SHS

General Biology 2
Week 2 - Module
Evolution and Origin of Biodiversity
STEM - General Biology 2
Grade 12 Quarter 3: Week 2 - Module 2: Evolution and Origin of Diversity
First Edition, 2021

Copyright © 2021
La Union Schools Division
Region I

All rights reserved. No part of this module may be reproduced in any form
without written permission from the copyright owners.

Development Team of the Module

Author: Melanie B. Bernaldez , T-III

Editor: SDO La Union, Learning Resource Quality Assurance Team

Illustrator: Ernesto F. Ramos Jr., P II

Management Team:

Atty. Donato D. Balderas, Jr.

Schools Division Superintendent

Vivian Luz S. Pagatpatan, Ph.D

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

German E. Flora, Ph.D, CID Chief

Virgilio C. Boado, Ph.D, EPS in Charge of LRMS

Rominel S. Sobremonte, Ed.D, EPS in Charge of Science

Michael Jason D. Morales, PDO II

Claire P. Toluyen, Librarian II
 General Biology 2
Quarter 1: Week 2 - Module 2
Evolution and Origin of
Diversity
 Target

All species of living organisms, from bacteria to monkeys to blueberries,

evolved at some point from a different species. Although it may seem that living
things today stay much the same; but that’s not the case, evolution is an ongoing
process. The theory of evolution is the unifying theory of biology, meaning it is the
framework within which biologists ask questions about the living world. The theory
of evolution provides direction for predictions about living things that are born out
in experiment after experiment.
You have learned already from your lower earth science subjects about Earth
and how it is formed, how it was evolved to be like the present Earth that we live in
today. Our planet Earth undergone a series of geological and biological challenges
that have changed not only its landscape but also its inhabitants.
This module will focus on evolution and how changes over the course of time
have brought about the emergence and diversification of species. But the lessons
that are included on this module is limited to the history of life on Earth as describe
on the geologic time scale, the characteristics of these living organisms during the
different periods of the Earths’ history and the different mechanisms that produce
changes of these living organisms from one generation to the succeeding generations.

After going through this lesson, you are expected to:

1. Describe general features of the history of life on Earth, including

generally accepted dates and sequence of the geologic time scale and;
(STEM_BIO11/12-IIIc-g-8)
2. characteristics of major groups of organisms present during these time periods
(no code)

3. Explain the mechanisms that produce change in populations from generation to

generation (e.g., artificial selection, natural selection, genetic drift, mutation,
recombination). (STEM_BIO11/12-IIIc-g-9)

1
 L Evolution and Origin of Biodiversity:
M History of Life on Earth and Mechanism of
1 Evolution

The Earth is around 4.5 billion years old. What was Earth like million years
ago? When did the first living organism evolved? By studying the Earth’s geological
timeline, we will be able to trace the processes by which fossils and living organisms
have evolved since the time that life started until the present day.

Jumpstart

To check your previous knowledge about our lesson, try to

answer the pretest below. Good luck!

Activity 1: Knowledge Check √

Directions: Read carefully each question. Choose the letter of your best answer. Use
separate sheet of paper for your answers.
1. Earth is incredibly had a long history. Approximately, how old is the Earth?
A. 4.5 million B. 45 million C. 4.5 billion D. 45 billion

2. Which organism first dominated the Earth?

A. Dinosaurs B. Fishes C. Plants D. Bacteria
3. The largest division on the geologic time scale is called .
A. Eon B. Era C. Epoch D. period

4. The Mesozoic era is called the Age of reptiles, how about the Cenozoic era?
A. Age of mammals B. Age of birds
C. Age of humans D. Age of Technology

5. What is the longest part of Earth’s history where trace fossils appeared?
A. Precambrian B. Paleozoic
C. Mesozoic D. Cenozoic

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6. The geologic time scale is subdivided into four groups. What is the correct
sequence if you will arrange them from the largest to the smallest?
A. Eon, period, epoch, era B. Eon, era, epoch, period
C. Eon, era, period, epoch D. Era, eon, period, epoch

7. Relative to the percent of time dominating the Earth, which organisms have the
longest reign?
A. Dinosaurs B. Plants C. Prokaryotes D. Humans

8. Which era were the first land plants formed?

A. Precambrian B. Paleozoic C. Mesozoic D. Cenozoic

9. Which event occurred during the Mesozoic era?

A. Pangea formed B. Asteroid killed the dinosaurs

C. Rocky mountain formed D. Pleistocene ice age began

10. Understanding geologic time scale is significant because it helps us to

A. Understand human impact on our environment

B. Understand the evolution of organisms over time

C. Understand the possibility of life on other planets

D. All of the above

Discover

The Earth’s history is divided into eons, eras, periods and epochs. The geologic time
scale is a record of the life forms and geological events in Earth’s history. Scientists
developed the time scale by developing by studying the rock layers and fossils
worldwide. Radioactive dating was used to determine the absolute divisions in the
time scale.
THE GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE

