The Cambrian Explosion marks the rise of diverse animal groups ca. 540 million years ago, but the triggers for this revolution remain poorly understood. The roots of the Cambrian Explosion are in to be found in the preceding Ediacaran, and we can now document a series of pulses of enhanced seawater oxygen stability over the Ediacaran to Cambrian interval. These coincide with pulses of diversification and increased body size in animals, and the biological control of carbonate production was driven by the rise of predation.