General Biology 2:

EVOLUTION AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

Beyond this shared biochemistry, all life has certain general traits in common, too. Here are some of the
key traits of life as we know it:

CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE

● Cellular complexity - all living things are composed of either one or more cells that are highly
complex yet organized and enclosed with membranes. All life is highly ordered and structured.
Not only do all living things that we know of have cells and cellular structures, but many living
things also have larger-scale structure such as bilateral symmetry (in humans) or radial symmetry
(in starfish).

● Growth and Development - living things use energy to grow by metabolizing compounds by
cellular respiration or photosynthesis. All life grows and develops to reach maturity, such as from
a caterpillar to a butterfly.

● Reproduction - no organisms can live forever; however, through this fundamental quality, life
continues and traits are passed on from generation to generation. All life reproduces itself, either
sexually (as animals do) or asexually (such as budding in yeast or one cell splitting into two
identical daughter cells via binary fission as bacteria do).

● Irritability (response to stimuli) - all organisms are very sensitive to different stimuli, either
environmental or physiological. This may refer to any response or movement to stimuli in its own
volition. All living things respond to their environment by sensing external stimuli and changing
their biochemistry and/or behavior. For example, when cuttlefish sense danger, they can
instantaneously change their colors to match whatever background they are against to avoid
being seen by a predator.

● Homeostasis - living things maintain relatively constant internal conditions, which are different
from their environment. All living things exhibit homeostasis, which is the ability to maintain a
steady internal environment regardless of their external environment. For example, most humans
maintain a body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of whether they are out
playing in the snow or hiking in the hot desert. Homeostasis is achieved because of strict
biochemical regulations in cells and organs.

● Metabolism- All life takes in and utilizes energy to carry out the functions of its cells, which results
in growth and development. Mechanisms for energy intake are vastly different across all species,
and can range from eating food like humans do, to converting sunlight into sugars like plants do,
to the harnessing of the energy produced when rocks radioactively decay like some bacteria do.
 ● Adaptation - Finally, all living things adapt to external pressures, and evolve because of them.
Adapting is much like responding to a stimulus in the environment, but takes it to the next level.
In evolutionary adaptation, one cuttlefish will have the ability to change colors more quickly and
effectively than another (because of its genetic makeup), and it will inherently be more likely to
survive than another one that doesn’t do it as well or as quickly. The first one is more likely to
pass on its genes to its offspring, and that offspring will pass it on to their offspring, and so on.
Over time, the population of cuttlefish descended from that one who changed colors more quickly
and effectively is more highly adapted to its environment. They have undergone the process of
natural selection and are more likely to survive. Their genes were “selected for” by the external
pressures of the environment.

What is the Geologic Time Scale?

What does the time scale represent?

The geologic time scale divides up the history of the earth based on life-forms that have existed during
specific times since the creation of the planet. These divisions are called geochronologic units (geo: rock,
chronology: time). Most of these life-forms are found as fossils, which are the remains or traces of an
organism from the geologic past that has been preserved in sediment or rock. Without fossils, scientists
may not have concluded that the earth has a history that long precedes mankind.

The Geologic Time Scale is divided by the following divisions

● Eons: Longest subdivision; based on the abundance of certain fossils

● Eras: Next to longest subdivision; marked by major changes in the fossil record
● Periods: Based on types of life existing at the time
● Epochs: Shortest subdivision; marked by differences in life forms and can vary from continent to
continent.

Principles Behind Geologic Time

Nicholas Steno, a Danish physician (1638-1687), described how the position of a rock layer could be used
to show the relative age of the layer. He devised the three main principles that underlie the interpretation
of geologic time:

● The principle of superposition: The layer on the bottom was deposited first and so is the oldest
● The principle of horizontality: All rock layers were originally deposited horizontally.
● The principle of original lateral continuity: Originally deposited layers of rock extend laterally in
all directions until either thinning out or being cut off by a different rock layer.
These important principles have formed the framework for the geologic area of stratigraphy, which is the
study of layered rock (strata). Decades later, other European scientists rediscovered Steno’s Laws and
began applying them. Abraham Gottlob Werner became famous for his proposal that all rocks came from
the ocean environment. He and his followers were called “Neptunists.” An opposing view (by Voisins)
argued that all rocks of the earth came from volcanic environments. These scientist were called
“plutonists.”
Definition of Terms

1. Precambrian - the earliest era of geologic history or the corresponding system of rocks that is
characterized especially by the appearance of single-celled organisms and is equivalent to the Archean
and Proterozoic eons

2. Paleozoic - an era of geologic history that extends from the beginning of the Cambrian to the close of
the Permian and is marked by the culmination of nearly all classes of invertebrates except the insects and
in the later epochs by the appearance of terrestrial plants, amphibians, and reptiles

3. Mesozoic - an era of geologic history comprising the interval between the Permian and the Tertiary or
the corresponding system of rocks that was marked by the presence of dinosaurs, marine and flying
reptiles, ammonites, ferns, and gymnosperms and the appearance of angiosperms, mammals, and birds

4. Cenozoic - an era of geologic history that extends from the beginning of the Tertiary period to the
present time and is marked by a rapid evolution of mammals and birds and of angiosperms and especially
grasses and by little change in the invertebrates
5. Epoch - an event or a time marked by an event that begins a new period or development

6. Cambrian - the earliest geologic period of the Paleozoic era or the corresponding system of rocks
marked by fossils of nearly every major invertebrate animal group

7. Ordovician - the period between the Cambrian and the Silurian or the corresponding system of rocks,
marked by the rich variety of marine life and the first primitive plants began to appear on land.