MILLIONS
EON ERA PERIOD EPOCH OF MAJOR EVENTS
YEARS
AGO
Quaternary Holocene 0.01 Historical time
Pleistocene 2.6 Ice ages, origin of homo
Neogene Pliocene Bipedal human ancestor
Cenozoic 5.3 appear
Miocene Mammals and
angiosperms continue to
23 diversity
Oligocene 33.9 Origins of primates

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 Phanerozoic Paleogene Eocene Angiosperms dominate,
55.8 mammals diversify
Paleocene Mammals, birds, insects
65.5 diversify
Cretaceous Angiosperms diversify,
Mesozoic dinosaurs extinct at end
145.5 period
Jurassic Dinosaurs abundant, first
bird appear,
199.6 gymnosperms dominate
Triassic Dinosaurs evolve, origin
of mammals,
251 gymnosperms dominate
Permian Reptiles diversify, major
extinction of many marine
299 organisms
Paleozoic Carboniferous First seed plants appear,
origin of reptiles,
359.2 amphibians dominate
Devonian Bony fishes diversify,
insects and first
416 amphibians appear
Silurian First vascular plants
443.7 appear
Ordovician Fungi, plants, animals
488.3 colonize land
Cambrian First fish, many animal
542 phyla diversify
Precambrian Appearances of algae
635 and invertebrates
Proterozoic Ediacaran Oldest fossils of
1800 eukaryotic cells
Carbonate rocks
2500 abundant
Archaean Atmospheric oxygen
2700 concentration increases
3500 Oldest fossils of cells
3850 Oldest known rocks
Hadean 4600 Earth forms

The Earth’s geological life may simply be subdivided this way;

1. The Precambrian life (Hadean, Archean and Proterozoic eras)

The Precambrian life covers approximately 88% of the Earth’s history. It is

during this time that the Earth was transformed from a ball of gas and dust to liquid
rock enveloped with hot, non-breathable gases mostly composed of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, and sulfur. The molten rock cooled down to form the earth’s crust and with
that, the gases also changed providing a cooler temperature composed mostly of
nitrogen. The Earth become more conducive to life and allowed single-celled
cyanobacteria to exist.

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 The earliest life comprising Precambrian (Ediacaran) biota was long believed
to include only tiny, sessile soft-bodied sea creatures. But recently, there has been
increasing scientific evidence suggesting that more varied and complex animal
species lived during this time, and possibly even before the Ediacaran period. Fossils
of Coronacollina acula, date back as far as 560 million years were recently discovered
in South Australia (which was conducted by the university of California geologist
team headed by Professor Mary Droser), a sponge-like fossils that show the existence
of hard body parts and spicules that extended 20-40 cm from the main body
(estimated about 5-cm long). It was believed that soft bodied creatures lived during
Precambrian but with this discovery, an organism with individual skeletal body parts
possibly appears before the Cambrian. It is therefore the oldest animal with hard
parts-they would have been structural supports. This also signals that initiation of
skeletons was not sudden in the Cambrian as was thought, that Ediacaran animals
are part of the evolutionary lineage of animals. This recent discovery shows that
Ediacaran animals were not extinct just before the Cambrian.

Another recent fossil discovery may represent the earliest animal species
ever found. While the validity of this claim is still under investigation, these
primitive fossils appear to be small, one-cm long, sponge-like creatures. These
fossils from south Australia date back 650 million years, actually placing the
putative animal before the great ice age extinction event that marked the transition
between Cryogenian period and the Ediacaran period. Until this discovery, most
scientists believed that there was no animal life prior to the Ediacaran period. Many
scientists now believed that animals may in fact have evolved during the
Cryogenian period.

The latter part of Precambrian life, the Proterozoic era, was greatly affected
by the movement of tectonic plates forming the supercontinent Rodinia. The
Earth’s core and atmosphere cooled down and brought about the Ice Ages. The
production of oxygen of the primitive cyanobacteria cause a drastic change in the
chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. Many species of bacteria and
protists were killed by the presence of higher concentration of oxygen. New types
of organisms evolved using biochemical adaptations enabling them to survive the
presence the presence of oxygen. This allowed the domination of aerobic
eukaryotes, the first multicellular organisms.

2. Paleozoic Era

This era known as “Old Life”, started more than 540 million of years ago and
lasted for more than 300 million years. This era is divided into six periods:
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian.

Geological processes during this era began with the break-up of

supercontinent Rodinia into continents Gondwana and Laurentia. These two
continents were located near the equator that subsumed much of the current day
landmasses in a different configuration. At this time, sea levels were very high,
probably at a level that hasn’t been reached since. As the Paleozoic progressed,
glaciations created a global climate, but conditions warmed at the end of the first
half of the Paleozoic, the landmasses began moving together. Eventually a single
supercontinent Pangaea, was formed in latter third of the Paleozoic. Glaciations
then began to affect Pangaea’s climate, affecting the distribution of animal life.
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The

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characteristics of the different periods under Paleozoic era is described from the
geologic time scale on the previous page.

Towards the latter part of Paleozoic era, however, the largest mass extinction
in history also occurred, wiping out approximately 90% of all marine animal species
and 70% of land animals. When the continents were rejoined as Pangaea, lower sea
levels increased volcanic activity, and climate change are the possible causes of the
mass extinction during this era.

