Chapter 26 The Evolution of Life BIG IDEA

Chapter 26 -The Evolution of Life BIG IDEA: Evolution- inherited changes over time- has produced all the different kinds of living things on Earth

26. 1 The Origin of Life According to the fossil record life on Earth began about 3. 5 billion years ago (According to scientists) ancient Earth was filled w/ volcanic eruptions, rain storms, and lightning storms.

Miller and Urey built a model of ancient Earth in a flask containing the same compounds present in ancient Earth. -Organic molecules formed, including amino acids (the building blocks of life) Other scientists think that organic molecules were brought by meteorites, or by deep-sea thermal vents.

26. 2 How Living Things Change over Time Fossils suggest that life on Earth has changed over time. French scientist Lemarck suggested that modern species were descendants of ancestors that had evolved. His theory was not correct, but set the stage for Darwin

Acquired traits cannot be passed genetically. Evolution is inherited changes in organisms over time, and was caused by natural selections àTraits that best suit environment help organism survive, those traits are passed to offspring. àAdvantageous traits become more popular in population

26. 3 Natural Selection & How it Works 1. Variation- Traits that vary from individual to individual 2. Heritability- Traits that can be passed from parents to offspring. (Ex: hair color is, hairstyle is NOT) 3. Natural selection- Organisms w/ advantageous traits survive longer, and pass those traits to offspring. 4. Adaptation- Population evolves to become better suited to environment

26. 4 Adaptation is a trait that makes an organisms good at surviving and reproducing in an environment Survival requires the ability to obtain food, attract mates, and to avoid predators.

Thermoregulation is the body’s ability to keep temperatures stable. Surface area and volume are important for thermoregulation Heat lost heat produced Hot and cold climate animals have diff. sizes and shapes.

26. 5 Genetics and Evolution Allele frequency- how common diff. alleles are in a population. Natural selection on phenotype, not genotype- Ex: AA and Aa look the same to a predator, and will still get eaten if visible

Genetic Drift- random chance. Ex: natural disasters Heterozygous advantage- Situation in which heterozygotes do better than both types of homozygotes Variation- More variation= more likely that there alleles in population ideal for survival in new conditions

26. 6 How New Species Form Species is a group of organisms that can breed and produce viable offspring. Speciation=formation of new species When species can no longer breed and produce viable offspring they are no longer the same species. Geographic barriers may cause speciation

26. 7 Evidence of Evolution 1. Observations of natural selection in action 2. Artificial selection- when humans breed organisms w/ desired traits 3. Vestigial organs- nonfunctional organs 4. Similarities in body structure

Evidence cntd 5. Similarities in DNA structure in related species 6. Related species develop in similar ways 7. Fossils show organisms have evolved over time. 8. Biogeography- where species are found on Earth

26. 8 How Humans Evolved Humans are primates. Does NOT mean we descended from any existing species of monkey or ape. Just more closely related to them than other living things Humans are the only species of hominids. Earliest fossils of modern humans are from Ethiopia, 195, 000 years ago.