History of the Earth

Question 1

First Era?

Answer 1

Archean

Question 2

What are the Major Events in Archean Era?

Answer 2

Origin, Diversification of Bacteria, Increased O2 in Atmosphere, Aerobic Respiration

Question 3

What are the Major Events in the Proteorzoic Era?

Answer 3

Earliest Eukaryotes, Origin of Eukaryotic Kingdoms, Multicellularity

Question 4

How did Eukaryotes evolve?

Answer 4

Endosymbiosis of Mitochondria and Cholorplasts

Question 5

What are Periods in the Paleozoic Era?

Answer 5

Cambrian, Ordovician, Suliurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian

Question 6

What are the Major Events in the Cambrian Period?

Answer 6

“Cambrian Explosion”, First large morphologically complex animals prior to the invasion of land

Question 7

How do we know about the Cambrian Explosion?

Answer 7

The Burgess Shale–mud slide holding fossil records of marine life

Question 8

What factors contributed to evolution of Eukaryotes?

Answer 8

Higher O2 levels–lead to higher metabolic rates, more energy to grow larger and develop more tissues, and more energy to move greater distances

Question 9

What are the Major Events of the Ordovician Period?

Answer 9

Echinoderms diversify, Agnathan vertebrates diversify and First land Plants

Question 10

What did Plants need to develop to survive on land?

Answer 10

Seeds–keep from drying out, protects genetic material

Question 11

What are the Major Events of the Silurian Period?

Answer 11

Fish-like vertebrates diversified, Vascular Plants, First Insects

Question 12

What are the Major Events of the Devonian Period?

Answer 12

First Arthropds, Plant Diversification to Diploid lifecycle, Radiation of Fish into Lobe-Finned (future amphibians) and Ray-Finned (future modern fish)

Question 13

Why is it advantageous to have a Diploid lifecycle?

Answer 13

Mutations aren’t always expressed

Question 14

What are the Main Events of the Carboniferous Period?

Answer 14

Winged Insects, Radiation of Amphibians, Vascular Plants diversify, Plants get Air Dispersed Pollen,

Question 15

How did Paleozoic Period end?

Answer 15

Mass Extinction due to climate cooling

Question 16

What are the Periods of the Mesozoic Era?

Answer 16

Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous

Question 17

What are the Major Events of the Triassic Period?

Answer 17

First Dinosaurs, Dominated by Gymnosperms

Question 18

What are the Major Events of the Jurassic Period?

Answer 18

First Birds, First Mammals

Question 19

What are the Major Events of the Cretaceous Period?

Answer 19

First Placental Mammals, First Flowering Plants

Question 20

What are the two groups of Mammals?

Answer 20

Eutherians and Marsupials

Question 21

Why might mammals have lived before fossil records show?

Answer 21

They were very small in size and relatively uncommon, did not leave many fossils

Question 22

What happened to end the Mesozoic Era?

Answer 22

Asteroid

Question 23

What are the Periods in the Cenozoic Era?

Answer 23

Tertiary, Quaternary

Question 24

What are the Major Events of the Cenozoic Era?

Answer 24

Plants and Insects Codiversified, Mammals became Dominant, Great American Interchange, Continents Move, Glaciers Freeze and Melt

Question 25

What is the Great American Interchange?

Answer 25

South America and North America colliding and interchanging species, leading to extinction of many South American Marsupials

Question 26

What are the Major Themes in History of the Earth?

Answer 26

Climate and Distribution of Land Masses effects evolution, Earth’s History marked by mass extinction followed by evolutionary radiations, Diversification includes increases in number of organisms and niches they can exploit, Few organisms of the past exist today, The composition of the biota increasingly resembles that of the present