Quantifying the global biodiversity of Proterozoic eukaryotes

The global diversity of Proterozoic eukaryote fossils is poorly quantified despite its fundamental importance to the understanding of macroevolutionary patterns and dynamics on the early Earth. Here we report a new construction of fossil eukaryote diversity from the Paleoproterozoic to early Cambrian based on a comprehensive data compilation and quantitative analyses. The resulting taxonomic richness curve verifies Cryogenian glaciations as a major divide that separates the “Boring Billion” and Ediacaran Period, with the former characterized by a remarkable stasis and the latter by greater diversity, more rapid turnover, and multiple radiations and extinctions. These contrasting evolutionary patterns and dynamics provide a framework to test competing hypotheses on biosphere and geosphere co-evolution in the Proterozoic Eon.