We show that the rates of diversification of the marine fauna and the levels of atmospheric CO(2) have been closely correlated for the past 545 million years. These results, using two of the fundamental databases of the Earth's biota and the Earth's atmospheric composition, respectively, are highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). The strength of the correlation suggests that one or more environmental variables controlling CO(2) levels have had a profound impact on evolution throughout the history of metazoan life. Comparing our work with highly significant correlations described by D. H. Rothman Rothman, D. H. (2001) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 4305-4310 between total biological diversity and a measure of stable carbon isotope fractionation, we find that the rates of diversification rather than total diversification correlate with environmental variables, and that the rate of diversification follows the record of CO(2) projected by R. A. Berner and Z. Kothavala Berner, R. A. Kothavala, Z. (2001) Am. J. Sci. 301, 182-204 more closely than that predicted by Rothman.
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