General Biology:

History of Life on
Earth
 Objectives:
1. Identify the dates and sequence of the periods
in the geologic time
scale;
2. Identify the major events in each major period;

3. Describe the characteristics of the major

groups of organisms’ presents during atime
period; and
4. Describe causes of mass extinctions.
 Introduction
Earth is the only known planet to have sustained and cater life. But have
you ever wondered how did life begin on its surface? What are the features and
characteristics of the first life on Earth? Where and when did exactly life begin?

Are humans the first life found on Earth? If not, when did humans begin to
populate the Earth? What are the organisms that walked before humans and with
humans on Earth?

There are a lot of scientific questions that we have when it comes to the
History of Life on Earth, but there’s no more waiting for these inquiries to be
answered because you now have this module to enjoy and learn from!
 What is It?
The Earth is the only known planet with the existence of life,
meaning it can provide the necessary ingredients and conditions for life
to exist. But is this how simple the equation is?
Favorable life condition=Existence of life The answer is yes and no.
1. Yes, life exists on Earth because of the favorable condition that
it has.
2. No, it is not as simple as that equality.
Life is complex. Life has its ingenuity. Life thrives not only on
favorable conditions, but also it adopts and challenges itself to fit in its
environment. Having mentioned the environment let us now try to
discover: Where did life begin?
 Where did life begin?
Let us consider the condition of primordial or “young” Earth. It is
not the same as its structure today, there are still no plants, trees, and
breath-taking sceneries. There are only an atmosphere and places for
water and ground. The condition is still too harsh because the earth is only
starting to develop its landmasses and structures.

But the scientists were sure that at the beginning of life on Earth,
there are atmospheric events taking places such as storms and thunders.
This is because of the chemical reactions occurring between the surface,
atmosphere, and inner part of the very active “young” Earth.
 Because of these given conditions, scientists narrow down into 3 (three)
probable places where life FIRST appear on Earth: land, shallow pond, deep
sea vents. Let us check each one of them and eliminate the two less likely place
of origin of life on Earth.

1.The land is very unlikely because during “young” Earth time, there is still
not enough oxygen on its surface and UV rays are too strong for molecular
bonding to occur and make life possible.

2.A shallow pond is a bit likely because it is full of organic materials and
when evaporated, the organic materials present in it will have a higher
concentration that will lead to more favorable conditions for organic
materials to combine and make life possible. But the experiments cannot
prove it.
3. We are now left with deep-sea vents. Deep-sea
vents are highly likely the exact place of origin of life
on Earth because DNA evidence suggests that early life
forms can survive on high-temperature conditions like
those in deep-sea vents. The high temperature also
provides high chemical energy which makes deep-sea
vents the most accepted hypothesis among the three
given places above.
Deep-Sea Vents and the Miller-Urey Experiment
It is likely proven in theory and DNA evidence correlation that deep-sea vent is WHERE
life began, but can scientists prove it through experiment?
The answer is YES! Miller and Urey are scientists who conducted a simple experiment,
that yielded very helpful findings in answering questions about how life began on Earth.
 They have set up the experiment, as shown in the diagram above.
Flask A represents the earth’s primitive ocean; Flask B with the presence of
methane and ammonia represents the primitive atmosphere. The
connecting tubes between the flasks represent the water cycle processes
(i.e., evaporation, cloud formation, condensation, and precipitation),
which are already occurring during the early days of “young” Earth. Certain
conditions such as heating/boiling of the primitive ocean and providing
electricity from the power supply to create a spark that may be like
thunders in the actual earth’s atmosphere were found to be important in
the success of the experiment.
 The heat from the boiling flask and the spark from the power supply
in the atmospheric flask have given the necessary boost or starting point for
organic compounds to materialize in the experiment. The experiment yielded
amino acids and complex organic materials throughout the process. This
experiment showed that high chemical energy from chemical interaction and
heat are needed for such a process to take place.
How did Life begin and What is the earliest life form on
Earth?

You can now say that these complex ORGANIC

COMPOUNDS or MOLECULES are the predecessors of life
on Earth. The occurrence of these materials on the surface
of the Earth became the earliest sign of a high chance of
developing the presence of life on Earth.
Our Ancestors are very “SIMPLE”
Problem: After the synthesis of organic molecules, the earth has what is
likened to an “organic soup” which are the organic compounds found in the
seawater and other surfaces of the earth where water was found. But this soup is
too diluted or weak to evolve into another life structure.

The solution: Laboratory experiments showed that when hot clay, sand, or
rock were placed in the dilute organic soup, the molecules self-assembled. These
molecules stick to the hot surface which increased their density and likelihood of
a reaction. This had led to the following evolution of the early life presence on
Earth.
At this point, let us trace the development of the most likely earliest life form on Earth:

1. Organic Compounds -these are molecules linked with life and developed through
reactions between atmospheric processes and the watery area of Earth.

2. RNA -the resulting molecule when organic compounds self- assembled into a self-
replicating molecule.

3. Pre-cells -resulted when self-replicating RNA enclosed itself in a membrane to protect itself
from the outside environment.

