Studying biological responses to global change in atmospheric oxygen.
A popular book recently hypothesized that change in atmospheric oxygen over geological time is the most important physical factor in the evolution of many fundamental characteristics of modern terrestrial animals. This hypothesis is generated primarily using fossil data but the present paper considers how modern experimental biology can be used to test it. Comparative physiology and experimental evolution clearly show that changes in atmospheric O(2) over the ages had the potential to drive evolution, assuming the physiological O(2)-sensitivity of animals today is similar to the past. Established methods, such as phylogenetically independent contrasts, as well new approaches, such as adding environmental history to phylogenetic analyses or modeling interactions between environmental stresses and biological responses with different rate constants, may be useful for testing (disproving) hypotheses about biological adaptations to changes in atmospheric O(2).
Powell
Frank L
FL
Division of Physiology, Department of Medicine and White Mountain Research Station, University of California-San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0623, USA. fpowell@ucsd.edu
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny
D010100:Oxygen
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