 Define: Evolution Superposition Plate tectonics Geo Bio  Explain how both biological and geological factors contribute to evolution throughout the geological time scale.

PrecambrianPaleozoicMesozoicCenozoic GEOLOGICAL Biological

 The Precambrian Era is Earth's first era of time. It began with the creation of the Earth around 4.6 billion years ago.  5 major events occurred during this era: 1.the formation of the Sun and light 2.the creation of the Earth 3.the creation of the atmosphere through volcanic out-gassing 4.the creation of the oceans 5.the creation of life.

 Began with simple life forms such as bacteria and simple algae.  There was a rise of simple organisms such as jellyfish and sea worms by the end of the era.  Few fossils because the life forms were soft-bodied and had no hard skeleton.

 Began with the early invertebrates, such as trilobites and brachiopods; continued to develop early vertebrate fish, then  arachnids and insects; later came the first amphibians, and near the era’s end the reptiles became dominant.  Early land plants included simple mosses, ferns, and then cone-bearing plants.  By the end of the era, seed plants were common.  The mass extinction that ended the era caused most marine invertebrates as well as amphibians to disappear.

 Reptiles were the dominant animals of this era, including the various dinosaurs.  Small mammals and birds also appeared.  Toward the end of the era, flowering plants appeared and the kinds of mammals increased.  The mass extinction that ended the era caused the dinosaurs to become extinct.

 New mammals appeared while others became extinct.  The diversity of life forms increased.  Flowering plants became most common.  Humans are also part of the most recent period of this era.

The process by which different kinds of living organisms are theorized to have developed and diversified from earlier forms throughout the history of the earth.

For HW:  Create your own evolution of…  Must be at least 15 events spanning over a MINIMUM of 20 years  Digital Files or Powerpoint (Google Presentation)  Due Mon. April 7 th

So evolution, how do we prove it? Well there’s this scientist named Richard Lenski and in 1988 he started an experiment to prove that evolution can happen. This experiment was called the E. coli long-term evolution experiment.

So what is the E. Coli Long Term Experiment? It’s exactly what it sounds like: Take some E. Coli bacteria… Place them in their own individual incubators and take 1% of their population out each day to place in a different environment (to see how it evolves). Also, every 75 days, freeze large majorities of a population with similar traits (to compare to the original as well as other types later)

So after 20 years, what’s the verdict? Between the 12 original populations, there were about beneficial mutations. Additionally, all populations evolved to be much larger than the first generation. But what if you want some other kind of evidence? Well it won’t be as recent or easily observable…

 Not only due to organisms changing over time, but also because land changes over time, forcing those organisms to adapt!

YOU KNOW WHAT GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IS, RIGHT???

 The THEORY of PLATE TECTONICS!!!!!!  You know this! It is that the Earth is made up of pieces called PLATES.  Plates move around the Earth very slowly on magma, sometimes colliding (converging to form mountains & volcanoes) sometimes diverging (to form wider oceans and hydrothermal vents).

What about BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION?

LAMARK had a good theory…  He proposed that living things can acquire (get) new traits throughout their lifetime …  & pass them onto their offspring.

 Some of our genes (DNA instructions) can switch on or off during our lifetimes.  Making it possible for offspring to acquire new “improved” instructions on surviving.