Nitrate limitation in early Neoproterozoic oceans delayed the ecological rise of eukaryotes
| dc.contributor.author | Kang, Junyao | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Gill, Benjamin C. | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Reid, Rachel E. B. | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Zhang, Feifei | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Xiao, Shuhai | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-03-23T14:31:12Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2023-03-23T14:31:12Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-03-23 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The early Neoproterozoic Era witnessed the initial ecological rise of eukaryotes at ca. 800 Ma. To assess whether nitrate availability played an important role in this evolutionary event, we measured nitrogen isotope compositions (δ<sup>15</sup>N) of marine carbonates from the early Tonian (ca. 1000 Ma to ca. 800 Ma) Huaibei Group in North China. The data reported here fill a critical gap in the δ<sup>15</sup>N record and indicate nitrate limitation in early Neoproterozoic oceans. A compilation of Proterozoic sedimentary δ<sup>15</sup>N data reveals a stepwise increase in δ<sup>15</sup>N values at ~800 Ma. Box model simulations indicate that this stepwise increase likely represents a ~50% increase in marine nitrate availability. Limited nitrate availability in early Neoproterozoic oceans may have delayed the ecological rise of eukaryotes until ~800 Ma when increased nitrate supply, together with other environmental and ecological factors, may have contributed to the transition from prokaryote-dominant to eukaryote-dominant marine ecosystems. | en |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This work was supported by NASA Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology (80NSSC18K1086 to S.X.), the NSF (EAR-2021207 to S.X.), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFA0718100 to F.Z.), the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (14380145 and 14380149 to F.Z.), and the Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling Fund (DLTD2102 to F.Z.). | en |
| dc.description.version | Published version | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade9647 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/114159 | en |
| dc.identifier.volume | 9 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science | en |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ | en |
| dc.title | Nitrate limitation in early Neoproterozoic oceans delayed the ecological rise of eukaryotes | en |
| dc.title.serial | Science Advances | en |
| dc.type | Article - Refereed | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |