Lesson 3 History of Life on Earth

What I know
Definition of Terms
Precambrian ~ A widely used informal term referring to
all rocks stratigraphically beneath rocks of the Cambrian
system and to all geologic time preceding the Cambrian
Period.
Paleozoic ~ is pertaining to, or designating, the
older division of geological time during which life is
known to have existed, including the silurian, devonian,
and Carboniferous ages, and also to the life or rocks of
those ages. 

Mesozoic ~ Belonging, or relating, to the secondary or

reptilian age, or the era between the paleozoic and
Cenozoic.

Cenozoic ~ of, relating to, or being 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.

Epoch ~ a division of time characterised by
the prevalence of similar conditions of the earth;
commonly a minor division or part of a period.
Cambrian ~ A period in the Paleozoic era in Earth's
geologic history (543-490 mya)., origin of most animal
phyla, hox genes.

Ordovician ~ of, relating to, or being the period between

the Cambrian and the Silurian or the corresponding
system of rocks.

Silurian ~ of, relating to, or being a period of 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.

Devonian ~ noting or pertaining to a period of the

Paleozoic Era, 405 to 345 million years ago, characterized
by the dominance of fishes and the advent of amphibians
and ammonites.

Carboniferous ~ noting or pertaining to a period of the

Paleozoic Era, including the Pennsylvanian and
Mississippian periods as epochs, occurring from 345
million to 280 million years ago.

Permian ~ noting or pertaining to a period of the

Paleozoic Era occurring from about 280 to 230 million
years ago and characterized by a profusion of amphibian
species.
Triassic ~ of, relating to, or being the earliest period of
the Mesozoic era or the corresponding system of rocks
marked by the first appearance of the dinosaurs.

Jurassic ~ of, relating to, or being 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.

Cretaceous ~ noting or pertaining to a period of the

Mesozoic Era, from 140 million to 65 million years ago,
characterized by the greatest development and
subsequent extinction of dinosaurs and the advent of
flowering plants and modern insects.

What’s New
PRE-ACTIVITY:

1. The age of the Earth is 4.5 billion years old.

2. The astronomical studies have revealed that Earth
was formed as a planet around 4.5 billion years ago.
The climatic condition of Earth has changed
continuously since which led to the origin of life on
Earth. Life originated around the hydrothermal vents
of the deep sea when the inorganic molecule began
to aggregate to form large biomolecules and one of
the biomolecules possessed the ability to self
replicate called Ribonucleic acid (RNA). Life
originated around 4 billion years ago in the deep-sea
hydrothermal vents and formed the first cell-like.
 These structures used to replicate on their own as
they enclosed RNA inside them. When the climatic
conditions began to change, the structures were
modified to form the first cellular structures around
3.6 billion years ago. These cells were called
prokaryotes, which used the inorganic and organic
substrates to survive. When the chemical substrate
declined in the ocean, the prokaryotes shifted their
nutrition from heterotrophic to autotrophic i.e. from
obtaining nutrition from outside to synthesizing their
own food through the process of photosynthesis.
This led to the evolution of the photosynthetic
prokaryotes called cyanobacteria which took place
around 2.5 billion years ago. The cyanobacteria
produced oxygen gas which got accumulated in the
atmosphere. The accumulation of oxygen caused the
evolution of the first plants and animals around 700
million years ago. After the Pre-cambrian explosion
(541-485 million years ago), the diversity of plants
and animals increased.  The organisms evolved into a
higher organism which is present today.

What’s I’ve Learned

1. A ( Eon )
2. A ( Mammals )
3. C ( Strata )
4. B ( Mesozoic )
5. C ( Paleozoic )
6. B ( Mesozoic )
7. A ( Pre-Cambrian )
8. D ( Eons, eras, periods, epochs )
9. C ( Mesozoic )
10. A ( Pangea formed)
Lesson 4 Mechanisms that Produce Change in
Populations

What I know
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:

Natural Selection ~ a process in nature in which

organisms possessing certain genotypic characteristics
that make them better adjusted to an environment
tend to survive, reproduce, increase in number or
frequency, and therefore, are able to transmit and
perpetuate their essential genotypic qualities to
succeeding generations.

Mitigation ~ steps taken to avoid or minimise negative

environmental impacts. Mitigation can include:
avoiding the impact by not taking a certain action;
minimising impacts by limiting
the degree or magnitude of the action; rectifying the
impact by repairing or restoring
the affected environment; reducing the impact by
protective steps required with the action; and
compensating for the impact by replacing or providing
substitute resources.

Mutation ~ is a change that occurs in our DNA

sequence, either due to mistakes when the DNA is
copied or as the result of environmental factors such
as UV light and cigarette smoke. 
Genotype ~ is the genetic constitution of an organism.
The genotype determines the hereditary potentials
and limitations of an individual from embryonic
formation through adulthood.

Genetic Equilibrium ~ is the condition of

an allele or genotype in a gene pool (such as a
population) where the frequency does not change
from generation to generation.

Genetic Variation ~   is a term used to describe the

variation in the DNA sequence in each of our
genomes. 

DNA Sequence ~  is the process of determining the

precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule.

Genetic Drift ~ is the change in the frequency of an

existing gene variant (allele) in a population due to
random sampling of organisms.

What’s New
PRE-ACTIVITY: A Picture Paint a Thousand Words
Lesson 5 Evolution and Origin of Biodiversity: Patterns
of Descent with Modification

What I know
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Definition of Terms

Species ~ is a group of organisms that can reproduce

with one another in nature and produce fertile
offspring.

Classification ~ is the systematic grouping of living

things based on characteristics, hierarchical, or
phylogenetic relationships.

Interbreeding ~ is the act of mixing different species or

varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce
hybrids.

Isolating mechanism ~ is something (as a geographical,

ecological, physiological, anatomical, or psychological
barrier) that limits interbreeding between groups and
is thereby a major factor in the differentiation of
biological units (as races or species).

Zygote ~ is a fertilized egg cell that results from the

union of a female gamete (egg, or ovum) with a male
gamete (sperm).
Allopatric ~ is the speciation that happens when two
populations of the same species become isolated from
each other due to geographic changes.

Sympatric ~ is the speciation that occurs when two

groups of the same species live in the same geographic
location, but they evolve differently until they can no
longer interbreed and are considered different species.

Parapatric ~ is the speciation that occurs when a

species is spread out over a large, continuous
geographic area, but individuals tend to mate
successfully only with members from their own region
because the species are separated by extreme
differences in the same environment.

What’s New
PRE-ACTIVITY:
1. Euglena
2. Euglena viridis, Euglena gracilis, Euglena deses

What’s More
ACTIVITY: