General Biology 2
Coverage:
 Geologic Time Scale
 Basic Mechanism of
Evolution
 short-term shock.
CHAPTER 3: History of Life on Earth
HIGHLIGHTS:
 The Earth is 4.5 billion years old
 Life on Earth arose around 3.5 billion
years ago.
 The gap between the creation of the
world and the life on Earth is long
because there is an existence of
primordial Earth wherein it has
primordial atmosphere that cannot
sustain life.
 The temperature can exceed in 200
degrees celcius back then.
 The plates of Earth back then were
unstable, in result, frequent volcanic
eruptions and earthquakes occurred.
MISCONCEPTIONS:
 Humans and Dinosaurs existed on the
Earth at the same time.
 Plants and animals have always existed.
 GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE
 Developed in 1800’s from relative
dating of rock
 Radiocarbon dating was used to
determine the absolute division in the
time scale.
 Radiocarbon dating subordinates
relative dating
 Paleontologists use division of the
geologic time scale to represent
evolutionary time.
 A tabular presentation of the history of
life based on the geologist’s study of
rocks and the fossils they contain
 MASS EXTINCTION
 Long-term stress compounded by
 Sea level falls, Impact events
(asteroid/comet), Plate Tectonics
& Global warming are some cause
of the said phenomenon.
EFFECT & RECOVERY
 Weedy species- these are species
that can quickly adapt to the
environment; becomes dominate.
 Reproduce quickly
 Disperse widely
 Love in a variety of habitats
 Establish populations in
strange places
 Resist eradication once
establish.
ERAs
 Precambrian Era: Vast and Puzzling
 3.4 bya: microscopic bacteria
 Organisms lived are microscopic
bacteria mostly the remnants of
cyanobacteria
 Atmosphere: Water vapor, CO2,
Nitrogen, NO OXYGEN.
 The atmosphere composed of
water vapor, carbon dioxide, and
nitrogen and without oxygen.
 Ozone layer protects from UV: water
protects
 Ozone layer protects the limited
water resources back then.
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 Later, primary plants evolved, used

photosynthesis which created
oxygen
 Carbon dioxide is utilized by
photosynthetic organisms.
 Oxygen accumulates 2.5 bya.  Divided into 6 time periods:
 FOSSILS:  Cambrian Period
 Stromatolites: also known as stromalites, are  Age of the Invertebrates
layered mounds and columns of calcium o Golden age of marine
carbonate (material deposited by algae) invertebrates like jellyfish and
 600 mya, 1st multi-celled animals alike.
 These are stromatolites are fossils of  Ordovician Period
cyanobacteria. Ancestors of multi-  First vertebrates
celled organisms.  Silurian Period
 Plant life first appeared on land
o Land has now plants.
 Age of fishes
o The life was gradually leaving
outside the water.
 Devonian Period
 Spread of vertebrates to land
(amphibians).
 Carboniferous Period
 There is now interaction of plants
 Paleozoic Era: Life Changes and animals in land.
 Early life began in the sea shells, trilobites.  Permian Period
 Oceans are first formed so marine  Disappearance of invertebrates.
organisms are the ones which first lived.  Increase variety of reptiles.
 Trilobites are the ancestors of marines o Much stronger version of
amphibians.

 Mesozoic Era: Age of Reptiles

 350 mya
 Dinosaurs were land-dwelling reptiles
that were dominate during
Mesozoic Era
 Golden age of marine
invertebrates like jellyfish and
alike.
 Major event: Breakup of Pangaea
 Mesozoic Era is divided into 3
periods:
 Land Masses:
 Triassic
o Gondwana
 Jurassic
o Laurasia  Cretaceous
o Pangaea  Mass Extinction: Earth struct by 6-
mile wide asteroid, resulting in
mass extinction:
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 Cenozoic Era: Age of Mammals
 65 mya
 Age of mammals
 Major event: The world’s great
mountain ranges were built during
this era. (Himalayas & Mt. Everest)
 Division of GTS:
 BASIC MECHANISM OF EVOLUTION
 Evolution- is defined as change in species
over time. Evolution plays an important
role in History of the Earth.
 Adaptive Mechanism- which
develop through time allowed
organisms to withstand the
extreme changes in the
environment.
Examples:
 Dandelions produce many
offspring but few survives.
Their adaptive mechanism is
having light seeds in order for
them to reproduce faster and
this could increase their
survival rate.
 Camouflage- this is the
adaptive mechanism of some
insects and species, this let
them blend with the
environment they live in.
 Plato
 Species were static and unchanging.
 Many believed that creator made all
species in their present form.
 In other word, Plato doesn’t believe in
evolution
 Today’s scientist:
 Accept evolution as the
explanation for life’s diversity.
 The key factor why there's
biodiversity is evolution.
 Gene pool
 Entire collection of genes
 Allele frequency
 The number of copies of an
allele divided by the number
of the total number of alleles.
 There's biodiversity because of
gene pool and allele frequency.
MECHANISMS THAT PRODUCE
CHANGE IN POPULATION:
 Natural Selection
 Occurs when individuals with
certain genotypes (those that
are best suit suited to the
environment).
 “Eliminates poorly adapted
phenotypes”
 An advantage of natural
selection is it doesn’t
tolerate weak phenotypes,
which leads for the
environment to have strong
species.
 “Does not have a goal to
produce a superorganism”.
 They can't produce
superorganism which is fit to
anywhere. The strong ones
just survived the
environment.
 “Survival of the Fittest”.
 Fitness is not limited to
strength or capabilities of an
organism but also the ability
of an organism to survive
just long enough to
reproduce.
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pwede mahaluan o nahaluan ng bagong

