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Class! 
Evidence for
Evolution
Major Evidence for Evolution
 Fossil Record
 Embryological Development
 Comparative Anatomy
 Vestigial Structures
 Biochemical Evidence
Fossil Record
 A fossil is any trace or remains of an
organism that has been preserved by a
natural process.
 Scientists can compare these to living
organisms to see if evolution has
occurred.
 Special circumstances are needed for
fossils to form and then usually only the
hard parts are left.
Types of Fossils

1. Petrified fossils

 Formed when minerals in mud and

sand replace the hard parts of the
organisms.
 The process is called petrification.
Types of Fossils

2. Imprints

 Formed when soft, thin body structures,

such as feathers and leaves, leave
impressions on soft sediments such as
mud.
Types of Fossils

3. Molds and Casts

 Formed when an organism is buried by
sediments that later harden into rock.
 Molds are formed as empty spaces in a rock
when the soft parts of the organism decay
and the hard parts are dissolve by chemicals.
 Cast, also known as filled-in-molds, are
formed when the mold is filled in with another
material to develop a cast that has the same
shape as that of the original organism.
Types of Fossils

4. Trace Fossils

 Marks or evidence of animal activities,

such as tracks, footprints, trails, and
burrows.
Types of Fossils

5. Preservation of Entire Organism

 Amber or Resin- amber forms when the

resin on sap from evergreen trees
hardens.
 Tar pits- some animals are trapped
in the sticky tar
 Freezing
 Though only remnants of an
organism are excavated,
scientists use them to
reconstruct the complete
structure of organism, which help
them compare it with those of
living organisms. This is known
as fossil reconstruction.
Determining Fossil Age
Scientists use different techniques to
determine the age of fossils.

 1. Law of Superposition – states that

in a series of sedimentary rock
layers, the younger rocks normally
lie on top of older rocks.
 The following are revealed through the
Law of Superposition.
 Fossils from recent layers are more
complex than those in older layers.
 Change in form is slow and gradual.
 Some fossils have no living relatives.
 Life moved from an aquatic environment
to terrestrial one.
Geologic Time
Scale
 Scientists use different techniques to
determine the age of fossils.
 2. Radioactive Decay of Elements–
through radioactive dating, scientist can
determine the age of rocks and fossils
by examining the elements they contain.
 Many of these elements have two or more isotopes,
some of which are radioactive.
 Radioactive isotopes undergo a change called
radioactive decay, which happens at a declining rate
called half-life.
HALF-LIFE
 Refers to the amount of time needed for half the
amount of the sample of that element to decay.
 Carbon-14 is one of the commonly used radioactive
elements to date the remains of living things within
the last 50 000 years.
Embryological Development
 An embryo refers to an organism in its
early stages of development.
 Scientists noted that at some point
during the development, the embryos
of many different animal appear so
similar that it is difficult to tell them
apart.
 Comparative Anatomy
 Comparing the body structures of living
species also provided scientists with
clues pointing to evolution and the
common ancestry of organisms.
 Similar structures that evolved from the same
ancestral body parts but have different
functions are called homologous structures.
 Similar functions but have a different anatomy
are called analogous structures.
Homologous Structures
Analogous Structures
Fly wing

Bat wing
Vestigial Structures
 Certain parts of organism have no particular
function.
 These structures are believed to be remnants
of organs that may have been present, well-
developed, and functional in the ancestor.
Biochemical Evidence
 Two closely-related organisms will
have similar DNA, RNA, and protein
(amino acid) sequences.
 This also gives evidence of a common
ancestor.
Development of
New Species
What is species?
 A species is a group of individuals capable
of interbreeding to produce fertile
offspring.
The Linnaean
Hierarchical
Classification
System
Speciation
 Describes the development of new species.
How does an entirely new
species evolved?
 Gene flow refers to the movement
of genes from one generation to
the next, or from one region to
another.
 Formation of new species is
affected by competition among
organisms.
Niche
 Ecological role of an organism in a
community especially in regard to its
needs.
 When two organisms occupy the same
niche, they compete for the same need.
 New species evolve as they fill empty
niches or move into a niche that previously
they did not occupy.
 Two common ways in which organisms
move into new or empty niches.
 Migration and Isolation
Migration
 When an organism moves from its present
habitat to a new one.
Isolation
 Occurs when some members of species are
suddenly separated from the rest of the
species.
Two Mechanism of Speciation
by Isolation
 Geographic Isolation- when a portion of an
existing population becomes totally isolated
because of geographical barriers like mountain
range, a river valley, an ocean, or a desert.
 Reproductive/ Genetic Isolation- isolated
populations have become so genetically different
that reproduction can no longer occur even if
their members are brought back together and
mate.
 Harris’ antelope squirrel White-tailed antelope squirrel

Two species of ground squirrel are postulated to have descended from a common
ancestral population that was separated by formation of the Grand Canyon.
Patterns of Evolution
 Divergent evolution- occurs when closely
related species each move to new habitats
because of diverging lifestyles. Ultimately
producing different species altogether.
 Convergent Evolution- groups of initially
distantly organisms evolve similar
structures to adapt to a similar habitat or
way of life.
Patterns of Evolution
 Co-evolution- two or more species can
equally influence each other’s evolutionary
direction.