Variable trace metal concentrations in the Precambrian ocean were closely linked to oxygen availability, although less is known about the drivers of seawater trace metal chemistry after the spread of complex life into the Phanerozoic eon. A major phytoplankton succession took place at the transition from the Palaeozoic to the Mesozoic era (~250 Myr ago), from an ocean dominated by the green Archaeplastida to se...