characteristics.
 Example: Giraffes have long necks. Before,  Example: Amish people, noong
giraffes had short necks but nowadays, nasa original country or place
there are no giraffes with short necks. sila, walang problema sa kanila
Natural selection occurred. The reason but as time passes, may nagd-
why short-neck giraffes lead to drift and so result nun is
extinction because they cannot longer pagkakaroon ng genetic
survive its environment. One reason is condition called Ellis-Van
they cannot reach long trees. creveld syndrome. (may extra
TYPES OF NATURAL SELECTION finger)
 In result:
 Sexual Selection o Biodiversity
 Is a type of natural selection resulting in
variation in ability to obtain mates.  Bottleneck Effect- when the
a) Fighting to mate- some organisms population drop rapidly in a short
basically fights just to obtain or to get period of time, so the surviving
mates, and also to show to other men of population will try to restore the
their species their power. loss of lives or the biodiversity,
b) Attracting females- mostly birds ang pero yung characteristic na present
mga examples. Example: Peacocks, lang sa kanila ang iikot sa lineage,
Vogelklop, etc. and so as time pass by, there will be
a time na mamamatay at titigil din
 Mutation ang reproduction since, limited
 A change in an organism’s DNA lang ang characteristics na naa-
 This could occur due to human interventions acquire nila.
 Mutation are the raw material for evolution  In result:
because genes contribute to phenotypes o Loss of genetic variety
(Physical appearance). o Pwede din biodiversity
 Example is atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The
(Low percentage)
aftermath is still experiencing in the local
 Both could change the original
areas that can result in mutation of organisms
population and could result to
 Genetic drift
biodiversity but if you think about
 Genetic drift is a change in allele frequencies
it, they are both bad.
that occurs purely by chance.
 When the population drifted by half or even
 Gene flow (migration)
one-fourth, that group would might find a
 Migration is the movement of
new ecosystem and will result for new
individuals in or out of a
characteristics.
population.
 Under genetic drift, there is founder and the
 Can counteract the effects of both
bottleneck effect.
natural selection and genetic drift.
 Founder- few individual leave their
 Ito yung pang-balance sa
original population and begin a new
bottleneck and founder effect.
colony, and a part of the population
 Example: When may colony of
drifts from their original population due
species ng bugs, tapos nagmigrate
to nature/natural processes, and also
yung ¼ sa ibang population, this
because of human interventions, this
could lead into biodiversity
will result for a more diverse population,
 Another example is yung sa
means new alleles are formed, and
Hiroshima bombing, yung nagging
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solution nila sa genetic mutation is
pag migrate ng ibang nationalities
papuntang japan, or vice-versa, in
this way, magkakaroon ng
introduction sa mga bagong
characteristics and traits,
preventing the genetic mutation to
occur
 These four can act up to produce
change.
SPECIATION AND EXTINCTION
o Billions of years many species appeared on
Earth and overtime, became extinct.
o This explains how small evolutionary
changes the whole population or the
environment.
 Species
 Distinct type of organism.
 You should have distinct or unique
character in order for you to be called a
species.
 Carolus Linnaeus
 He is the reason why we have
classification system, or scientific names
(Ex. Humans- Homo Sapiens)
 He defined species as “all examples of
creatures that were alike in minute details
of body structure.
Pero hindi ito na-accept since hindi
lahat ng magkakamukha, ay below
one species, or hindi lahat nakikita
sa physical appearance, but sa
genetic makeup din.
BIOLOGICAL SPECIES CONCEPT
 A group of organisms, that can
interbreed and produce viable, fertile
offspring.
 When you mean species they should
have the capability to integrate which
means they have to reproduce in order
