Sara Pruss on the First Reef Builders

The first multicellular animals to build reefs lived in the Early Cambrian around the time of the Cambrian explosion. They were sponges called archaeocyaths. In the podcast, Sara Pruss suggests that the rise of the archaeocyaths fostered an increase in animal diversity. But they were relatively short-lived, and when they died out in the Middle Cambrian, the diversity declined. Over geological time, reef-building organisms appear and disappear again and again until the corals we have today appeared in the Middle Triassic, about 240 million years ago. Pruss is currently trying to understand why reefs are such a persistent feature of the geological record, despite the environmental stresses imposed on them. She is a Professor of Geosciences at Smith College.

You can listen to Sara Pruss on the First Reef Builders online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Sara Pruss on the First Reef Builders is an episode from Geology Bites By Oliver Strimpel by Oliver Strimpel.

This episode is 00:23:21 long.

This episode was published on Feb 11, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Geology Bites By Oliver Strimpel when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.