Few topics in geobiology have been as extensively debated as the role of Earth's oxygenation in controlling when and why animals emerged and diversified. All currently described animals require oxygen for at least a portion of their life cycle. Therefore, the transition to an oxygenated planet was a prerequisite for the emergence of animals. Yet, our understanding of Earth's oxygenation and the environmental requirements of animal habitability and ecological success is currently limited; estimates for the timing of the appearance of environments sufficiently oxygenated to support ecologically stable populations of animals span a wide range, from billions of years to only a few million years before animals appear in the fossil record. In this light, the extent to which oxygen played an important role in controlling when animals appeared remains a topic of debate. When animals originated and when they diversified are separate questions, meaning either one or both of these phenomena could have been decoupled from oxygenation. Here, we present views from across this interpretive spectrum—in a point–counterpoint format—regarding crucial aspects of the potential links between animals and surface oxygen levels. We highlight areas where the standard discourse on this topic requires a change of course and note that several traditional arguments in this “life versus environment” debate are poorly founded. We also identify a clear need for basic research across a range of fields to disentangle the relationships between oxygen availability and emergence and diversification of animal life.

中文翻译：

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表面氧水平与动物共同进化。

在地球生物学中，很少有话题像地球上的氧化作用在控制动物何时以及为何出现和多样化方面所起的作用那样受到广泛的争论。目前所有描述的动物在其生命周期的至少一部分时间内都需要氧气。因此，向含氧行星的过渡是动物出现的先决条件。但是，目前我们对地球氧合作用以及对动物宜居性和生态成功的环境要求的理解是有限的。对足够充氧以支持生态稳定的动物种群的环境出现时间的估计范围很广，从数十亿年到只有几百年才出现在化石记录中。有鉴于此，氧气在控制动物何时出现中起重要作用的程度仍然是一个争论的话题。当动物起源和它们多样化时，是另外的问题，这意味着这些现象中的一个或两个都可能与氧合脱钩了。在这里，我们以点对点的形式展示了来自整个解释性光谱的观点，这些观点涉及动物与表面氧水平之间潜在联系的关键方面。我们重点介绍了有关该主题的标准论述需要改变方向的领域，并指出在“生命与环境”辩论中，一些传统论点的依据不充分。我们还明确认为需要进行广泛领域的基础研究，以弄清氧气供应与动物生命的出现和多样化之间的关系。