for them to be called as species.
ASSUMES:
o Common characteristics
o Genetically compatible
o Interbreed under natural condition
DRAWBACKS:
o
You cannot apply this with extinct
organisms/species.
o Cannot be used with exclusively
asexual organisms (such as
bacterias):
 Prokaryotes
 Amoeba and other protists
 And example is mga Liger and
Zebronky, they could occur
but they couldn’t reproduce,
they don’t have that capability
to reproduce so sa katagalan,
mamatay din sila at magiging
possible lang ulit na
magkaganon na species, by
doing the same process again.
 SPECIATION
The formation of new species, occurs
when some members of a
population can no longer
successfully interbreed with the rest
of the group. One possible cause is
because they or a group of one
species have their preference na or
they are not compatible with each
other.
 Reproductive Isolation
 Pwede gamitin or tawagin
reproductive barrier, This cause
species in different forms to
choose and to mate with another
organism in the same species
that will cause biodiversity. In
other words, this prevent viable
fertile offspring, which will affect
yung pagtutuloy ng lineage.
o Viable- fertile,
continuation. The ability
for an organism to
continue the
generation/lineage.
 Reproductive Barriers Cause
Species to Diverge:
 Interruption to courtship
 Fertilization (Hindi na
mature yung gametes kaya
‘di nabuo into zygote)
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 Embryo (Yung zygote hindi
nabuo and nagkaproblem
para maging embryo)
 Offspring development
 PREZYGOTIC MECHANISMS
 Occurs before fertilization
 Prevents: (Most common way para sa
gene pool ay ma-isolate)
 Prevent mating from occurring
 Prevent gametes from becoming
zygotes
 TEMPORAL ISOLATION (Isolate by time)
 May breed: (Kapag patuloy nangyari
to sa couples, mapipilitan yung isa na
maghanap ng iba in order to
reproduce and this will result to a new
species with new characteristics etc.)
 Different times of day
 Different seasons
 Different years
 HABITAT ISOLATION (mostly
amphibians)
 Variables: (basically prefer habitat)
 Same geographic area
 Different habitat
 BEHAVIORAL ISOLATION
 Variables:
 Different courting rituals (prolly
nag iba na yung preferences)
 ISOLATION BY SONG
 Example here is yung
Eastern and Wester
Meadowlarks, nagka
genetic drift, in result,
nagka iba iba na ng
preferences, and kaya
nagkaroon ng dalawang
klase ng meadowlarks.
 MECHANICAL ISOLATION
 Variables:
 Structural difference prevents
mating. Example:
 Genital openings, kapag di
aligned, no mating, therefore
maghahanap ng ka match
that will result sa
biodiversity.
 POSTZYGOTIC MECHANISM
 Prevents hybrids zygotes from developing
into viable fertile adults.
 Example: Zebronkey (hybrid of Donkey &
Zebra) reduced fitness for next
generation, they cannot mate to other, in
order to produce ganon sa kanila is you
have to do the same process over again,
since hindi viable.
 REDUCED HYBRID VIABILITY/ HYBRID
INVIABILITY (B4 zygote, dedz na)
 If sheep and goats’ mate, they will
produce a hybrid zygote, which
will die before birth.
 REDUCED HYBRID FERTILITY/
HYBRID STERILITY
 If male donkey mates with a
female horse, they will produce a
healthy but sterile offspring or
what they call a mule (Creds: lex)
 HYBRID BREAKDOWN
 Habang nagc-continue ang
generation or linage, mas
humihina ang traits naa-acquire
ng future gen
 Offspring of hybrids are freeable
or sterile
MODES OF SPECIATION
 Physical separation (most obv way
of looking kung pano nag arise
lahat ng ‘to)
 Process of species formation.
Three Modes:
 Allopatric Speciation (Allo= other,
Patric= place)
 Geographic sepration
 Occurs when some numbers
of a population is
geographically isolated,
preventing gene flow.
 Pwedeng because of human
intervention or natural
occurrence.
 Sympatric Speciation (Sym= same,
Patric= place)
 Occurs when some members
of a population that occupy
same habitat within the same
range.
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 Pwedeng be due to rapid

genetic changes.
 Parapatric (Beside each other)
 When the groups that
evolved to separate species
are geographically
neighbors.