EVIDENCE OF

EVOLUTION
EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION
PALEONTOLOGY: FOSSIL RECORDS
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: BIOGEOGRAPHY

COMPARATIVE ANATOMY

PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY

SELECTION
 Evidence of Evolution
• In these modern times, several basic
lines of evidence are used to prove
evolution.
1. Evidence from Paleontology: Fossil
records
• The most direct pieces of evidence that
evolution had occurred are the fossil
records.
• The study of the fossils and
sedimentary rocks is the only way by
which we can learn about past
environments and climatic conditions
on Earth and the ways by which life
evolved and diversified.
• The sedimentary deposits contain
fossils, remains, or traces of animals,
plants, and other organisms from the
remote past.
• Rocks and fossils that were
generally in the deeper strata
were assumed to be older while
the younger ones were those
found in the upper part.
• Since rocks sedimentary layers are
arranged sequentially, the sequential
order of organisms can be inferred from
where the fossils are found.
• The chronological order of the major
groups found via fossil record shows a
succession of species that was foreseen by
evolutionary theory. For instance, single-
celled prokaryotes that lacked a
membrane-bound nucleus are thought to
be the most ancient group of organisms.
• Thus, evolutionary theory predicted
that fossilized prokaryotes should
appear before the eukaryotes.
• Record shows the early evolution of
cetaceans (e.g., whales, dolphins,
and porpoises), which were
documented to have lived 50 to 60
million years ago.
• Series of fossils have been found in
different countries such as Pakistan,
Egypt, and North America showing the
transition of cetaceans from
terrestrial only.
• However, fossil records have shown
how cetacean evolution had resulted
to the loss of hind limbs and the
development of flippers.
Evidences from Geographic Distribution

 Biogeography is an interesting field in

biology where geographic spatial
distributions of certain species are
investigated
 Descendant species should be found in
localities close to where their
ancestors were, regardless of the
environmental settings
 Islandsthat have similar environments but are
found in different regions of the world will
harbor totally different species assemblages.
 These islands should be inhabited with species
that are closely related to the species on the
nearest mainland, albeit the environment is
very different from the island.
EVIDENCE FROM COMPARATIVE ANATOMY

 Analternative piece of evidence that

supports evolution is the concept that
biologists have coined as HOMOLOGY.
 HOMOLOGY – any anatomical feature
originally possessed by an ancestor that has
subsequently been modified by its
descendants for a specific function
Embryology
 During vertebrate development, all
embryos exactly look the same during
the very early stages of development
 Similarity in embryos is a shared
history of vertebrates
 All vertebrate embryos are
characterized by having gill pouches
and tails
Contrivances
Some characters that are passed
on through generation will not be
“perfectly” adapted based on
evolutionary theory
Existing traits are modified
(contrived) to serve a new function
Vestigial Structures and Organs

 There are structures that can be

redundant altogether resulting to
vestigial organs
 These are structures that are
currently of slight use to the organism
or there is no clear physiological
function known
Evidence from Physiology and
Biochemistry
 All living things passed on genetic
information from generation to
generation via the DNA molecule
 Closely related species will be more
similar to one another
Evidence from Selection
 Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics
 Bacteria have a very rapid life cycle and can produce
millions of new generation of new bacteria every 24
hours
 Bacteria can quickly respond to changing
environmental pressures
 Antibiotics act to weed out those bacteria with low
resistance in each generation
 Bacteria with high resistance survive and pass their
genetic makeup to the next generation
Complete the concept map.
Write a short explanation on each question
below. Write your answer on a separate sheet
of paper.
1. Describe why certain extinct plants and
animals were not fossilized.
2.A friend informs you, “man came from
apes” since many structural and
biochemical similarities are observed
between them. How would you respond to
this?
4. In the book, Jurassic Park, by Michael
Crichton, scientists are able to reconstruct
dinosaurs by getting dinosaur DNA from a
mosquito that had been well-preserved in
amber since the era of dinosaurs. Do you
believe this can actually happen in real life?
Why?