New Study Revises Classic Model of History of Ocean Life (IMAGE)

Florida Museum of Natural History

New Study Revises Classic Model of History of Ocean Life

Caption

A seminal 1981 study organized the a history of ocean life into three hierarchies, with certain animals reigning the seas during each time periods. Two mass extinctions cleared the way for new groups to flourish and dominate. But a new study provides evidence that the rise of marine predators was an equally powerful transition, resulting in a fourth hierarchy of marine life.

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Jeff Gage/Florida Museum of Natural History

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