a group of scientists headed by Luc Beaufort, paleoceanographer from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), presented this theory, the ScienceAlert website reported.  

Study on Species evolution due to fluctuations in the Earth's orbit

The study found that the average length of a coccolith appeared to have changed in line with the earth's 405,000-year orbital eccentricity cycle, after measuring 9 million coccoliths which are over 2.8 million years of evolution in the Indian and Pacific seas. With the use of AI automated microscopy, Beaufort and colleagues measured the coccoliths.  

Furthermore, as per the study, Earth's orbit expands and becomes 5% elliptical every 405,000 years before reverting to a more even route. Earlier, scientists stated that orbital eccentricity is responsible for global climate change, but it was not known how it affects life on Earth, until this study, ScienceAlert reported. 

The website further reported that earlier genetic studies have proven that various species in the Noelaerhabdaceae family of coccolithophores may be distinguished by their cell sizes, allowing the researchers to determine species counts using coccolith size ranges. The researcher explained, "A greater diversity of ecological niches when seasonality is high leads to a larger number of species because Noelaerhabdaceae adaptation is characterized by the adjustment of coccolith size and degree of calcification to thrive in the new environments,” Sputnik reported.  

In addition to this, the researchers unveiled the possible influence morphologically diverse species had on Earth's carbon cycle, which they may control through both photosynthesis and the creation of their limestone (CaCO3) shells, by estimating mass buildup rates in sediment samples. 

Furthermore, as a result, the group of researchers speculates that the cyclic abundance characteristics of these limestone makers had a major role in ancient climates, and may describe previous mysterious climate fluctuations in past warm periods, albeit this hypothesis has to be verified. 

(Image: Pixabay/ Unsplash/ representative Image)