Geology 100 Introduction to Geology Transcript Evolution Through Time

OUR PLANET IS TEEMING WITH A TREMENDOUS DIVERSITY OF LIFE FORMS, AND EACH YEAR MANY NEW SPECIES ARE DISCOVERED. THERE IS MUCH TO LEARN ABOUT HOW THIS LIVING WORLD EVOLVED, YET FOSSIL EVIDENCE OF EARLIEST LIFE SUGGESTS A WORLD ONCE DOMINATED BY MICROSCOPIC ORGANISMS. HOW THE PRESENT VARIETY OF LIFE EVOLVED THROUGH TIME REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST INTRIGUING ISSUES IN SCIENCE. THIS IS ALGAE, ONE OF THE SIMPLEST ORGANISMS ON EARTH, AND IT'S BEEN AROUND AN EXTREMELY LONG TIME. FROM FOSSIL EVIDENCE, WE KNOW THAT ALGAE HAS BEEN ON EARTH AT LEAST 1.8 BILLION YEARS. OLDER AND MORE PRIMITIVE ORGANISMS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN ROCKS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. THE PROBABLE FOSSIL REMAINS OF BLUE-GREEN ALGAE AND BACTERIA HAVE BEEN FOUND IN ROCKS NEARLY 3 BILLION YEARS OLD IN AUSTRALIA, AFRICA, AND EVEN HERE IN NORTH AMERICA. THE STUDY OF FOSSILS HAS ENABLED SCIENTISTS TO IDENTIFY THOUSANDS OF SPECIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS THAT ONCE INHABITED THE EARTH. BUT THE PICTURE OF ANCIENT LIFE IS FAR FROM COMPLETE, ESPECIALLY OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE'S ORIGINS. SCIENTISTS HAVE AN ENORMOUS CHALLENGE TO FILL OUR GAPS OF KNOWLEDGE IN LIFE'S HISTORY. A GOOD WAY TO START IS TO GO TO THE ROCKS THEMSELVES AND LITERALLY DIG FOR CLUES. THESE CLUES EXIST IN THE FOSSILIZED REMAINS OF PAST LIFE. FOSSILS CAN BE FORMED IN SEVERAL WAYS. AFTER SOME ORGANISMS DIE, THEY ARE QUICKLY BURIED BY SEDIMENT. AS THE SEDIMENT TURNS TO STONE, THE REMAINS DECAY OR DISSOLVE, AND A HOLLOW CAVITY CALLED A MOLD IS LEFT BEHIND. MOLDS ARE AMONG THE MOST COMMON FOSSILS, BUT OTHER TYPES ALSO OCCUR IN ABUNDANCE. BURIED BONE AND SHELL MATERIAL MAY SURVIVE INTACT WITHIN SEDIMENTARY ROCK FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS. HOWEVER, MUCH OF THIS MATERIAL CRYSTALLIZES OR IS REPLACED BY MINERALS DEPOSITED FROM GROUND WATER. CASTS PRESERVING THE ORIGINAL FORMS OF THE ORGANISM RESULT. LIKE MOLDS, CASTS ARE NUMEROUS. EVIDENCE SHOWING THE ACTIVITY OF PAST ORGANISMS IS ALSO FOUND IN THE FORM OF FOSSIL TRACKS, BURROWS, AND NESTS. THAT FOSSILS EXIST AT ALL IS STARTLING CONSIDERING THE VIGOROUS PROCESSES OF EROSION AND PLATE TECTONICS ACTING ON EARTH'S SURFACE. THE PRESERVATION OF FOSSILS IS PROBABLY BEST IN THE OCEAN WHERE YOU HAVE A SUPERABUNDANCE OF ORGANISMS, SO THAT WHEN YOU HAVE MANY MILLIONS OF LITTLE CRITTERS THAT CAN FALL TO THE SEA FLOOR, MANY TENS OR EVEN HUNDRED OR THOUSANDS MAY BE PRESERVED. SO PROBABLY OUR BEST FOSSIL RECORD COMES FROM MARINE SEDIMENTARY ROCKS WHERE THE ORGANISMS ARE SMALL AND THE CHANCES FOR

