Dynamics of Complex Systems: Biological and Environmental Coevolution Preceding the Cambrian Explosion
This MIT graduate seminar examines the roughly 100 million years leading up to the Cambrian explosion, starting from the earliest known microscopic animal fossils around 600 million years ago. Lectures and discussions trace how changes in global biogeochemical cycles both drove and responded to the rapid diversification of early animal life, pulling together quantitative modeling, organic geochemistry, and evolutionary biology to reconstruct that coevolution. Students work through primary literature and discussion sessions that ask them to identify and quantify feedbacks between biology and environment rather than treat them as separate stories. Materials are provided through MIT OpenCourseWare, including the syllabus and readings used in the seminar, free to access with no certificate offered. The course suits students who already have background in earth or biological sciences and want to see how researchers argue about causation across deep time.