Mapping life’s disparity and evolutionary constraints in a geometric complexity space

TL;DR

This paper explores how life on Earth is limited to a few basic shapes due to physical and evolutionary constraints, using a new geometric approach.

Contribution

The study introduces a geometric complexity space to quantify and compare the structural diversity of life forms.

Findings

Life forms cluster around simple shapes like linear and rounded structures.

Complex heteromorphic forms are consistently avoided due to physical and evolutionary constraints.

The restriction in form is shaped by geological time and ecological lifestyle.

Abstract

The Earth’s biosphere exhibits a notable diversity of forms, yet the full morphological extent and limits of life remain largely unexplored. Here, we develop a geometric complexity space for comparing all known unicellular and multicellular phyla using fractal descriptors of the density and heterogeneity of body mass and structure. By applying this approach to a large set of extant biological shapes, we show that life exploits a tiny portion of structural possibilities, clustering around linear, rounded, and densely structured forms, while consistently avoiding complex heteromorphic ones. We show that this restriction results from deep physical, metabolic, and developmental limitations, shaped over geological time by the evolution of body size and ecological lifestyle. Our findings provide a global, quantitative perspective on the long-standing interplay between chance and necessity in evolution, with implications for the expected forms of life beyond Earth.

Life’s diversity is limited to a small set of shapes due to fundamental physical and evolutionary constraints.

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