PRESERVATION ARE BEST. TERRESTRIAL LIFE, HOWEVER, IS NOT AS DENSE AS IT IS IN THE OCEAN. AND BECAUSE OF CHEMICAL WEATHERING AND PREDATION, SCAVENGING, AND SO ON-- BY OTHER ANIMALS-- THE RECORD-ESPECIALLY VERTEBRATES-- IS NOT REALLY AS COMPLETE AS WOULD BE DESIRABLE. THEREFORE, THE RECORD OF LIFE THAT DOES SURVIVE FROM THE GEOLOGIC PAST IS SKEWED TOWARD MARINE ORGANISMS. OF THESE, ORGANISMS WITH BONES OR SHELLS ARE MOST LIKELY TO BE FOSSILIZED. ONLY RARELY DO SOFTER BODY PARTS LEAVE FOSSIL IMPRESSIONS. AND SO, ALMOST ALL ANCIENT ORGANISMS LACKING HARD PARTS HAVE FADED INTO OBSCURITY. THERE ARE, HOWEVER, A FEW SPECTACULAR EXCEPTIONS. ONE OF THESE IS STROMATOLITES. THESE LUMPY ALGAL MATS WERE THE DOMINANT LIFE FORM THROUGHOUT MUCH OF EARTH'S HISTORY BUT ARE NOW RESTRICTED TO A FEW SMALL AREAS OF WARM SHALLOW WATER. STROMATOLITIC ALGAE ADDED IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF OXYGEN TO EARTH'S EARLY ATMOSPHERE WITH IMPORTANT CONSEQUENCES FOR THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE. FOSSIL STROMATOLITES APPEAR AS PILLAR SHAPED LAYERS OF SEDIMENTARY DEBRIS. THE DEBRIS WAS TRAPPED IN THE HAIR-LIKE FILAMENTS OF THE ALGAE WHEN IT WAS STILL ALIVE. ALGAL TISSUE ITSELF IS NOT PRESERVED. PALEOBIOLOGIST STANLEY AWRAMIK SPECIALIZES IN THE STUDY OF THESE ANCIENT LIFE FORMS, WHOSE FOSSILS DATE BACK AS MUCH AS 3.5 BILLION YEARS. THIS AREA OF THE ALEXANDER HILLS IN EASTERN CALIFORNIA CONTAINS AN INTERESTING SEQUENCE OF STROMATOLITES. HERE IN THE CRYSTAL SPRING FORMATION, WE HAVE A SEQUENCE OF STROMATOLITES WITH OTHER KINDS OF SEDIMENTS THAT ARE RECORDING AN INTERESTING HISTORY ON THE INTERPLAY OF MICROORGANISMS AND SEDIMENT. THESE COLUMNAR STROMATOLITES REPRESENT THE TIME WHEN THE MICROORGANISMS WERE LIVING IN SHALLOW WATER, TRAPPING AND BINDING THE SEDIMENT, PRODUCING THE COLUMNAR MORPHOLOGIES THAT ARE SO CHARACTERISTIC OF STROMATOLITES. THEN ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS CHANGED SOMEWHAT, WHERE COARSER SEDIMENT-- SANDS--CAME IN AND STOPPED THE GROWTH OF STROMATOLITE. PROBABLY THE SEDIMENTS WERE BEING DEPOSITED TOO RAPIDLY, AND THE CYANAL BACTERIA JUST COULDN'T KEEP UP WITH THIS RAPID RATE OF SEDIMENTATION. THEN CONDITIONS CHANGED AND WENT BACK TO QUIETER WATER-- AGAIN WITH PRECIPITATION AND ACCUMULATION OF CALCIUM CARBONATE-- AND THEN THE CONDITIONS CONTINUED. AND ABOVE HERE, THE COLUMNAR STROMATOLITES AGAIN BEGIN TO DEVELOP. AND THEN HIGHER UP, THESE COARSER SEDIMENTS COME IN AND STOP STROMATOLITE GROWTH. SO, IT'S BY STUDYING THE INTERPLAY OF THE MICROORGANISMS WITH THE SEDIMENT AND THE SEQUENCES IN WHICH THESE THINGS OCCUR THAT A GEOLOGIST CAN GET AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND HEAR THE HISTORY

THAT WENT ON WITH THE DEPOSITION OF THESE ROCKS IN THE CRYSTAL SPRING FORMATION. THE CELL STRUCTURE OF STROMATOLITES AND ALL EARLY LIFE FORMS WAS VERY SIMPLE, A STRUCTURE BIOLOGISTS CALL PROKARYOTIC. PROKARYOTE CELLS DUPLICATE BY SPLITTING INTO EXACT REPLICAS OF THEMSELVES. LATER IN THE FOSSIL RECORD, MORE COMPLEX EUKARYOTE CELL STRUCTURE APPEARS. EUKARYOTES REPRODUCE SEXUALLY, RESULTING IN VARIATIONS IN NEWLY CREATED CELLS. MOST MODERN LIFE FORMS, INCLUDING ANIMALS, ARE EUKARYOTIC. PRIOR TO SEXUAL REPRODUCTION, ORGANISMS