EVOLUTION OF LIFE • The emergence of vertebrates

species
• The growth of vascular plants
Evolution - It concerns with the origin • The diversification of fishes and
and the natural processes of life. It is amphibians.
one of the most well-known subjects in
the field of Biology. The Ordovician Period ushered in
significant changes in plate tectonics,
climate, and biological systems. Rapid
seafloor spreading at oceanic ridges
fostered some of the highest global
sea levels in the Phanerozoic Eon.

GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

To chart the history of the Earth,
geologists have developed a
geologic time scale that consists of
four eras: Large expanses of several continents
Precambrian became flooded with shallow seas,
Paleozoic and mound-type coral reefs were very
Mesozoic common. Fishes were widespread.
Cenozoic Vascular plants began to colonize
coastal lowlands during the Silurian
Precambrian – This era in Earth’s history Period, whereas continental interiors
began 4.6 billion years ago and lasted remained essentially barren of life.
until 542 million years ago.
The Devonian, part of the
Involves 3 eons: Paleozoic era, is otherwise known as
Characterized by the formation of
• Hadean the planet, the first tectonic the Age of Fishes, as it spawned a
• Archean movements and the absence of remarkable variety of fish. The most
• Proterozoic life on Earth. formidable of them were the armored
The single-celled organisms and certain
placoderms, a group that first
marine mammals emerged marking the appeared during the Silurian with
beginning of life on earth. powerful jaws lined with bladelike
plates that acted as teeth.

“Age of Crinoids”
The Mississippian Period represents the
last time limestone was deposited by
widespread seas on the North
American continent. Limestone is
Paleozoic Era – This era lasted around composed of calcium carbonate from
542 million years to 250 million years marine organisms such as crinoids,
ago. which dominated the seas during the
Cambrian explosion – an event Mississippian Period.
characterized by the migration of
marine animals onto land. Forests resulted in the later formation
of coal, which characterizes the
Pennsylvanian Period. Also
characteristic of Pennsylvanian time how large these animals were,
was the diversification of amphibians imagine sprinting as fast as you
and insects. For example, insects with can.
non-folding wings appeared. Cretaceous Period
- During the Cretaceous,
During the Permian period, the last accelerated plate collision
period of the era, Pangaea began to caused mountains to build
drift apart, causing a major extinction along the western margin of
that wiped out the majority of life on North America. As these
Earth. All the world's landmasses were mountains were rising, the Gulf
joined into a single continent that of Mexico basin subsided, and
spread from pole to pole. seawater began to spread
northward into the expanding
Pangaea- The continent we now know western interior. Marine water
as North America was contiguous with also began to flood from the
Africa, South America, and Europe. Arctic region.
They all existed as a single continent
called Pangaea. Mass Extinction - The Mesozoic came
to an abrupt end 66 million years ago
Mesozoic Era in a dramatic extinction event. An
Lasting from approximately 250 million estimated 70 per cent of plant and
years to 65 million years ago. This era animal species perished.
has been called “the age of
Dinosaurs”.The Mesozoic era involves Cenozoic Era
three period: This ongoing era began around 65
Triassic million years ago. This was
Jurassic characterized by the height of
Cretaceous the Ice Age, which saw the existence
of the wolly mammoth and the saber-
toothed tiger

Triassic Period
- This era is popularly known as
the “Age of Reptiles” and for
good reason: reptiles, and
particularly dinosaurs, were the
dominant land-dwelling
vertebrate animals at the time
Jurrasic Period
- The Jurassic Period was a
golden time for dinosaurs, Paleogene
which flourished for 180 million - During the Paleogene the
years. Huge sauropod continents drifted farther apart,
herbivores (such as 87-foot [27- heading toward their modern
meter] long Diplodocus) and positions. Oceans widened the
carnivores (such as 35-foot [11- gaps, Europe severed its last ties
meter] long Allosaurus) with North America, and
emerged. To get a sense of
Australia and Antarctica finally parted Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
ways - He developed a system of
classification for all identified
Neogene organisms during his time,
- The Neogene Period started and was able to show an
with the replacement of vast evolutionary pattern among species
areas of forest by grasslands through this system
and savannahs. New food
sources and niches on the George-Louis Leclerc, Comte
grasslands and savannahs de Buffon (1707-1788) - He
fostered further evolution of hypothesized that species
mammals and birds. Whales come from the same
diversified in the seas, and ancestors instead of emerging
sharks reached their largest size separately from one another.
during the Miocene.
Quaternary Period Charles Bonnet (1720-1793) -
- The Quaternary Period is the He believed that organisms
third and last of the three were climbing a “ladder of
periods of the Cenozoic Era. life” through which animals
You and I are living in this became more intelligent;
period, which began only 2.58 primates became human; and
million years ago. This is less than humans became angels.
0.1% of all of geologic time! A
thin layer of sediments Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)
deposited during the - He suggested that all life
Quaternary covers much of the came from a common
Earth's land surface. ancestor.

