Lesson 1: The Evolution and Complete Timeline of Life on Earth

Evolution and the timeline of life on earth happened in stages over 4.6 billion years. From
cyanobacteria to fungi. Dinosaurs and chickens. Whales and cows. Monkeys to humans, the
evolution of life is a story with surprising twists.
Earth has been home to over five billion different species of organisms. Of all of those living life
forms, an estimated 99% of all species are now extinct. We, humans, are currently sharing the earth
with about 12 million other species.

So how did it end up this way, and who lived before us?

In this lesson, we’ll outline the timeline of life on earth. Our planet’s evolution started with the first
organism ever to call our planet home.
How did earth evolve?
As the sun is formed, the solar system started to construct. The formation of the solar system
gave birth to the planet where we are living now, Earth. It was 4.6 billion years ago, as elements
combined to form the planets. The Erath’s 4.6 billion-year history is subdivided into four major units of
time.

PRECAMBRIAN TIME

By the time the Earth emerged from the combining elements, our planet was spinning rapidly
and it looked like an alien planet. Molten lava was flowing and it took only six hours for a day to last.
It seemed that the Earth was in chaos with all the-elements in disorder. However, gravity made all
things in order with the heavier elements forming the core and the lighter materials floating and turning
into crust. The molten iron and nickel core created a magnetic field that protected the Earth from
harmful charged particles in space and allowed life to span.

About 4.5 billion years ago, the planet experienced a turning point as it was hit by an object
as huge as Mars. Some of the molten debris created another sphere moving around the Earth now
known as the moon. The impact tilted the Earth's axis of rotation, creating seasons and provided
stability to the planet. The tilted axis of the Earth lengthens the day into 24 hours and cools down the
Earth.

About 4.4 billion years ago, the Earth's surface was too hot, vaporizing water into steam. As the
Earth started to cool down, rain poured down from the sky for millions of years, creating the different
bodies of water. In these bodies of water, abiogenesis took place. Key elements combined together
forming the foundation of all life forms-the DNA. These molecules created the first organism: the
cyanobacteria.

These microorganisms evolved and later developed the ability to harness the energy from the
sun and produced the most essential of gases, the oxygen. These oxygen molecules occupied the
primeval ocean and reacted with iron, forming iron oxide, constituting our major land mass. Later,
they escaped into the atmosphere, creating the ozone layer that further protected us from the
harmful radiation of the sun. Large solid continents appeared, making the crust more suitable for living
organisms. This leads to Cambrian explosion.

PALEOZOIC ERA

About 550 million years ago, with oxygen in the primeval ocean and the atmosphere, marine
communities flourished. Early fishes and aquatic plants developed. Later, plants began to occupy the
land and soon some forms of fishes also conquered the land. The first amphibians emerged from the
ocean and lived on land.

However, the amphibians could only reside near water for them to deposit their eggs. Later
they developed the ability of producing hard shells allowing them to carry their eggs anywhere on
land. Reptiles and insects emerged.

About 250 million years ago, volcanic activity filled up the atmosphere with carbon dioxide.
Species that evolved during the Cambrian time got extinct, leading to the Permian extinction. This
marked the end of Paleozoic era and the new era emerged, Giving birth to new dominant species.

MESOZOIC ERA

This era is also known as the age of the dinosaurs. This was the time when gymnosperms
emerged and the land was dominated by reptiles. Mammals started to evolve too, but were held
back by the dinosaurs. The supercontinent Pangaea began to separate, forming the rocky mountains.
 The dominance of the dinosaurs faced an end as the asteroid hit the surface of the Earth,
causing mass extinction of the dinosaurs and giving way for mammals to flourish and a new era to
emerge.

CENOZOIC ERA

About 65 million years ago, the continued evolution of mammals, birds, insects, and flowering
plants took place. Mammals became the dominant species and the first primates evolved. Major
crustal movement occurred during this era, creating mountains like the Himalayas, connecting North
and South America. As these two continents connected, it disrupted the ocean current in the Atlantic,
altering the climate and forming the ice age. As the Earth cooled down, our primate ancestors
inhabited the warm climate of the tropics.

About 10 million years ago, new plant species-the grasses-emerged and dominated the land,
giving way to grassland. Early primates inhabited most of the treetops but as the grassland emerged,
they moved to explore it. With fewer trees, the apes adapted and moved into grassland. With tall
grasses, they started walking on two feet and free hands. They later evolved to become the first
humans: the hominid. From that day on until present time, humans dominated the planet.

The whole history of the Earth has been identified and studied through radiometric dating and
fossil analysis. The listed data mark specific timelines in the geologic time scale.

Lesson 2: MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION

How does an entirely new species evolve and continue to change over time to produce the
diversity of organisms observed today?

Natural selection acts on individuals, but only populations evolve. Recall the difference
between species and population. Species refers to a group of population whose individuals have the
potential to interbreed and produce fertile offspring in nature. A population is a localized group of
organisms which belong to the same Species. Population is the functional unit of a species that can
evolve or give rise to a new species.

Speciation is the term used to describe how a new species evolves from an older one. A new
species is not able to reproduce with members of the original population.

