# Sara Pruss on the First Reef Builders

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/geology-bites-159592/sara-pruss-on-the-first-reef-builders
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/geology-bites-159592/sara-pruss-on-the-first-reef-builders.md
Podcast: [Geology Bites](https://stenobird.com/podcast/geology-bites-159592)
Published: 2026-02-11T16:22:38+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/geologybites/episodes/Sara-Pruss-on-the-First-Reef-Builders-e3ev0c6
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/80e7bb4/podcast/play/115359558/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-1-11%2Fe6bcb53f-acc3-0b97-8af0-983db6f70631.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/geology-bites-159592/episodes/sara-pruss-on-the-first-reef-builders
Duration seconds: 1401

## Resource

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.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/geology-bites-159592/episodes/sara-pruss-on-the-first-reef-builders/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/geology-bites-159592/sara-pruss-on-the-first-reef-builders.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.