4_GB2_LearnRes_Web

The Learning Resource goal is to use the Internet and become independent of the textbook. It is a project in progress...

Note on Youtube videos included in the notes: YouTube videros are included as "extra" learning material -- and are often excellent learning tools. However,YouTube videos often disappear or become nonfunctional. This is UNFORTUNATELY the nature of YouTube videos. Often videos become nonfunctional (message: "an error occurred") because of YouTube updates or the person who originally uploaded the video has removed it. Sometimes YouTubes are removed bt YouTube itself because of copyright infringement. The instructor is not responsible for this, but will when possible either fix the problem or eventually remove a nonfunctioning video.

Ch. 14, 15, 16.

Ch. 17, 18, 19, 20

Ch. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

This page is going through major updates.

If you see errors, misspellings, incorrect links, please let the instructor know in the HELP DESK.

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Origin and Evolution of Life

Old earth. From http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/04/battle_of_the_beards_darwin_vs.php

(Source: Dr. Nilsson's old lecture notes. Permission given in 2001 by McGraw-Hills then sales representative, Don Grainger, to use the picture online on lecture notes.) Several illustrations of tissues from S. S. Mader. 2001. Biology. McGraw-Hill.

In the news:

This Learning Resource includes review of General Biology I Learning Resources 1 (Introduction to Classification) and 15 (Evolution).

bacteria / antibiotics
insects / insecticides
humans / AIDS
Biston betularia, Peppered Moth / camouflage

I. Fathers of Evolution (1859)

--- Charles Darwin	Question #13.1-1: When was Darwin born? (Day, month, and year) (Click to find the answer.)
--- Alfred Wallace	Question #13.1-2: When was Wallace born? (Day, month, and year) (Click to find the answer.)

Darwin stamps

Wallace stamp

Darwin on money

In 1831 Charles Darwin set out on a life-defining journey on the HMS Beagle. See (click on) the map above.	Question #13.1-3: On what continent did Darwin spend most of his time?
The yellow circle on the map (above) is the Galapagos islands, where Darwin spent a lot of time.	Question #13.1-4: How many major islands make up the Galapagos? (Click to find the answer.)

II. Different forms of Evolution

def. Evolution: chemical, biological, and/or cultural change over time

Chemical Evolution: -- Primitive earth >> Macromolecule formation

http://cmex.ihmc.us/VikingCD/Puzzle/Evolife.htm

def. Chemical Evolution: Progressive change (increase) in the complexity of chemicals that eventually led to the first cell.

Biological Evolution (in all living organisms) -- Protocell >> First humans on Earth

http://chartporn.org/2012/09/24/great-tree-of-life/

def. Biological Evolution: Progressive change in allele frequencies over time due to genetic adaptation of a population to its environment, and the idea that all organisms descended from common ancestors ("descent of modification"). (Change within a line of descent over time.)

Self-preservation, reproduction and greed are biological imperatives, which arose from billions of years of biological evolution -- as much a part of human life as all other organisms on earth.

Cultural Evolution (in humans only) -- Agricultural Revolution 40,000 yrsa >> today

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/origins/big_questions.php

def. Cultural Evolution: Progressive change in the behavior of the human population, by learning behavior developed by members of previous generations.

Humans are not just biological organisms, we are also the most social creatures on earth. But our behavior and cultures did not spring full-grown, human behavior originated with our primate ancestors and grew and developed during millions of years of cultural evolution.

Source: http://cmex.ihmc.us/VikingCD/Puzzle/Evolife.htm

III. Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics

MAP OF THE EARTH. The map of the Earth has not always been the same -- the continents have moved and continue to move today.

>

TimeTable

ABC New article, August 18, 2011.

AGE OF THE EARTH. The Earth is old, about 4.6 billion years old, and has not always looked the way it looks today (as illustrated in the maps above). Unfortunately, a large number of people -- especially a group of people claiming to be creation scientists, do not believe that the Earth is as old as science says. They claim it is just about 6000 years old, and that the continent have always looked the same. This cause a big problem with quality science education, and biologist all over the world must spend time fighting pseudoscience based on ignorance -- such as "creation science". This is the reason for the video below:

The Age of Our World Made Easy (estimating the age of the Earth with isotopes)

Timeline of Evolution

IV. Evolutionary Timetable

1. Start of CHEMICAL EVOLUTION

13.8 billion yrsa

BIG BANG

SOLAR SYSTEM BEGINS TO FORM

4.5 billion yrsa

EARTH FORMED

-- no oxygen

-- too hot for life (and water)

-- the crust cooled slowly and hardened

-- water vapor in the atmosphere condensed >>> rain

OCEANS FORMED

-- water erosion of rocks (chemicals for chemical reactions)

-- lightning, volcanic heat, & UV radiation (energy for reactions)

ORGANIC MOLECULES FORMED

"The subject of life's origin is highly complex, but is no longer the mystery it once was, in the early post-Darwinian period. In fact, there is no longer any fundamentally difficulty in explaining, on the basis of physical and chemical laws, the origin of life from inanimate matter."
--- Ernest Mayr, 1997.

