Essential knowledge 1.A.4: Biological evolution is supported by scientific evidence from many disciplines, including mathematics.

Scientific evidence of biological evolution uses information from geographical, geological, physical, chemical and mathematical applications.

Geographical Evidences It seems as though major isolated land areas and island groups often evolved their own distinct plant and animal communities.  For example, before humans evolved, Australia contained more than 100 species of kangaroos, koalas, and other marsupials but none of the more advanced terrestrial  placental mammals  such as dogs, bears and horses.       Land mammals were  absent from the more isolated islands.  Each of these isolated land areas and islands had a great # of plant, insect, and bird species that lived only in that region of land.  The  explanation for this existence of Australia's, Hawaii's and other islands and lands, mostly unique biotic environments is that the life forms in these areas had been evolving in isolation from the rest of the world for millions of years.  

Evolution evidence: Biogeography https://www. youtube. com/watch Geographical distribution of species Examples: Islands vs. Mainland Australia Continents

Evolution evidence: The Fossil Record Succession of forms over time Transitional links Vertebrate descent

Dating Fossils Relative Dating - only determines the sequential order in which a series of events occurred Absolute Dating – Radioactive isotopes decay in predictable rates. Half-life – Amount of time it take for half of the radioactive isotopes to break down.

Law of Superposition

Half-Life Practice Problem You are an archaeologist and you have discovered the remains of an ancient civilization. In one of the human bones that you find, you determine that of the original 60.6 grams of carbon-14 present in the bone, only 15.2 grams remain. Knowing that the half-life of carbon-14 is about 5730 years, what do you determine is the age of the bone ?

You think your smart, now try these… What is the half-life of a 100.0 g sample of nitrogen-16 that decays to 12.5 g of nitrogen-16 in 21.6 s? All isotopes of technetium are radioactive, but they have widely varying half-lives. If an 800.0 g sample of technetium-99 decays to 100.0 g of technetium-99 in 639 000 y, what is its half-life? A 208 g sample of sodium-24 decays to 13.0 g of sodium-24 within 60.0 h. What is the half-life of this radioactive isotope?

Evolution evidence: Comparative Anatomy Homologous structures (homology) Descent from a common ancestor Vestigial organs Ex: whale/snake hindlimbs; wings on flightless birds

Evolution evidence: Comparative Embryology Pharyngeal pouches, ‘tails’ as embryos

Evolution evidence: Molecular Biology Similarities in DNA, proteins, genes, and gene products Common genetic code

Biological Resistance

Antibiotic Resistance

Transformational Fossils

Final words…... “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

Essential knowledge 1.B.1: Organisms share many conserved core processes and features that evolved and are widely distributed among organisms today.

Structural and functional evidence supports the relatedness of all domains Can you think of any evidences that support the claim that all living things are related?

Evidence #1: Major features of the genetic code are shared by all modern living systems

Evidence #2 DNA and RNA are carriers of genetic information through transcription, translation and replication.

Evidence #3: Metabolic pathways are conserved across all currently recognized domains. http://genome.cshlp.org/content/13/3/422.long Scientific study to support the claim. Have student read the article and discuss in class. Abstract is on the following slide http://www.salk.edu/news/pressrelease_details.php?press_id=484 A second article supporting evidence #3

The Phylogenetic Extent of Metabolic Enzymes and Pathways José Manuel Peregrin-Alvarez, Sophia Tsoka, and Christos A. Ouzounis1 Computational Genomics Group, The European Bioinformatics Institute, EMBL Cambridge Outstation, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK Abstract The evolution of metabolic enzymes and pathways has been a subject of intense study for more than half a century. Yet, so far, previous studies have focused on a small number of enzyme families or biochemical pathways. Here, we examine the phylogenetic distribution of the full-known metabolic complement of Escherichia coli, using sequence comparison against taxa-specific databases. Half of the metabolic enzymes have homologs in all domains of life, representing families involved in some of the most fundamental cellular processes. We thus show for the first time and in a comprehensive way that metabolism is conserved at the enzyme level. In addition, our analysis suggests that despite the sequence conservation and the extensive phylogenetic distribution of metabolic enzymes, their groupings into biochemical pathways are much more variable than previously thought.

Structural evidence supports the relatedness of all eukaryotes. How similar are you to a banana? Answer: Very closely related

Example 1: Cytoskeleton (a network of structural proteins that facilitate cell movement, morphological integrity and organelle transport)

Example 2: Membrane-bound organelles (mitochondria and/or chloroplasts)

Example 3: Linear chromosomes

Example 4: Endomembrane systems, including the nuclear envelope