The History of Life Flashcards
what happened once proto life arrived on earth?
natural selection could increase the frequency of the most stable and productive molecular aggregations
what is LUCA?
last universal common ancestor
is evolution goal oriented?
no
what was able to change the “free dna” into a nuclear membrane?
archea
what did encapsuling the dna in a membrane create
the first eukaroyte
what did opisthokonts go on to form?
fungi and animals
what is endosymbiosis?
a symbiotic relationship where one organism lives inside of the other
where did land plants evolve from?
streptophyte algae
what are fossil records?
- imprints of animals long gone that provide important information about what sorts of organisms lived at different times in earth’s history
- lies in sedimentary rocks
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what does radiometric dating do?
- provides an abolsute estimate of the fossils ago
- based on clock like decay of radioactive isotopes of common elements like carbon
- each radioactive isotope has a characteristic half life
- many organisms do not leave good fossils
how is the rate of growth of a population determined?
by the number of birthds per unit time, minus the number of deaths per unit time
what is paedmorphosis?
when the adult, sexually mature stage retains juvenile traits