REPRODUCED BY DIVISION OF CELLS, AND IF YOU HAVE SIMPLE DIVISION-- ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION-- YOU'RE ESSENTIALLY HAVING THE PRODUCTION OF CLONES OF THE ORIGINAL ORGANISM CARRYING THE ORIGINAL ORGANISM'S DNA, AS LONG AS THERE IS NO MUTATION INVOLVED OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. AND ESSENTIALLY THERE'S VERY LITTLE CHANCE, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MUTATION, FOR EVOLUTION, BECAUSE YOU SIMPLY HAVE THE SAME ORGANISM BEING CLONED GENERATION AFTER GENERATION AFTER GENERATION. WHEN YOU FINALLY HAVE SEXUAL REPRODUCTION, YOU HAVE FOR THE FIRST TIME THE CHANCE FOR DNA TO COMBINE, TO HAVE A BRAND-NEW ORGANISM THAT CONTAINS SOME OF EACH OF ITS PARENTS BUT IS ITSELF DIFFERENT FROM EITHER PARENT. AND SO YOU HAVE A WHOLE NEW ABILITY FOR THESE ORGANISMS TO CHANGE. ABOUT 600 MILLION YEARS AGO, MANY COMPLEX EUKARYOTE LIFE FORMS DEVELOPED WITH GEOLOGICAL SUDDENNESS. THOUGH SEXUAL REPRODUCTION NO DOUBT ACCELERATED THIS APPEARANCE OF NEW LIFE, NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY WHY IT HAPPENED. THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF NUMEROUS FOSSILS IN ROCKS OF THIS AGE MARKS THE END OF THE LONG PRECAMBRIAN ERA AND THE BEGINNING OF THE PALEOZOIC ERA. THIS EVENT IS KNOWN AS THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION. THE PRESERVATION OF THESE FOSSILS WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE FACT THAT LIFE, FOR THE FIRST TIME, INCLUDED ABUNDANT HARD PARTS. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION IS THAT THIS MARKS THE FIRST APPEARANCE-- WIDESPREAD APPEARANCE-- OF HARD-SHELLED ORGANISMS. UNDOUBTEDLY, SOME OF THE EARLIER ORGANISMS-PRECAMBRIAN-- MUTATED AND EVOLVED HARD PARTS. BUT FOR SOME REASON THOSE HARD PARTS WERE AN ADVERSE THING, PROBABLY HAVING TO DO WITH THE AVAILABILITY OF OXYGEN. MOST OF THOSE EARLIER CREATURES ABSORBED OXYGEN THROUGH THEIR SKIN TISSUES. IF YOU CAN IMAGINE A JELLYFISH OR AN EARTHWORM, IT HAS LARGE SURFACE AREA THROUGH WHICH IT CAN ABSORB OXYGEN. A HARD PART WOULD INHIBIT THAT. IN EARTH'S EARLY HISTORY WE HAD MUCH LESS OXYGEN IN THE ATMOSPHERE THAN WE DO NOW. BY THE CAMBRIAN, IT MAY HAVE BEEN NECESSARY FOR ANIMALS TO HAVE HARD PARTS TO SURVIVE BECAUSE OF OTHER ANIMALS EATING THEM. WITH A HARD SHELL, YOU WERE LESS ATTRACTIVE AND HARDER TO EAT, SO YOU MIGHT SURVIVE BETTER THAN SOMETHING LIKE AN EARTHWORM OR A

JELLYFISH. THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD MARKS THE BEGINNING OF WHAT'S KNOWN AS THE PALEOZOIC ERA OF GEOLOGIC TIME. CONDITIONS ON EARTH DURING THE PALEOZOIC WERE IDEAL FOR THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE. WITHIN THE FIRST 50 MILLION YEARS, ALL MAJOR GROUPS OF ORGANISMS WHICH STILL SURVIVE TODAY HAD EVOLVED, INCLUDING THE FIRST VERTEBRATES, OUR MOST ANCIENT ANCESTORS. DURING THE PALEOZOIC, CONTINENTS WERE DRIFTING TOWARD THE EQUATOR TRANSFORMING COLD, GLACIATED TERRAIN INTO WARM, SHALLOW SEAS. ORGANISMS THRIVED AND