8. Silurian - the Paleozoic era between the Ordovician and Devonian or the corresponding system of rocks
marked by numerous eurypterid crustaceans and the appearance of the first land plants

9. Devonian - the period of the Paleozoic era between the Silurian and the Mississippian or the
corresponding system of rocks

10. Carboniferous - the period of the Paleozoic era between the Devonian and the Permian or the
corresponding system of rocks that includes coal beds

11. Permian - the last period of the Paleozoic era or the corresponding system of rocks

12. Triassic - the earliest period of the Mesozoic era or the corresponding system of rocks marked by the
first appearance of the dinosaurs

13. Jurassic - the period of the Mesozoic era between the Triassic and the Cretaceous or the corresponding
system of rocks marked by the presence of dinosaurs and the first appearance of birds

14. Cretaceous - the last period of the Mesozoic era characterized by continued dominance of reptiles,
emergent dominance of angiosperms, diversification of mammals, and the extinction of many types of
organisms at the close of the period

GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE OF THE EARTH'S HISTORY

•Formation of Earth's Crust and Ocean (Can 4.6 to 3.8 billion years ago) - debris from the forming solar
system crashed into the early Earth, keeping its surface burning hot.

•Oldest Geological Evidence of Life (Ca. 3.5 billion years ago) - from the known fossil evidence, it appears
that life in Earth may have existed during its boisterous first billion years. Sedimentary rocks formation
called stromatolites are strong pieces of evidence that the first microbes might have existed during this
time.

•Propagation of Cyanobacteria (Ca. 3.0 billions years ago) - photosynthesis allowed these primitive
cyanobacteria to start converting light to chemical energy.

•Appearance of the First Eukaryotes (Ca. 2.0 billion years ago) - modern eukaryotes are characterized as
having membrane-bound organelles like the mitochondria and nucleus. Several scientists suspect that this
cellular organelles and molecules may have evolved from ancient relationships between different
bacteria(endosymbiosis theory).
•Influx of Multicellular Organisms (Ca. 1.2 billion years ago) - it was believed that multicellularity occurred
several times. Multicellularity was the product of symbiotic relationship between cells of similar or
different species that eventually led to interdependency among organisms.

•The Cambrian Explosion (Ca 500 million years ago) - fossil records showed evidence that there was a
drastic increase in the diversity if complex faunal species during a relatively short time span.

•Arrival of Modern Human (Ca 200 thousand years ago) - paleontological evidence suggests that modern
human might have evolved from Homo erectus approximately 250 thousand years ago.

THEORIES ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

•there are two dilemmas in the case of the scientific investigation on the origin of life. First in which it
initially occurred are unidentified and second, the phenomena of life is so complex we do not understand
all of its properties.

•Creationism or special creation hypothesis suggests that life began at the spontaneous creation by a
superior supernatural entity that is beyond a mere metaphysical being.

Panspermia

-this hypothesis proposes that microscopic life forms that survived the effects of space became trapped
in debris that were expelled into space after strong collision between the planets were responsible in
harboring life forms.

Abiogenesis

-this hypothesized that life evolved from inanimate objects.

-Naturalist proponents of this theory believed taht there are four important key events to the origin of
life:

1. An athmosphere full of reduced gas molecules and a source of energy needed to convert these
molecules into molecules into important biological precursors required for life

2. An ocean that is teeming with biological molecules

3. A process to produce from this ocean of molecules the kinds of information-rich polymers essential for
a living cell

4. A belief that if step 3 can be executed, it will result almost inevitably to the creation of a living cell

Models of Abiogenesis

1. Spontaneous Generation

- described as the formation of living organism without arising from a similar organism like fleas, for
example, could come from non-living matter or that maggots couLd arise from dead meat.

- an Italian poet and naturalist Francesco Redi demonstrated a simple experiment to disprove such
popular belief that maggots originate from rotting meat. He aquired sic jars and separated it in two groups
of three. In one of his set ups, in the first jar of each groups , he placed an udentified object; in the second
jar, he placed a dead fish; and in the third jar, a raw mass of beef. He enclosed the tops of the first group
jars with fine gauze while the other set ups were left open. After several days , he observed that maggots
appear on the set-ups with open jars, but not in the gauze covered jars.

-but the most popular experiment that had attempted to refute this theory would be the classical
experiment of Louis Pasteur, which became the foundation of microbiology.

2. "Primordial Soup" Theory

- from the concept of Russian Scientist Alexander Oparin, this theory hypothesized that possible
conditions on the primitive Earth allows the onset of chemical reactions that leads to the formation of
other complex organic compounds using simple inorganic substances.

- this particular theory was summarized by Roberto Shapiro by giving four conditions that might have been
life's origin on Earth : (1) Earth had chemically reducing atmosphere ; (2) the atmosphere exposed to
energy in various forms produced simple organic compounds; (3) these compounds are accumulated in a
"soup" which may have been concentrated at various locations; and (4) by further transformation, more
complex organic polymers—and ultimately life — developed in the soup.

3. The Clay Hypothesis

- proposed by Graham Cairns-Smith, suggests that the first molecules of life might have met on clay, whose
surface not only concentrated these organic compounds together, but also helped organize them into
patterns. These intricate organic molecules ascended slowly from a pre-existing, non-organic repetition
platform of silicate crystals in solution.

4. Deep Hot Biosphere Hypothesis

- postulated by Thomas Gold, this model suggests that life did not begin on the surface of the Earth but
instead in the porosity of its crust. The discovery of tiny filamental structures that are similar to bacteria
called nanobes in deep rocks in the early 90s supported such claim.