Multicellular animals probably evolved at the seafloor after a rise in oceanic oxygen levels. Biogeochemical model simulations suggest that as these animals started to rework the seafloor, they triggered a negative feedback that reduced global oxygen.
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Meysman, F. Oxygen burrowed away. Nature Geosci 7, 620–621 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2218
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2218
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