Author(s)

Andrian Vasilievich Popov¹, Galina Petrovna Nestell², Merlynd Keith Nestell², Walter Leroy Manger³

¹Institute of Earth Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
²Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA.
³Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA.

The evolutionary history of the biosphere is characterized by aromorphosis: biological evolution by a general increase in the degree of organization without developing high degrees of specialization [1]. Four major stages of the evolutionary transformation of life (mega-aromorphoses) can be established in the recorded succession of the Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran)-Phanerozoic aromorphoses reflecting changes of the dominant groups. They are defined by the appearance of archetypes ensuring the possibilities of a prolonged and diverse rise of the level of their organization leading to significant increase in the activity of living organisms and their emerging independence from the environment. A successive series of developmental stages exploiting of the aquatic environment of the Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran)-Phanerozoic biosphere can be established based on their dominant groups: the biospheres of protozoans, proto-metazoans, protobilaterals, fishes and amphibians.

Biosphere, Super-Aromorphoses, Mega-Aromorphoses, Archetype

Popov, A. , Nestell, G. , Nestell, M. and Manger, W. (2017) An Evolutionary Model for the Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran)-Phanerozoic Biosphere. Part One: Concepts and Exploitation of Aquatic Environments. Open Journal of Geology, 7, 1386-1403. doi: 10.4236/ojg.2017.79092.