THEORIES ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF

LIFE Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
(1744-1829) -He formulated
Anaximander (610-546 the theory of use and disuse
B.C.) - He suggested that and the inheritance of
life evolved from slimes in acquired traits.
the ocean and migrated
eventually to drier,
terrestrial areas. Charles Darwin (1804-1882)-
He proposed the theory of
natural selection and
Xenophanes (570-480 B.C) provided evidence for the
- He observed fossils and theory of common
came up with various ancestry.
theories about the
evolution of life on earth. CHARLES DARWIN AND THE
EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT – THE THEORY
Aristotle (384-322 B.C) - He OF NATURAL SELECTION
believed that animals
emerged from different Erasmus Darwin- Suggested the idea
elements and an that animals evolved from a common
animating force called ancestor.
vital heat, or soul.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck • The possibility of tracing the ancestry
Formulated two theories about the of organisms
evolution of species:
1. The theories of use and disuse. He synthesized unrelated facts
2. The inheritance of acquired into a conceptual framework that
characteristics accounted for the diversity of life.
In this book, he described the
The Theory of Use and Disuse phenomenon of natural selection
The limbs, organs, and behavior as “Descent with modification”.
or organisms are enhanced when Darwin defined evolution as "descent
utilized more frequently for their with modification," the idea that
survival. Oppositely, when these species change over time, give rise to
physical and behavioral new species, and share a common
characteristics fall into disuse, ancestor.
they either reduce in size,
decrease function or stop
evolving.

LAMARCKISM
The Theory of Inheritance and
Acquired Traits - The adaptation
developed by organisms during their
lifetime, such as the changes in their
physical and behavioral traits,become Charles Lyell - He developed the
genetically encoded and are passed theory of uniformitarianism, which was
on to their offspring. a significant
influence on the
HMS Beagle – boat na gisakyan ni formation of
charlez Charles Darwin's
theory of
evolution. The
theory of
uniformitarianism
states that the processes by which
current geological features were
created were slow, steady, and
constant.

Thomas Malthus - He concluded that

as more offspring are born, a more
competitive nature would
DARWIN REALIZED THAT arise. As more offspring
Living organisms adapt to their come into the
environment. This means that the way population, fewer
they look, the way they behave, how resources will be available
they are built, or their way of life makes for the population. This
them suited to survive and reproduce has the potential for
in their habitats.The changes in the competition between
traits of a species can result in: organisms for survival due
• The evolution of species to lack of resources.
• The emergence of a new species
Alfred Wallace - Wallace supplied Harold Urey and Stanley Miller (1953)
Darwin with - The primary significance of the
birds for his Miller-Urey experiment was that
studies and the experiment significantly
decided to seek proved that origin of life on the
Darwin's help in planet Earth had occurred
publishing his because of the chemical
own ideas on conditions or through
evolution. He Abiogenesis. During the
sent Darwin his investigation, the reactants that
theory in 1858, were used were water,
which, to Darwin's shock, nearly methane, ammonia, and
replicated Darwin's own. hydrogen

James Hutton - James Hutton (1726 - Other views on the Origin of Life
1797) is best known
for his important 1. Ocean Surface (Tidal Pools)
contributions to the - This theory suggests that life
science of geology arose either form a tidepool,
(uniformitarianism pond or moist calyon primeval
and the great age Earth.Gases from volcanoes
of the earth). were believer to have been
However, Hutton energized by ultraviolet light
was also the first from the sun of from electrical
person to propose a mechanism of discharges to form prebiotic
natural selection to account for molecules in their froth.
evolutionary change over time. 2. Panspermia
- This theory, also known as
ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH Cosmic Ancestry, suggests that
living organisms were seeded
Abiogenesis – without, life, the origin on Earth by passengers aboard
comets and meteors.Such
The idea that life arose from nonlife incoming organisms would
more than 3.5 billion years ago on have to survive the heat of re-
Earth. Abiogenesis proposes that the entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
first life-forms generated were very 3. Undersea Thermal Vents
simple and through a gradual process - This is recently proposed theory,
became increasingly complex. which suggests that life have
arisen at ancient volcanic vents
RNA - Some scientists have theorized on the seafloor.This environment
that Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) was the provides necessary gases,
first molecule to evolve into an active energy, and possible sources of
component of life, as it has the ability catalysts such as metal
to act as both genes and enzymes. sulphides.
4. Endosymbiosis
- The American biologist Lyn
Margulis proposed that cell
organelles may have evolved
when a small prokaryote was
engulfed by a larger prokaryote
 and began to live symbiotically Isotopes - Atoms of the same
inside the larger cell. element (same number of
proton) but with different
number of neutrons.

EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION

1. Fossil Records
Fossils are remains of ancient
organisms whose corpses Earth’s Age - As the uranium in
escaped decay or rocks decays, it emits
decomposition subatomic particles and
and, after many years, became turns into lead at a constant
part of Earth’s crust. rate. Measuring the uranium-
A fossil may be the preserved tolead ratios in the oldest
bones or skin of the organisms rocks on Earth gave scientists an
themselves estimated age of the planet of
- Fossils may also be casts, which 4.6 billion years.
are impressions of organisms on
the sediment, or trace fossils, 2. Molecular Biology
which are marks made by the - Each of our proteins has a
organism during its lifetime. specific number of amino acids
- Fossilization of dead arranged in a specific order.
organisms occurs through Any difference that occurs in
the rapid burial of their the amino acid sequence
remains, usually in waterborne reflects changes in the DNA
sediment. composition of an organism
- Fossil evidences show the
chronological emergence of 3. Comparative Embryology
vertebrates as being sequential
to fishes, followed by
amphibians, reptiles, birds and
mammals.
- Radiometric dating is a type of
fossil dating which uses the
radioactive material in
sediment
to determine the fossil’s age.
The technique assumes that in
undisturbed layers of rock, the
deepest rock layers contain the
oldest fossils.
4. Comparative Anatomy
- The evolutionary relationships
among groups of organisms
can be determined through
structural resemblances called
homologous structures

5. Biogeographical Evidences
- Biogeography is the study of
the geographical distribution of
species at present and in the
past.It stresses the role of
species dispersal from a point of
origin across pre-existing barriers
that separate them from their
population.