DIVERSIFIED IN THIS ENVIRONMENT. THE BOTTOMS OF THESE SHALLOW SEAS WERE LITERALLY CARPETED WITH INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS, INCLUDING BRACHIOPODS, TRILOBITES, AND PRIMITIVE CORALS. ABOVE THESE SWAM THE FIRST FISHES. BY MIDDLE PALEOZOIC TIME, PLANTS AND ANIMALS HAD MADE THEIR WAY OUT OF THE OCEANS AND BEGAN TO POPULATE THE LAND. THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF LIFE OUT OF THE SEAS WAS POSSIBLE IN LARGE PART BECAUSE THE PLANET'S ATMOSPHERE HAD BECOME OXYGEN RICH DUE TO PHOTOSYNTHESIS OF STROMATOLITIC ALGAE. AS OXYGEN BUILT UP, AN OZONE LAYER FORMED HIGH IN THE ATMOSPHERE SHIELDING THE EARTH'S SURFACE FROM DEADLY SOLAR RADIATION. ALTHOUGH THIS PROCESS WAS ACTUALLY WELL UNDER WAY IN THE PRECAMBRIAN, IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE MID-PALEOZOIC THAT LIFE WAS SUFFICIENTLY DEVELOPED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE DRY LAND HABITATS THE OZONE LAYER PROTECTED. AT THE SAME TIME OXYGEN INCREASED IN THE ATMOSPHERE, ANOTHER ATMOSPHERIC GAS-- CARBON DIOXIDE--DECREASED, BECAUSE CARBON DIOXIDE HAD BECOME AN IMPORTANT BUILDING BLOCK OF LIFE. A LOT OF THE CARBON DIOXIDE IS TRAPPED IN ORGANISMS, IN SEA WATER, AND EVENTUALLY BECOMES LIME OOZES ON THE SEA FLOOR WHICH MAY EVENTUALLY BECOME LIMESTONE. SO ORGANISMS ARE VERY MUCH A PART OF THE CONTROL OF OUR ENVIRONMENT. THE PLANTS TAKE IN THE CARBON DIOXIDE AND GIVE OFF OXYGEN. SO THE PLANTS... THE LIMESTONES... THE OCEAN... THE ATMOSPHERE... HUMAN BEINGS... HORSES AND CAMELS... THE SYCAMORE TREE OUTSIDE ARE ALL INTERRELATED IN A BIG CYCLE CALLED THE CARBON CYCLE. THE LATE PALEOZOIC WAS A TIME OF GREAT GLOBAL-SCALE CHANGES. DURING THIS TIME ALMOST ALL OF THE CONTINENTS WERE TECTONICALLY ASSEMBLED INTO A SINGLE SUPERCONTINENT CALLED PANGAEA. THIS IMMENSE LAND MASS NEARLY SPANNED THE EARTH FROM POLE TO POLE, FORMING A TREMENDOUS NORTH/SOUTH BARRIER THAT BLOCKED OCEAN CIRCULATION AND SEVERELY DISRUPTED THE CLIMATE. THE CONTINENTAL COLLISIONS THAT CREATED PANGAEA ALSO TRANSFORMED CONTINENTAL MARGINS FROM SHALLOW SEAS RICH WITH LIFE INTO MOUNTAIN RANGES SIMILAR TO THE ALPS AND THE HIMALAYAS. THESE CHANGES IN CLIMATE AND TERRAIN IN LATE PALEOZOIC TIME HAD A GRAVE EFFECT ON THE GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM AND TRIGGERED THE LARGEST MASS EXTINCTION IN ALL OF EARTH HISTORY. IN THIS TRAGIC FINALE TO A GEOLOGIC ERA, OVER 90% OF ALL KNOWN

SPECIES OF LIFE DISAPPEARED. THE SMALL PERCENTAGE OF SPECIES THAT SURVIVED THE MASS EXTINCTION AT THE END OF THE PALEOZOIC INHABITED A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES, MOVING INTO ENVIRONMENTS NOW FREE OF COMPETITORS. THE FOSSIL RECORD SUGGESTS THAT INDIVIDUAL SPECIES GAVE RISE TO A MULTITUDE OF NEW LIFE FORMS, EACH WELL-SUITED TO ITS PARTICULAR ENVIRONMENT. MASS EXTINCTIONS HAVE OCCURRED THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF LIFE. THE IMPACT OF THESE MASS EXTINCTIONS IN SOME WAYS COULD BE VIEWED AS TAKING OUT A LOT OF