If spoken freely Humans are probably one of the best, and the worst thing happened to mother nature. We are smart and trying to save our planet but we are careless and the reason why our world needs to keep now. However, now scientist have reported that animal may have caused global warming before us as well.

 

When and how animal caused global warming ?

Around 520-540 million years ago when life was still evolving. Animal life had changed in the ocean and began breaking down organic material on the seafloor. Which lead to more carbon dioxide and less oxygen in the atmosphere. Following which the next 100 million years became a lot more harsher for these early animals as the ocean level dropped and carbon dioxide caused global warming.

What does expert say?

“Like worms in a garden, tiny creatures on the seabed disturb, mix and recycle dead organic material—a process known as bioturbation,” said Professor Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter.

“Because the effect of animals burrowing is so big, you would expect to see big changes in the environment when the whole ocean floor changes from an undisturbed state to a bioturbated state.”

 

 

“We did indeed see a decrease in oxygen levels in the ocean around 520 million years ago,” said Professor Filip Meysman, from the University of Antwerp.

“But evidence from the rock record showed sediment was only a little disturbed.”

Professor Simon Poulton, from the University of Leeds, said: “This meant that the animals living in the seafloor at that time were not very active, and did not move very deep into the seabed.

“At first sight, these two observations did not seem to add up.”
Lead author Dr. Sebastiaan van de Velde, of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, explained: “The critical factor was to realize that the most significant changes happen at the lowest levels of animal activity.

“This meant that the first bioturbators had a massive impact.”

The researchers said this realization was the “missing piece of the puzzle,” and allowed them to construct a mathematical model of Earth around that time to look to the changes caused by these early life forms.

Dr. Benjamin Mills Statement

Dr. Benjamin Mills, also from the University of Leeds, who led this part of the research, said: “When we ran our model, we were surprised by what we saw”

“The evolution of these small animals did indeed decrease the oxygen in the ocean and atmosphere but also increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to such an extent that it caused a global warming event.”

“We knew that warming occurred at this point in Earth history, but did not realize animals could drive it.”