Evidences of Evolution Flashcards
remains of organisms that lived long ago
fossils
mostly found in sedimentary rocks
preserved fossils
tell us that species are not immutable
what is a geological time scale
a record of the life forms and geological events in Earth’s history
scientists develop the time scale by studying (2)
rock layers
fossils
how old is the Earth
4.5 billion years old
the earliest known cells are found in
3.5b year old rocks
earliest known eukaryotic cells date to
1.5b years
earliest multicellular animals date to
650m years
earliest land animals
450m years
earliest mammals
230m years
what happened 65m years ago
mass extinction
what happened 4.5m years ago
human family tree diverged from other apes
eras (3)
cenozoic
mesozoic
paleozoic
periods in the cenozoic era (2)
quaternary
tertiary
mesozoic era (3)
cretaceous
jurassic
triassic
paleozoic era (6)
permian
carboniferous
devonian
silurian
ordovician
cambrian
biogeography
study of the distribution of plants and animals
Philip Sclater
a bird specialist who divided the world into 6 biogeographical regions in 1857
phytogeography
study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the past to present geographic distributions if genealogical lineages
Alfred Wegner
proposed the Theory of Continental Drift in 1915
continents have undergone large movements over the past 300m years
how did continental drift affect the evolution of life on Earth
separated species. those who were able to interbreed became isolated from one another. this allowed them to acquire certain adaptations and made them incompatible or unable to work/exist together due to their differences
homologous structures
similar structure that can be found in very different animals, often pointing towards a common ancestor
analogous structures
structures that serve a similar function but are not derived from a common ancestor