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Asexual Reproduction Stalled Early Animal Evolution for Millions of Years, Fossil Study Shows
Key Takeaways
- A new study from the University of Cambridge shows that asexual reproduction limited competition and slowed evolution in Earth's earliest animals.
- The study focused on Ediacaran fossils dating from 574 million years ago.
- Asexual reproduction, such as cloning via stolons, kept early animal diversity low for millions of years.
- Environmental stress and competition eventually drove the development of sexual reproduction, accelerating evolutionary change.
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DT Editorial Team··via phys.org