The following are factors that can lead to speciation.

1. Mutation

A mutation is a change in the hereditary material. It may be a change in the structure of a gene-
that is, in the sequence of nitrogen bases of an organism’s DNA-or it may be a change in the structure
or number of chromosomes. Only mutations that take place in gametes, or sex cells, are passed on to
the next generation. It is the ultimate source of new traits in a population. A mutation may result in the
change in appearance or a characteristic of a population.
 Mutations can be spontaneous (random), but
they can also be triggered by other many internal
and external factors, such as toxins, chemical
substances or radiation.

Many mutations are neutral, i.e. they can neither

harm nor benefit the organism, but they can also
be deleterious or beneficial.

• Deleterious mutations can affect the

characteristics of the organism and in turn,
reduce their fitness and increase their
susceptibility to several illnesses, such as cancer.
• Beneficial mutations can lead to the reproductive success and adaptability of an organism to
its environment. These beneficial mutations can be spread and fixed in the population due to
natural selection if they help individuals in the population to reach sexual maturity and to
successfully reproduce.

2. Natural Selection

The theory of natural selection was Darwin's

explanation of how evolution happens.

Natural selection (also known as

“survival of the fittest”) is the process by which
species adapt to their environment.

Natural selection leads to evolutionary change

when individuals with certain characteristics
have a greater survival or reproductive rate
than other individuals in a population, and pass
on these genetic characteristics to their
offspring.

Selection is a process that each individual is

subjected to. Every creature has a unique mix of
traits and characteristics. This mix may or may
not help them to survive in their environment.
Anyone with an unsuitable mix may lead them
to death and/ or prevent them from producing
offspring. However those with the right mix
survive, and have the chance to pass on these
traits that helped them to their offspring.

Environmental influences have an effect on all living creatures, and these are known as selection
factors. These selection factors can include:

• Predators
• Parasites
• Animals of the same species
• Toxins
• Changes in habitat
• Climate
Fitness is a measure of how well organisms survive and reproduce during this process of natural
selection, with emphasis on "reproduce".

Survival is one important component of fitness. In order to leave any offspring at all in the next
generation, an organism has to survive to reproductive age (puberty), where they can then pass their
traits down to their offspring.

However, survival is not the only part of the fitness equation. Fitness also depends on the ability of the
organism to attract a mate and reproduce to make fertile offspring. An organism that survived for
many years, but never successfully attracted a mate or had offspring, would have very low (zero)
fitness. Whereas an organism that survived to puberty and had many offspring would have very high
fitness.

This is why diversity and the production of offspring is so important. By creatures producing as many
offspring as possible, they increase the likelihood that at least one of their offspring can pass the
natural selection process, and therefore maximise the survival of their species.

In summary, organisms with heritable traits that help them survive and reproduce in a particular
environment tend to produce more offspring than their peers. If this continues over generations, these
heritable traits that aid survival and reproduction will become more and more common in the
population. The population will not only evolve (change in its genetic makeup and inherited traits),
but it will also evolve in such a way that it becomes adapted (better-suited) to its environment (e.g.
like a camel that is suited to surviving in the desert). Over long periods of time, these successful traits
can lead to the development of a new species.

3. Genetic Drift

Genetic drift refers to the changes

in the gene pool of a small population
due to chance. The smaller the
population, the greater will be the
impact of the genetic drift. This is
because there are fewer individuals
and the gene pool is smaller. Genetic
drift can cause big losses of genetic
variation for small populations.

The bottleneck effect or population bottleneck is a sudden reduction in population size due to a
change in the environment, such as a natural disaster, habitat destruction, or hunting a species to
near extinction. When the size of the population is reduced so quickly, many alleles are lost and the
genetic variation of the population decreases,

The founder effect is observed when a few

individuals in a population colonize a new location
that is separate from the old population. This also
greatly reduces the population size, as well as the
genetic variability of the population.
 4. Migration

Gene flow, or gene migration, occurs when

breeding members of a population leave a
population or when new members enter a
population. Gene migration can introduce
new alleles into populations.

Humans today migrate much more freely

than in the past, and gene flow has become
an important agent of evolutionary change in
human populations that were previously
isolated. However, continual gene flow tends
to reduce differences between populations.

5. Isolation

Isolation occurs when some members of species suddenly become separated from the rest of the
species. For instance, a mountain range prevents two types of goat from mating, causing the gene
pool to become fess varied. This geographical barrier prevents interbreeding among the individuals
of the two populations.

Separate groups of organisms belonging to the same species may adapt in different ways to
better exploit diverse environments or resources. They also may evolve varied characteristics for
attracting mates. Over time, these groups or populations may become so different that they can no
longer breed together-separate species are formed. Several generations must happen, and that
genetic differences must accumulate to prevent reproductive success which later could lead to
development of new species.

WORKSHEET 1

Direction: Write the length of time (beginning and ending dates) for each of the following time periods:

Eon/Era Beginning Time Ending Time

Hadean
Archaen
Proterozoic
Paleozoic
Mesozoic
cenozoic
Worksheet 2