Geologic Time Scale Ordovician Period (485 - 444 mya)

General Biology II Mosses, plants without deep roots or leaves

MELC: Describe general features of the history of life on Earth,
including generally accepted dates and sequence of the geologic
time scale and characteristics of major groups of organisms
present during these periods (STEM_BIO11/12-IIIc-g-8)
OBJECTIVES:
1. Describe the general features of the Geologic Time Scale
2. Enumerate the significant events of the Geologic Time Scale
Geologic Time Scale
- is the “calendar” for events in Earth history
- it contains remarkable development in the evolution of life, the
stages in the evolution of continents, the origin and evolution of
life and their proliferations or mass-extinction
- the geological time scale has been divided into four eons:
Hadean (Pre-Archean), Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic
Dominant animals: marine invertebrates including corals and
trilobites
A very cold time in Earth’s history: there was a great extinction
due to ice caps
Four main continents: Gondwana, Baltica, Siberia and Laurentia
Silurian Period (444 - 419 mya)
First land plants appear vascular plants with veins (Cooksonia)
and follow by land animals
Large coral reefs, fish with jaws, scorpions, millipede-like
First millipede fossils and sea scorpions (Euryptides) found in
this period
Devonian Period (419 - 359 mya) (Age of the Fish)
Dominant animal: fish
Trees and the forest, ferns, seed producing plants
Sharks, lobe-finned fish, proto-amphibians, insects, centipedes
Pre-Pangea forms

Carboniferous (359 - 299 mya)

formally divided into two major subdivisions - the Mississippian
(358.9 to 323.2 mya) and the Pennsylvanian (323.2 to 298.9
mya)
- Reptiles, lizards and winged insects first
appear like, dragonflies, mayflies

Permian Period (299 - 252 mya)

