Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley
This episode discusses misconceptions about early animal evolution, including the notion that resolving early animal evolution will settle the debate as to whether our earliest ancestors were sponges or comb jellies. Both groups of animals display a suite of undervalued traits, referred to as hidden biology, that demonstrate their evolutionary complexity.
Reference: Dunn et al 2015 The hidden biology of sponges and ctenophores, Trends in Ecology and Evolution Vol 30 No 5
About the host:
Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and sustainability at Maine Maritime Academy and is currently collaborating on a guide book to the intertidal zone in the Gulf of Maine.
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