Proc Biol Sci 2005 Apr 22;2721565:865-9. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2996.

The geological history of deep-sea colonization by echinoids: roles of surface productivity and deep-water ventilation.

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The origins and geological history of the modern fauna of deep-sea echinoids is explored using a combination of palaeontological and molecular data. We demonstrate that, whereas generalist omnivores have migrated into the deep sea in low numbers over the past 200 Myr, there was a short time-interval between approximately 75 and 55 Myr when the majority of specialist detritivore clades independently migrated off-shelf. This coincides with a marked increase in seasonality, continental run-off and surface water productivity, and suggests that increasing organic carbon delivery into ocean basins was an important controlling factor. Oceanic anoxic events, by contrast, appear to have played a subsidiary role in controlling deep-sea diversity.

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Genes referenced: LOC100887844

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