ORGANISMS AND ALLOWING FOR NEWER ORGANISMS TO EVOLVE AND REPOPULATE THE EARTH WITH DIFFERENT SPECIES. THE ARRIVAL OF NEW SPECIES IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE PALEOZOIC MASS EXTINCTION HERALDS THE NEXT GEOLOGIC ERA-- THE MESOZOIC. EVOLUTION IN THE MESOZOIC WAS CRITICAL FOR LIFE ON EARTH. AT THIS TIME, LIFE WAS TRANSFORMED FROM ANCIENT TO MORE MODERN FORMS. REEF-BUILDING CORALS APPEARED ON CONTINENTAL MARGINS, AND LARGE REPTILES JOINED THE FISHES AS SWIMMING PREDATORS. LATER IN THE MESOZOIC, THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND DECIDUOUS TREES FIRST EVOLVED ON LAND, AS WELL AS FLYING REPTILES AND THE FIRST BIRDS. MAMMALS WERE ALSO PRESENT, BUT THEY WERE SMALL AND INCONSPICUOUS. DESPITE THIS PROLIFERATION OF LIFE, THE MESOZOIC ERA IS BEST KNOWN AS THE AGE OF THE DINOSAURS. IT WAS THESE SO-CALLED TERRIBLE LIZARDS THAT DOMINATED THE LAND FOR SOME 140 MILLION YEARS. DINOSAURS CAPTURED THE PUBLIC'S IMAGINATION FROM THE TIME THEIR FOSSILS WERE FIRST EXCAVATED IN THE EARLY 19th CENTURY. SOON THE RUSH BEGAN TO COLLECT THE REMNANTS OF THESE ANCIENT CREATURES. EXPEDITIONS SPANNED THE GLOBE UNCOVERING EVERYTHING FROM DINOSAUR SKULLS TO FOSSILIZED DINOSAUR EGGS. PIECE BY PIECE, A SPECTACULAR VIEW OF EARTH'S PAST INHABITANTS GRADUALLY TOOK SHAPE. DINOSAURS WERE SEEN AS SOLITARY, COLD-BLOODED CREATURES WHO MOVED THROUGH THEIR TROPICAL WORLD AT A SLUGGISH PACE. BUT RECENT DATA, TOGETHER WITH A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF BIOLOGY, HAVE PROMPTED SCIENTISTS TO RETHINK THIS VIEW. FOSSIL TRACKS INDICATE MANY OF THESE CREATURES MUST HAVE BEEN SWIFT-FOOTED. DINOSAUR FOSSILS HAVE ALSO BEEN DISCOVERED IN PLACES THAT WERE DRY AND HAD COOL CLIMATES DURING THE MESOZOIC. THIS AND OTHER EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THESE ANIMALS WERE WARM-BLOODED. PREDATORY DINOSAURS APPARENTLY REQUIRED LARGE AMOUNTS OF FOOD FOR SURVIVAL, SUGGESTING THE HIGH RATE OF METABOLISM TYPICAL OF WARMBLOODED ANIMALS. FINALLY, FAR FROM LIVING SOLITARY LIVES, SOME DINOSAURS LIVED IN NEST-BUILDING HERDS, CARING FOR THEIR YOUNG. THE DINOSAURS MIGHT STILL DOMINATE OUR WORLD TODAY, EVEN MORE DIVERSE AND SPECTACULAR THAN EVER BEFORE, BUT FOR ANOTHER DRASTIC ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE 65 MILLION YEARS AGO, WHICH TRIGGERED YET ANOTHER ROUND OF

WORLD-WIDE MASS EXTINCTIONS. GEOLOGIC CLUES SUGGEST SEVERAL NATURAL PHENOMENA MAY HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHANGE. DUST FROM EXTREMELY INTENSE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS POSSIBLY COOLED THE ATMOSPHERE ENOUGH TO CHANGE EARTH'S CLIMATE AND SERIOUSLY DISRUPT THE FOOD CHAIN. OR A LARGE ASTEROID MAY HAVE STRUCK THE EARTH, COOLING IT, AS SMOKE AND DUST BLOCKED OUT SUNLIGHT. WHATEVER THE CAUSE, MANY SPECIES WERE NO LONGER WELL-SUITED FOR THEIR ENVIRONMENTS. THE MASS EXTINCTION AT THE END OF THE MESOZOIC NOT ONLY EXTERMINATED THE DINOSAURS, IT USHERED IN THE PRESENT ERA OF GEOLOGIC TIME-- THE CENOZOIC. CENOZOIC TIME IS MARKED BY INTENSE TECTONIC CHANGES WHICH HELPED TO DIRECT EVENTS IN EVOLUTION. