101-2 Information Revolutions in the History of Life: Origin of the “Immense World”

Session: Paleontology, Biogeography/Biostratigraphy & Phylogenetic/Morphological Patterns

Presenting Author:

Roy Plotnick

Author:

Plotnick, Roy E.¹

Abstract:

Each organism has its own perceptual world, the unique set of environmental signals that it perceives and reacts to, its Umwelt (von Uexküll). Organisms occupying the same physical space can have utterly different Umwelten. Today’s incredible diversity of Umwelten has been called “An Immense World.”(Yong). Over geologic time, the variety and complexity of environmental signals have increased. In step, the abilities of organisms to receive these signals also increased, i.e., the diversity of Umwelten grew. These increases are co-evolutionary; as the richness of signals, the potential information content of the environment, was largely driven by the diversity of biological signal producers. Episodes of increase in the complexity of the information landscape and in organisms ability to perceive it, information revolutions, thus parallel other major biotic transitions. Probable information revolutions were: 1) The origin of microbial life. Chemoreception was the earliest ability to appear, with bacterial and archaeal species detecting and responding to a vast array of chemical signals. Mechanoreception was to used to attach to surfaces. Other  senses included photoreception  and magnetoreception. 2) The appearance of single-celled eukaryotes. Protists still predominantly use chemoreception and are still size limited to detect gradients. They are large enough to produce physically separated chemical or photoreceptors.  3) The advent of animals in the Ediacaran-Cambrian. Key innovations included larger size, so that animals could detect odor plumes; the polarization of sense organs in bilaterians associated with movement; the ability to have movement of sense organs detached from movement of the whole body; and the formation of image forming eyes. Information could come from sources well removed from the body, a major increase in the sensory range. 4) The conquest of the land. Profound changes in the transmission of environmental signals occurred with the transition of water to air as a medium. Visual range greatly increased. Major changes occurred in the composition of odorants and the propagation of sound. Heat detection became possible. The development of forests greatly increased the three-dimensional complexity of the terrestrial world. 5) The origin of angiosperms. The origin of flowers led to a huge increase in the diversity of odorants and in the range of colors in the terrestrial environment, promoting olfaction and vision. 6) Human use of technology to expand perceptual limitations.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-4567

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