Page.

120-144

Biodiversity and
Systematics:
Evolutionary and
Relationships
• The Science of Biology is filled with interesting topics that would let us
understand and appreciate life. Studying biology taught us how to answer
important questions about life, allowing us to better appreciate our body
and or environment.

• The history of life on Earth is filled with many fascinating events. These
events present important pieces of information that will help us understand
how life on Earth came to be.
• The first widely accepted idea of how life on
Earth formed was proposed by the Russian
chemist Alexander Ivanovich Oparin (1894-
1980) in the 1920s. He proposed that the
atmosphere of early Earth was very reactive,
with numerous incidents of lightning and high
levels of ultraviolet radiation.
• Since then, scientist have developed various
intellectual procedures in identifying life’s history
by examining ancient rocks, petrified sap of
ancient trees, tar pits, even polar glaciers.
 The Origin of Life

• Geologic pieces of evidence show that Earth

was not formed from a single event. Our
planet was formed by different pieces of
cosmic debris that were probably attracted
to one another over a course of about 100
million years.
 First Organic Molecules

• Earth in its early form had very harsh

conditions. To find out if organic molecules
could evolve from inorganic molecules
accompanied with the harsh conditions of
early Earth, American chemists Stanley
Miller and Harold Urey conducted an
experiment in the 1950s, which involved
simulating the early conditions of Earth
inside the laboratory.
 How Life Began

• Scientistsbelieve that microscopic cell-like

structures similar to modern bacteria
appeared 200-300 million years after Earth
cooled enough to carry water. These cell-like
structures were actually large organic
molecules known as proteinoid
microspheres.
 Evolution of RNA and DNA

• You have leaned in the previous unit that

DNA and RNA are essential molecules
that controls activities in the cell. One of
the biggest questions regarding the
history of Earth is how these
biomolecules have evolved. There are no
clear explanations at the moment as how
they were initially formed, but some
scientists have made surprising
discoveries regarding this area.
 Where Did life Evolve?

• With the many speculations about the origin

of life, scientists have found different
habitats where life may have begun. Some of
these locations include soil surfaces,
interstellar space, and even the atmosphere.
 Origin of Eukaryotic Cells

• Complex life began from simple prokaryotic organisms, which are said to
be the ancestors or precursors of eukaryotes. Prokaryotes are so successful
in an incredible range of habitats that they can even live in swamps,
hindguts of termites, hot springs, and even in deep sea and underground
rocks.
 Multicellularity and Sexual
Reproduction

• Most prokaryotes reproduce

asexually. After eukaryotic cells
arose, they began to reproduce
sexually. This event caused rapid
evolution of more complex life-
forms. The reason behind this far
greater speed of evolution is the
shuffling and reshuffling of genes
from one generation to the next.
 Paleontology

• Paleontology is the scientific study of the existence of life, including the

origin and eventual destruction or extinction of different groups of
organisms. It is a science that incorporates different disciplines such as
biology, geology, ecology, archaeology, and even computer science to
study the evolution of organisms and how they interact with the
environment.
• Paleontologists specialize in studying the ecologies of the past and the
evolution of organisms that thrived in these ecologies through careful
observation and documentation of fossils.
Fossils of Archaeopteryx
 Geology

• Geology is the study of life on Earth based on the evidence found on

rocks. Geologist have a lot of contribution in terms of studying the history
of life on Earth.
• Geologists are scientists who carefully study the different materials that
make up Earth.
• To summarize, paleontologists look at the fossil remains of different types
of organisms beneath the surface of Earth to study primitive life, and
geologists study the outer layer of Earth’s crust to understand the history
of Earth. Both of them work together to understand the history of
evolution of life on Earth. Both of them use the geologic time scale to
divide Earth’s history into time intervals.
 Geologic Timescale

• The geologic timescale is used to represent

evolutionary time.
 Eons
• Eons -are the largest divisions In the geologic timeline. They are composed of
hundreds of millions of years in duration.
• Phanerozoic eon - which began more than 500 million years ago.
• Proterozoic eon - ( from 2.5 billion years ago to 540 million years ago0, where
the first multicellular organisms ar0se and where mass extinction occurred.
• Archaeozoic eon - (from 3.9 to 2.5 billion years ago) where the first life-forms
represented by single-celled organisms appeared.
• Hadean eon - (from 4.6 to 3.9 billion years ago), which characterized by the
Earth’s formation from dust and gases.
• The Proterozoic, Archaeozoic and the Hadean eons are sometimes collectively
known as Precambrian time , which accounts for almost 90% of Earth’s history.
 Eras

