Chapter 1.2 & 25

Question 1

7 Properties of Life

Answer 1

1. Evolutionary Adaptation
2. Response to the Environment
3. Reproduction
4. Growth and Development
5. Energy Processing
6. Regulation
7. Order

Things that are alive have order and are categorized by the things that they do

Question 2

Evolution

Answer 2

• The concept that the organisms living on earth today are the modified descendants of common ancestors
• Species share traits because they’re descended from a common ancestor

Question 3

Evolution Explains: (5)

Answer 3

1. Adaptations to the environment
2. Geographical distribution
3. Origins and relationships
4. Similarities and differences
5. Diversity

Question 4

Taxonomy

Answer 4

The branch of biology that names and classifies species, formalizes this ordering of species into groups based on the degree of their similarities.

Question 5

Origins of Life (1)

Answer 5

1. Abiotic synthesis of small organic molecules
   - Early Earth: energy = UV, lightning and volcanos
   - Miller and Urey replicated conditions, generating amino acids and other organic compounds

Question 6

Origins of Life (2)

Answer 6

2. Formation of macromolecules from monomers

- Spontaneous and catalyzed by clay

Question 7

Origins of Life (3)

Answer 7

3. Formation of photocells: lipid-bound droplets with internal chemistry different from the environment
   a) reproduce (fission and/or budding)
   b) process energy

Question 8

Origins of Life (4)

Answer 8

4. Origin of self-replication of molecules and systems (leads to inheritance and selection)
   * TIDBIT*: RNA was likely the first genetic material

Question 9

The Tree of Life

Answer 9

1. Darwin’s vision: life as a tree
   - tips: organisms
   - nodes: common ancestors
2. The Tree of Life has a single common ancestor
3. Biologists classify the diversity of life into 3 groups called domains

• Key innovations typically noted along branches
• ex: nucleus

Question 10

3 Domains of the Tree of Life

Answer 10

Prokaryotic: Bacteria and Archaea
Eukaryotic: Eukarya

Question 11

Trees are incomplete:

Answer 11

• They usually only include extant species

- Usually only include taxa (species, genera, families, etc.) being discussed in that context at that level.

Question 12

Macroevolution

Answer 12

The history of life is punctuated by key innovations and other major events:

• origins of organelles and novel designs (ex: increasing brain size)
• evolutionary trends (ex: increasing brain size in hominoids, loss of hind limbs in whales)
• adaptive radiation (ex: diversification of birds with the advent of flight, or mammals after the decline of dinosaurs)

Question 13

Charles Darwin: Natural Selection (2 Points)

Answer 13

First Point: Contemporary species’ arose from a succession of ancestors that differed from them.
Second Point: “Natural selection” is the primary cause of descent with modification.

Question 14

History of Life - Fossil Record

Answer 14

• 3.5 byo
• preserved remnant or impression left by an organism that lived in the past
• mostly in sedimentary rocks
• rare (would have had to survived and be brought to the surface for exposure and discovery)
• useful as a historical record if dated

Question 15

Relative Dating

Answer 15

• sedimentation occurs in layers called strata

- younger sediments superimposed on older ones