Last period of the Paleozoic
Pangea forms
Reptiles spread across continents.
The Appalachians rise
90% of Earth‟s species become extinct due to volcanism in
Hadean Eon (4-6.4 bya) Siberia.
- the solar system was forming within a cloud of dust and gas This marks the end of trilobites, ammonoids, blastoids, and most
known as the solar nebula, which eventually spawned asteroids, fish.
comets, moons, and planets
- the Earth was just a ball of hot rock Mesozoic Era (252-66 mya)
Archaen Eon (4-2.5 bya) Triassic Period (252-201 mya)
- the continental shield rock began to form First dinosaurs appear
- approximately 70 percent of the continental landmass was First mammals- small rodents appear
formed Life and fauna re-diversify
- small “island” landmasses floated in the molten “seas.” Rocky Mountains form.
- Earth had acquired enough mass to hold a reducing atmosphere First turtle fossil from this period
composed of methane, ammonia, and other gases Pangea begins to break apart
- water from comets and hydrated minerals condensed in the Conifers, cycads, ferns
atmosphere and fell as torrential rain, cooling the planet and
filling the first oceans with liquid water Jurassic Period (201-145 mya)
Proterozoic Eon (2.5 bya) Pangea still breaking apart
- different types of prokaryotic organisms formed symbiotic Dinosaurs flourish “Golden age of dinosaurs”
relationships. First birds appear
Giant-plant eating dinosaurs, flying reptiles, tiny mammals
Phanerozoic Eon (540 mya) bigger than rats, plankton, whale-sized marine reptiles
3 Eras of Phanerozoic Eon Cycads
1. Paleozoic Era - “early life”, “Age of
Invertebrates” Cretaceous Period (145-66 mya)
2. Mesozoic Era - “middle life”, “Age of T-Rex develops
Reptiles” First snakes and primates appear
3. Cenozoic Era - “new life”, “Age of Deciduous trees and grasses common
Mammals” First flowering plants
Mass extinction marks the end of the Mesozoic Era, with the
Paleozoic Era (541-252 mya) demise of dinosaurs and 25% of all marine life
- Life was primitive during the Paleozoic and included many Ants, termites, bees, butterflies, aphids, grasshoppers
invertebrates and the earliest fish and amphibians.
Cambrian Period (541- 485 mya) Cenozoic Era (66 mya-present)
“Explosion of life” Tertiary
 All existing phyla come into being at this time Paleocene (66-56 mya)
 Life forms in warm seas as oxygen levels rise enough to First horses appear and tropical plants dominate
support life Rodents, armadillos, primitive primates, mammalian carnivores,
 Dominant animals: Marine invertebrates, (brachiopods) bear, snakes, turtles, lizard, crocodiles
protective shells and exoskeletons, arthropods(trilobites ), Pines, cacti, palm trees, flowering plants
horseshoe crabs, crinoids/sea lilies, vertebrates, jawless
fish, algae Tertiary
 Supercontinent Gondwana forms near the South Pole Eocene (56-34 mya)
Sea level rises
Whales, bats, primitive elephants, rhinos, hoofed animals, giant
mammals, penguins, pelicans, ducks, gulls
Flowering plants
Oligocene (34-23 mya)
Dogs, cats, apes appear, hornless rhinoceros
Grasses
Miocene (23-5 mya)
Horses, mastadons, camels, and tigers roam
Grasslands, kelp forests
Pliocene (5-2.6 mya)
Armadillos, ground sloths, opossums, porcupines, early
hominids
Quartenary
Pleistocene (2.6 mya-10,000 years ago
Modern humans develop and ice sheets are predominant- Ice age
Mastadons and mammoth
Holocene (9,000 years-)
Mastadons and mammoth become extinct
Human culture flourishes
Accelerating extinction of many species
Theories on the Origin of Life
Special Creation Theory
- an idea that dates back to ancient times and shows that life on
Earth was created in its present form by a supernatural being or
force, rather than through natural processes such as evolution,
the diversity of life on Earth is thought to have been created
individually and purposefully, rather than evolving through a
gradual process of natural selection
Panspermia
-it suggests that life on Earth may have originated from
microorganisms or organic materials that came from outer
space, such as comets or meteorites, it suggests that these
materials could have carried the building blocks of life, such as
amino acids and other organic molecules, to Earth, and that
these materials could have then sparked the formation of life on
our planet
There are five key mechanisms of a single species, to exhibit a
change in allele frequency from one generation to the next.
These are evolution by artificial selection, natural selection,
genetic drift, mutation, and recombination.
Artificial Selection
- (“selective breeding”) describes the human selection of
breeding pairs to produce favorable offspring
- this process causes an evolutionary change in the organism and
is analogous to natural selection, only humans, not nature, doing
the selection
Natural Selection
- the process by which species adapt to their environment
- it occurs when one allele (or combination of an allele of
different genes) makes an organism more or less fit, that is, able
to survive and reproduce in a given environment
Mutation
- a random change in the DNA sequence within a gene or
chromosome of living organisms
- it can also be described as copying errors within the
DNA
Genetic Drift
- involves changes in allele frequency due to chance events
literally, “sampling error” in selecting alleles for the next
generation.
- Genetic drift can have major effects when a population is
sharply reduced in size by a natural disaster (bottleneck effect)
- the small group splits off from the main populations to start a
colony in another region (founder effect)
Recombination
- re-assortment of genes through new chromosome combinations
- occurs via an exchange of DNA between homologous
chromosomes (crossing over) during meiosis.

Spontaneous generation
- is an outdated scientific theory that proposed that living
organisms could arise spontaneously from non-living matter
under certain conditions, without the need for pre-existing life or
a biological process, this idea was commonly held for centuries,
with the belief that things like maggots could spontaneously
generate from rotting meat or that mice could spontaneously
appear from piles of wheat or straw

Theory of Biogenesis
- is the scientific theory that all living organisms arise from pre-
existing life, through a biological process such as reproduction,
this theory was developed in the 19th century as a result of
experiments by Louis Pasteur and others, which demonstrated
that microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, only arise from
pre-existing microorganisms

Mechanism of Evolution
General Biology II

MELC: Explain the mechanisms that produce a change in

populations from generation togeneration (e.g., artificial
selection, natural selection, genetic drift, mutation,
recombination) (STEM_BIO11/12-IIIc-g-9)
OBJECTIVES:
1. Identify the Mechanisms of Evolution
2. Describe the mechanisms that produce a change in
populations from generation to
generation
3. Enumerate the changes in each mechanism of evolution

Mechanisms of Evolution