• As mentioned previously, an eon can be divided into smaller time intervals

known as eras. The Phanerozoic eon is divided into three eras, namely,
Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. The boundaries of the ear have
been determined based on the different organisms that were present during
a certain period of time in the geologic timescale.
 Paleozoic era

• The Paleozoic era began about 540

million years ago and lasted for about
300 million years. Many kinds of
organisms lived during this era.
 Mesozoic era

• The Mesozoic era began about 200 million

years ago and lasted for about 180 million
years. This era is also called the Age of
Dinosaurs and, sometimes, the Age of
Reptiles because this is when many kinds of
dinosaurs existed.
 Cenozoic era

• The Cenozoic era is considered to be the

latest era in the geologic timeline, which
began from 65 million years ago up to the
present. It is composed of the Quaternary
and Tertiary periods, which are characterized
by the presence of primitive mammals and
modern human civilization.
 Periods

• Periods are further subdivisions of eras. The

Proterozoic eon is composed of the
Vendian/Ediacaran period. Prokaryotic
organisms began to appear during this period,
first with the anaerobic life-forms, and then
followed by the photosynthetic organisms, which
added oxygen to the atmosphere.
• During the Cambrian period, organisms were
noted to have hard body parts such as shells and
outer skeletons. The first known representatives
of most animal phyla evolved during this period,
which include jellyfishes, worms, and sponges.
 Ordovician and the Silurian periods

• During the Ordovician and the

Silurian periods, early forms of
cephalopods (which include octopi
and squids) appeared. The first
vertebrates, animals with backbones,
to appear In this period were jawless
fishes which had suckerlike mouths.
They became common in the seas.
 Devonian period

• In the Devonian period, many plants,

including ferns, adapted to drier areas, which
allowed them to invade other kinds of
habitats. Aquatic areas, on the hand, were
mostly populated with both invertebrates
and vertebrates. This period is refered to as
the Age of Fishes because many groups of
fishes have evolved during this period
• Life continued to expand on Earth’s surface
during the Carboniferous and Permian
periods. The Reptiles – animals with scaly
skins that lay eggs with tough leathery shells
– evolved from amphibians. Winged insects
evolved into many forms, such as dragonflies
and cockroaches. Giant ferns and other
plants formed vast swampy forests.
• At the end of the Paleozoic era, many organisms became extinct, including
trilobites and many amphibians. The mass extinction at the end of the
Paleozoic era affected both plants and animals on land and even in the seas.
• The Mesozoic era was divided into the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic
periods.
• These Periods represent the age wen many forms of dinosaurs are believed to
have existed on Earth.
• Their extinction could have been brought about by an asteroid impact or
volcanism.
• Triassic period survived the mass extinction during the Permian period,
including flies, insects, reptiles, and come-bearing plants.
 Jurassic period
• Jurassic period, dinosaurs became the
dominant animals on land for about 150
million years. However, various types of land
animals lived at different time frames.
Dicraeosaurus was one of the largest
dinosaurs in this period.
 Cretaceous Period

• Cretaceous period is the time when reptiles

were the dominant vertebrates on Earth. During
this period, several kinds of birds began to exist
along side Pterosaurs (flying reptiles). It was also
the period when new kinds of dinosaurs evolved.
• Iguanodon and Triceratops species emerged as
common herbivores, and Tyrannosaurus rex and
Spinosaurus were some of the dominant
carnivores in this period.
• The angiosperms, the flowering plants, also
arose during this period.
 Tertiary Period

• Tertiary period is from 65 to 1.9 million years

ago. This period started with the emergence
of primitive mammals. During this period,
Earth’s climate was generally warm and mild.
In oceans, marine mammals such as whales
and dolphins thrived.
 Quaternary Period

• Quaternary period, on the other hand, is

coined as the “Age of Man” because the
earliest modern humans are believed to have
existed at the start of this period. The
Quaternary period is from 1.8 million years
ago up to the present and is characterized by
the series of ice ages followed by warmer
climates.
 Epochs

• Epochs are finer subdivisions shown in the

Cenozoic era and parts of the Mesozoic era.
THE END