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN AUSTRALIA BECAME TECTONICALLY DETACHED FROM OTHER CONTINENTS, MAMMALS RIDING ABOARD THIS DRIFTING LAND MASS PROCEEDED ON THEIR OWN EVOLUTIONARY PATH, RESULTING IN THE UNUSUAL FORMS WE SEE IN AUSTRALIA TODAY, SUCH AS THE DUCKBILLED PLATYPUS, THE SPINY ANTEATER, AND THE KANGAROO. THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS OF THE MESOZOIC EXTINCTION AND THE TECTONIC ACTIVITY WHICH FOLLOWED HELPED SET THE STAGE FOR EVENTS IN EVOLUTION WHICH ULTIMATELY ALLOWED MAMMALS TO DOMINATE THE LAND. AN EXTRAORDINARY RECORD OF LIFE IN THE CENOZOIC HAS BEEN FOUND IN A RATHER UNEXPECTED PLACE-- BURIED BENEATH THE STREETS OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST CITIES. AT RANCHO LA BREA IN LOS ANGELES, NATURAL TAR POOLS HAVE TRAPPED THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS. THE TAR HAS PRESERVED AN ESPECIALLY COMPLETE RECORD OF PREHISTORIC LIFE FROM THE LATE CENOZOIC ERA. THE LAST FEW MILLION YEARS OF EARTH HISTORY-- IN FACT, THE LAST TWO MILLION YEARS HAS GENERALLY BEEN CONSIDERED THE ICE AGES. IT IS THAT SETTING THAT, UH, GOVERNS WHAT WE SEE HERE AT RANCHO LA BREA. WE ARE IN THE LAST HALF OF THE LAST GLACIAL PERIOD, JUST BEFORE MODERN CLIMATES COME ABOUT. THE OLDEST REMAINS HERE AT RANCHO LA BREA OF VERTEBRATES-TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES-- UH, ARE ABOUT 36,000, 38,000 YEARS OLD. AND THE FOSSIL RECORD HERE EXTENDS FROM THAT PERIOD UP TO ABOUT 10,000 YEARS AGO. THE LA BREA TAR PITS HAVE YIELDED FOSSILS RANGING FROM MICROSCOPIC PLANTS AND POLLEN SPORES TO GIANT MAMMOTHS AND BISONS. FOR ME, THE MOST FUN IS NOT SO MUCH FINDING THE FOSSIL, IT'S IDENTIFYING IT. SUDDENLY THIS JUST ISN'T A LUMP OF BONES. SUDDENLY IT'S A SABER-TOOTH CAT SKULL, A BISON FEMUR. THERE'S A THRILL WHEN YOU REALIZE THIS ISN'T JUST A FOSSIL. THIS IS A PARTICULAR KIND OF ANIMAL THAT DIED HERE. THAT'S EXCITING FOR ME. AS THE SITE IS EXCAVATED, THE POSITIONS OF EVERY FOSSIL ARE CAREFULLY MEASURED AND CATALOGED. AT THE END OF THE EXCAVATION, WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO RECONSTRUCT EXACTLY HOW THESE BONES CAME TO BE DEPOSITED. WHAT HAPPENED TO

THIS ANIMAL BETWEEN DYING IN THE ASPHALT AND DIGGING IT UP? WHEN WE TAKE MEASUREMENTS ON EACH BONE, WE HOPE TO RECONSTRUCT HOW THIS BONE HAS MOVED THROUGH TIME IN THE DEPOSIT AND PUT IT BACK WITH THE REST OF THE ANIMAL TO DETERMINE WHAT HAPPENS TO THESE INDIVIDUALS WHEN THEY DECOMPOSE AND AS THE PIT IS DEPOSITED THROUGH TIME. AFTER EXCAVATION, THE BONES ARE TAKEN TO THE NEARBY LAB FOR ANALYSIS. EXAMINING THE MATERIAL AROUND THE BONES IS AS IMPORTANT AS IDENTIFYING THE BONES THEMSELVES. ALL OF THE SOIL SURROUNDING THAT LARGER BONE WHEN IT'S CLEANED OFF, UM, WILL BE GONE THROUGH UNDERNEATH THE MAGNIFYING GLASS, LOOKING FOR THE SMALL BONES AND PLANTS AND SHELLS AND INSECT MATERIAL. UM, MICROFOSSILS