Textbook figure 26.5, from Raven et.al., is used by permission from McGrawHill, in Biology 1407 and 1409, by Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, South Texas College.

2. Start of BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

3.8 billion yrsa

PROKARYOTIC ORGANISMS (oldest known fossils)

-- anaerobic (no oxygen)

-- heterotrophs (used an organic source of energy – "eating")

3.5 billion yrsa

PHOTOSYNTHETIC BACTERIA

-- anaerobic (no oxygen)

-- autotrophic (used sunlight energy, produced oxygen - waste)

Textbook figure 4.7, from Raven et.al., is used by permission from McGrawHill, in Biology 1407 and 1409, by Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, South Texas College.

OXYGEN FORMED

2.5 billion yrsa

AEROBIC BACTERIA (mitochondrial-like bacteria)

-- used oxygen (aerobic, prokaryotic)

-- used energy more efficiently (Krebs cycle)

ENDOSYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS (Margulis) (organisms start to interact)

Textbook figure 4.18, from Raven et.al., is used by permission from McGrawHill, in Biology 1407 and 1409, by Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, South Texas College.

1.8 billion yrsa

EUKARYOTIC ORGANISMS (Protistans)

Textbook figure 4.6, from Raven et.al., is used by permission from McGrawHill, in Biology 1407 and 1409, by Dr. Jan A. Nilsson, South Texas College.

(Picture from ed. 10 of Biology, by Mader.)

0.75 billion yrsa (750 mya)

MULTICELLULAR ORGANISMS -- incl. the FIRST ANIMALS

0.55 billion yrsa (550 mya)

“Cambrian Explosion” -- all modern phyla formed

Source: https://carbonpilgrim.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/on-the-trail-of-primitive-life_cambrian_explosion.jpg

0.45 billion yrsa (450 mya)

first fishes (jawless)

first plants (nonvascular)

first insects

first amphibians

0.4 billion yrsa (400 mya)

first vascular plants

first gymnosperms

0.35 billion yrsa (350 mya)

amphibians decline

first reptiles

0.25 billion yrsa (250 mya)

Pangaea

first dinosaurs

first mammals

0.15 billion yrsa (150 mya)

Gondwanaland / Laurasia

first birds

first flowering plants (angiosperms)

first placental mammals

0.066 billion yrsa (66 mya)

Earth when the dinosaurs went extinct

last dinosaur, mammals diversify

0.060 billion yrsa (60 mya)

first primates (prosimians)

0.035 billion yrsa (35 mya)

first anthropoids (monkeylike primates)

0.024 billion yrsa (24 mya)

first hominoids (apelike primates)

0.018 billion yrsa (18 mya)

Asian ape evolutionary line separates from the African ape line

-- gibbon line

-- orangutan line

0.010 billion yrsa (10 mya)

African ape evolutionary lines diverge

-- gorilla line

-- chimpanzee line

-- pygmy chimpanzee line

0.005 billion yrsa (5 mya)

Pygmy chimpanzee line separates from the human line

0.0045 billion yrsa (4.5 mya)

OLDEST HOMINID FOSSILS

-- Australopithecus sp.

0.003 billion yrsa (3 mya)

FIRST HOMO sp.

-- Homo habilis

-- Homo erectus

-- Homo sapiens

3. Start of CULTURAL EVOLUTION

0.00004 billion yrsa (40,000 yrsa)

Earth today

AGRICULTURE

V. Human Evolution & Evolution Misconceptions

1. Human Evolution is part of Primate Evolution

Our chimpanzee and human ancestors evolutionary line split from the chimpanzee lineage, about 5 million years ago, but Homo sapiens is much younger. Fossils classified as primitive H. sapiens appear about 400,000 years ago, and the earliest known modern human fossils are a little more than 100.000 years old. In other words, Homo sapiens is, in geological terms, not a very old species. (Most mammal species appear to exist for an average of about 10 million years.)

"Scientists using chemical isotopes in ancient soil to measure prehistoric tree covering effect, shade have found that grassy, tree-dotted savannas prevailed at most East African sites where human ancestors and their ape relatives evolved during the past six million years." (Source: http://www.informafrica.com/blog/human-evolution-six-million-years-of-african-savanna/)

2. Evolution Misconceptions

Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II

A closed mind is like a cup already full...

In conclusion?

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