News Finding: Some stages of the biological changes during this period took about 30 million years, others took about 5-10 million years.
Paper Finding: This study provides the first explicit estimates of rates of both phenotypic and molecular evolution during the Cambrian explosion, permitting illuminating comparisons with later Phanerozoic rates.
News Context: According to the experts, a moderate increase in rate of evolution explains how life made the jump from simple to complex systems, without contradicting Darwin's theory of evolution. Some stages of the biological changes during this period took about 30 million years, others took about 5-10 million years. "In this study we've estimated that rates of both morphological and genetic evolution during the Cambrian explosion were five times faster than today - quite rapid, but perfectly consistent with Darwin's theory of evolution," Lee said.
Paper Context: Phenotypic traits diverge at 1.17% pMyr in the early Cambrian, w83 the average rate for the remainder of the Phanerozoic (0.139% pMyr); molecular divergence is 0.204% pMyr, w93 the subsequent rate (0.021%). This study provides the first explicit estimates of rates of both phenotypic and molecular evolution during the Cambrian explosion, permitting illuminating comparisons with later Phanerozoic rates. The 4-and 5.5-fold increases in phenotypic and molecular evolutionary rates respectively provide quantitative support for the widespread view that evolutionary rates were elevated during the Cambrian explosion.