4. Primitive Cells -these are pre-cells with improved function through the process of
evolution

5. Modern Cell -as the cells choose to fit itself for survival, it developed into a structure which
is familiar to us today, a cell with a DNA genome.
 This modern cell had led to the
development of the first classification of life
form on Earth: the bacteria or the prokaryotes.
After some time, as the oxygen level on Earth
increases the next archetype of cells has
developed: The Eukaryotes.

Take note of how life chooses to adapt to the

existing conditions that it is in, and how it changes
and evolves through the process. From the simplest to
the most complex. Life is like learning. It starts from
the basics until it becomes an expert in dealing with
the challenges that
its environment posits.
When did life begin?
Pieces of evidence suggested
that if Earth is 4.5 billion years old
from radiometric dating of the
oldest rock found on it, life on
Earth began most probably
3.5 billion years ago.
 The first line of evidence that gives
us the answer to the question when did
life begin on Earth is the stromatolites.
Stromatolites are “living” rock samples
that scientists have discovered and dated
to age up to 3.5 billion years old.
Another line of shreds of evidence
is the microfossils found in western
Australia. These are fossils that were first
thought to be minerals, but later studies
using advanced techniques of dating and
investigation proved that these are
fossils of microbes who have lived 3.5
Panspermia: the other side of the coin

Panspermia is a theory that

postulates that life had come from
outside the Earth and upon reaching a
suitable environment such as the deep-
sea vents could have evolved into a
more complex living organism such as
the bacteria.
 The Book of the Origin of Life and How to read it

If the History of the Earth is a book, then the

ROCKS are its pages. Pieces of evidence that tells
the story of the distant past of the Earth and the
life that had once walked through it are found and
are preserved on its rocks. Fossils, which may be
actual remains of organisms such as bones, teeth,
shells, and leaves, or even traces of their past
activities such as footprints and nests, are usually
as old as the rocks where they were embedded or
imprinted. These fossils and evidence were
analyzed using the following dating techniques:
 1. Absolute Dating - obtaining the actual age of the fossils and rock through radiometric dating or the
use of the concept of half-life and the radioactive decay of elements.

2. Relative Dating - obtaining the relative age of the rocks or samples, it does not tell the actual age but
only uses some principles of comparison which are as follows:

a. Law of Superposition- which states that the youngest rocks are found on top of
the layers and the oldest rocks are found on the bottom

b. Law of Original Horizontality- sedimentation or layering of the rocks occur

horizontally; if tilting, breaking, or folding of rocks or its layer occur, it happened
recently after the horizontal layering.
c. Law of Cross-Cutting Relationship- if the rocks under investigation have a cut from
igneous rock intrusions, then the intrusions or fault breaks are younger than the rock being
investigated.
 Continental drift has
played a major role in
macroevolution.
Plate tectonics, the
movements of Earth’s crustal
plates, are also associated with
volcanoes and earthquakes.

Mass extinctions were

followed by diversification of life-
forms. At the end of the
Cretaceous period, many life-
forms disappeared, including the
dinosaurs.
 The GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
Geologic Time Scale is a representation of the life forms that have lived and
dominated the Earth on a specific time scale. Geologic is the combination of the word
geologic and chronologic, which means rock and time, respectively.

The geologic timescale is divided into the following partitions:

Eon- largest division of the geologic time scale; spans hundreds to thousands of
millions of years ago (mya)
Era- division in an Era that span time periods of tens to hundreds of millions of
years
Period- a division of geologic history that spans no more than one hundred million
years
Epoch- the smallest division of the geologic time scale characterized by distinctive
organisms.
 There are two eons on the Earth’s geologic time scale: the
PRECAMBRIAN (4.6 billion years ago), and the PHANEROZOIC
(540 million years ago). Precambrian is when the origin of life
existed, it is when the living creatures are as simple as microorganisms
such as bacteria from Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic eras.
Phanerozoic is the eon of “everything” after the Cambrian Explosion.

The Cambrian period which took place approximately 540

million years ago is the first period under the Phanerozoic eon,
Paleozoic era and is well known for the “Cambrian Explosion”
Under the Phanerozoic eon are the three major eras:
The Paleozoic, also known as the “age of
invertebrates”, the Mesozoic also known as the “age of
reptiles” and the Cenozoic which is also known as the “age
of mammals.”

Some of the notable periods on the geologic timescale are:

The Devonian period which is the “age of fishes”, the Triassic
period when the first dinosaur and the first mammal in the form of
rodent appear, the Jurassic period which is the “golden age of
dinosaur” when the dinosaurs flourish and also when the first birds
appear, the Cretaceous period when the mass extinction and demise of
dinosaurs and 25% of marine life marked the end of the Mesozoic era and
when the appearance of the first primates and snakes marked the start of
Cenozoic era.
 Epochs under the Tertiary period are the Paleocene epoch when
the first horse appear, Eocene when grasses spread and large
mammals such as elephants and rhinos developed, Oligocene when
dogs, cats, and apes appear, Miocene when horses and tigers
dominate the land, and Pliocene when hominids or the bipedal apes
develop.

The Quaternary period has Pleistocene and Holocene epochs.

Pleistocene is when modern humans develop, this is also the ice
age because ice sheets predominate during this epoch. Holocene is
the epoch where humans flourish and dominate the earth.
 As you can deduct from the discussed geologic
time scale: we are currently living in the Phanerozoic
eon, Cenozoic era, Quaternary period, and
Holocene epoch.
THANK YOU !