ARE THAT TOOL THAT YOU NEED TO REALLY RECONSTRUCT AN ENVIRONMENT. UM, THEY GIVE YOU MUCH MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RAINFALL AND--AND CLIMATE CHANGES THAN LARGE BONES DO. UM, LARGE ANIMALS DIDN'T NECESSARILY LIVE HERE. THEY JUST DIED HERE, WHEREAS A MOUSE OR--OR A GOPHER PROBABLY SPENT ITS ENTIRE LIFE RIGHT WITHIN THE AREA OF THE PARK, SO IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE DO COLLECT ALL OF THESE SMALL THINGS. THROUGH CAREFUL IDENTIFICATION OF FOSSILS COLLECTED AT THE TAR PITS, SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RECONSTRUCT THE FORMER HABITAT AT RANCHO LA BREA. 40,000 YEARS AGO, THE LOS ANGELES BASIN WAS A SAGEBRUSH PLAIN DOTTED WITH GROVES OF CYPRESS AND PINE AND STREAMSIDE WOODLANDS. A GREAT ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY OF ANIMALS LIVED HERE, INCLUDING DEER, DIRE WOLVES, SABER-TOOTH CATS, GROUND SLOTHS, AND MASTODONS. MOST OF THE LARGER MAMMALS IN THIS ECOSYSTEM HAVE SINCE BECOME EXTINCT. THE FOSSILS AT RANCHO LA BREA REPRESENT A VERY BRIEF SPAN OF LATE CENOZOIC TIME-- JUST 25,000 TO 30,000 YEARS. THOUGH FEW ANCIENT LIFE LOCALITIES ARE AS RICH AS RANCHO LA BREA, OTHER CENOZOIC FOSSILS PROVIDE SPECTACULAR EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION SPANNING MILLIONS OF YEARS. THE CASE OF THE HORSE IS ESPECIALLY STUNNING. APPEARING NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE CENOZOIC, THE FIRST HORSES WERE NO LARGER THAN DOGS AND HAD FOUR TOES ON EACH FOOT. THEY LIVED IN WOODLANDS. THEN ABOUT 40 MILLION YEARS AGO, A NEW ECOSYSTEM APPEARED ON EARTH-- THE GRASSLANDS. MOVING IN TO FORAGE THIS ENVIRONMENT, THE HORSE GREW LARGER, AND THROUGH TIME, DEVELOPED HOOVES TO REPLACE TOES. THIS PERMITTED HORSES TO RUN SWIFTLY WITH BETTER CHANCE OF SURVIVAL IN THE OPEN. THE IDEA THAT SPECIES GRADUALLY CHANGED TO BETTER SUIT THEIR NATURAL HABITATS WAS FIRST DESCRIBED BY CHARLES DARWIN SOME 150 YEARS AGO. THE MAIN THING THAT DARWIN CONTRIBUTED TO OUR IDEA OF LIFE IN THE PAST AND WHAT HAPPENED WAS THE METHOD OF EVOLUTION. UM, PRIOR TO DARWIN'S, UH, IDEA OF EVOLUTION, UM, WE KNEW THAT PLANTS AND ANIMALS CHANGED. UH, WE KNEW THAT THEY VARIED OVER

TIME, BUT WE DIDN'T REALLY HAVE AN IDEA AS TO WHY THEY CHANGED, AND DARWIN GAVE US THE METHOD. DARWIN OBSERVED THAT WITHIN EVERY POPULATION OF ANIMALS, THERE IS A RANGE OF CHARACTERISTICS, BE IT DIFFERENT HEIGHTS, AGILITY, OR HAIR COLOR. THOSE ANIMALS WHOSE FEATURES MOST EXPOSE THEM TO DANGER TEND TO DIE OUT, LEAVING FEW OFFSPRING. THOSE ANIMALS WITH MORE FAVORABLE FEATURES SURVIVE, AND THROUGH REPRODUCTION, PASS ON THESE CHARACTERISTICS TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. BUT FEATURES FAVORABLE AT ONE TIME WON'T BE FAVORABLE DURING ANOTHER, AND SO ANIMALS EVOLVE. YET DARWIN'S MODEL HAS RUN INTO SOME DIFFICULTY. DARWIN WAS A GRADUALIST, AND THAT IS HE THOUGHT THAT EVOLUTION PROCEEDED VERY SLOWLY, AND BECAUSE OF THAT, HIS THEORY OF EVOLUTION REQUIRED A GREAT DEAL OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. HOWEVER, WHEN PALEONTOLOGISTS CAREFULLY EXAMINED THE FOSSIL RECORD LOOKING FOR THOSE INTERMEDIATES THAT WOULD OCCUR BETWEEN SPECIES, THEY COULDN'T FIND THESE INTERMEDIATES. MOST PALEONTOLOGISTS BLAME LACK OF INTERMEDIATES ON AN INCOMPLETE FOSSIL RECORD, BUT AFTER MORE CAREFUL STUDY, THERE WAS A REALIZATION THAT THESE TRANSITIONAL FORMS SIMPLY DON'T EXIST. THIS BROUGHT ABOUT THE IDEA OF PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM. THAT ONCE A SPECIES APPEARED, IT LASTED FOR A LONG TIME UNCHANGED. THEN SUDDENLY, IN TERMS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME, A NEW SPECIES APPEARED, AND THERE WAS VERY LITTLE, IF ANY, EVIDENCE FOR THE INTERMEDIATES. TODAY, PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM HAS BEEN ADDED TO DARWIN'S THEORY TO ACCOUNT FOR CHANGE SEEN IN THE FOSSIL RECORD. NOT ONLY CAN LIFE EVOLVE GRADUALLY, BUT IN A WORLD WHERE RAPID ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE SOMETIMES OCCURS, RAPID EVOLUTION CAN ALSO TAKE PLACE. THE HISTORY OF LIFE OVER GREAT LENGTHS OF TIME IS GOVERNED BY THE NEED TO ADAPT OR DIE OUT. DURING THE PLEISTOCENE, ICE-AGE MAMMALS DOMINATED THE CONTINENTS. THESE INCLUDED MASTODONS, MAMMOTHS, GROUND SLOTHS, AND SABER-TOOTH CATS. THEY SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED ABOUT 8,000 YEARS AGO. THE CAUSE OF THIS MASS EXTINCTION ISN'T KNOWN, BUT A LIKELY POSSIBILITY IS THE INCREASING EFFICIENCY OF HUMAN HUNTERS. OUR SPECIES IS, OF COURSE, VERY SUCCESSFUL, AND WE'VE ENJOYED A RAPID RISE IN POPULATION SINCE THE END OF THE LAST ICE AGE. BUT THE EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT OF HUMANS ISN'T WELL UNDERSTOOD BECAUSE HUMAN FOSSILS ARE SO RARE. THE MOST FAMOUS EXAMPLES OF AN ANCESTRAL SPECIES COME FROM AFRICA WHERE THE FIRST HUMANS MOST LIKELY EVOLVED. IT'S SOBERING AND AT THE SAME TIME EXHILARATING TO STARE INTO THE ABYSS OF GEOLOGIC TIME AND REALIZE THAT IT ALL BEGAN WITH TINY AND EXTREMELY SIMPLE ORGANISMS. ORGANISMS LIKE THESE GAVE RISE TO THE VAST VARIETY OF LIFE ON EARTH. THE RESILIENCE OF LIFE IS TRULY AMAZING WHEN WE CONSIDER THE MANY MASS EXTINCTIONS THAT HAVE OCCURRED

THROUGHOUT EARTH HISTORY. THE LATEST MASS EXTINCTION MAY BE OCCURRING THIS VERY MOMENT. THE IMPACT OF HUMANS IS CAUSING SPECIES OF BOTH PLANTS AND ANIMALS TO DISAPPEAR AT AN ASTOUNDING RATE. SCIENTISTS ESTIMATE A LARGER PERCENTAGE OF EARTH'S SPECIES WILL DISAPPEAR WITHIN OUR LIFETIME THAN WERE LOST DURING THE MASS EXTINCTION OF THE DINOSAURS. SOME PEOPLE THINK OF HUMANS AS THE FINAL PRODUCT IN A LONG PROCESS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. BUT OUR SPECIES IS ONE BRANCH ON THE EVOLUTIONARY TREE OF LIFE. ORGANIC EVOLUTION HAS OPERATED SINCE LIFE FIRST APPEARED ON EARTH, AND BECAUSE GEOLOGIC PROCESSES CONTINUOUSLY CHANGE CONDITIONS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE, WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT LIFE WILL BE LIKE IN THE DISTANT FUTURE.