3. The Mesozoic Era or the “middle life”

It started 245 million years ago and lasted for 180 million years. It is
subdivided into three periods; Triassic, Jurassic and cretaceous periods. These are
the major geological events that happened during this era; movement of the
tectonic plates like the gradual rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea. This split
Pangaea into two northern continent (North America and Eurasia) and Laurasia
and a southern continent. Gondwana (South America, Australia, Antarctica and the
Indian continent. During the Triassic period, Pangaea still formed one massive
continent. Without much coastline to moderate the continent’s interior
temperature, Pangaea experienced major temperature swings and was covered
with large swaths of desert. The Jurassic period saw a rise in sea levels which
flooded coastal regions and hastened the break-up of supercontinent. With more
coastlines, many areas experienced warmer, more stable temperatures, and a
wetter climate. By the cretaceous era, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere had
risen, trapping the planet’s heat. As a result, the planet was hotter- possibly up to
10 degrees Celsius warmer. This era is known also as the era of dinosaurs because
its predominated by reptiles because of their ability to withstand dry climates.
Small mammals and birds also thrive d in this era because of being warm-blooded and
hair or feathers to protect them from the changing climate. Gymnosperms were most
abundant during this era because their seeds were protected to endure the dry
weather. Cretaceous period ended with a mass extinction event thought to be
brought about by the collision of an asteroid or comet with Earth.

4. The Cenozoic Era or ‘recent life’

This era started 65 million years ago and continues up to the present time. It
is divided into three periods: Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary. The world’s great
mountain ranges were built during this era. The main Alpine orogeny, which
produced the Alps and Carpathians in southern Europe and the Atlas Mountains in
northwestern Africa, began roughly between 37 to 24 million years ago. The
Himalayas were formed during sometime after the Indian plate collided with the
Eurasian plate. The formation of these mountain ranges contributed to the cooling
down of the climate in this era.

Animals during this era had to adapt with the rise and fall of the oceans
caused by melting glaciers. Among marine life-forms, the mollusks became highly
diversified. Planktonic Foraminiferans underwent two major radiations- during
Paleocene and Miocene punctuated by a long (15-20 million years) mid-Cenozoic
reduction in diversity possibly related to global cooling.

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 This era is also known as the Age of Mammals. Mammals began to increase
and evolve in adaptation that allowed them to live in many different environments-
land, air and sea. Marsupials developed a diverse array of adaptive types in Australia
and South America free from the predations of carnivorous placentals. The placental
mammals make up more than 95% of known mammals today because of its rapid
rate in reproduction.

This era is the development and proliferation of perissodactyls and

artiodactyls. During the later of this era, perissodactyl diversity declined markedly,
but artiodactyls continued to diversify. Many giant placental forms, like the saber-
toothed tiger, giant ground sloths, woolly mammoths, inhabited the forests and the
plains in the Pliocene epoch. It was also about this time that the first hominids
appeared. Early modern humans, however, did not emerge until the Pleistocene
epoch. The Cenozoic era was significantly affected by the major extinction event that
occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. This event involved the sudden
disappearance of many Ice Age mammals was linked to these two factors- climate
change following the melting of the most recent Pleistocene glaciers or overkill by
Paleolithic hunters.

Paleolithic hunters are considered by the scientists as more likely the cause
of the disappearance of these mammals. The rapidly improved technology of
Paleolithic humans produced more efficient tools for hunting. As climatic
differentiation increased over the course of Cenozoic era, flora became more and more
provincial. Deciduous angiosperms, for instance, came to predominate in colder
regions, whereas evergreen varieties prevailed in the subtropics and tropics. Grasses
also increased and provided food to the grazing animals allowing them to increase in
population.

Changes in the environment often creates new niches (living spaces) that
contribute to rapid speciation and increased diversity. On the other hand,
cataclysmic events, such as volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes that obliterate
life, can result in devastating losses of diversity. Such periods of mass extinction as
shown in the figure above have occurred repeatedly in the evolutionary record of
life, erasing some genetic lines while creating room for others to evolve into the
empty niches left behind. The end of the Permian period and Paleozoic era was
marked as the largest mass extinction event in the Earth’s history with a loss of
roughly 95% of the extant species at time. The disappearance of Permian reptiles
made it possible for a new of reptiles to emerge, the dinosaurs. Another mass
extinction event occurred at the end of Cretaceous period that ends this era and
was believed that is due to meteor collision that ends the dominance of dinosaurs
and plant species. In the following Cenozoic era, mammals radiated into terrestrial
and aquatic niches once occupied by dinosaurs. The appearance and dominance of
flowering plants in the Cenozoic era created new niches for insects, as well as for
birds and mammals. Early in Cenozoic era, new ecosystems appeared due to
continuous geological processed including the evolution of life forms as grasses and
coral reefs flourished. Late in the Cenozoic, further extinction followed by
speciation occurred during ice ages that covered high latitudes with ice and then
retreated, leaving new open spaces for colonization.

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 When we try to understand the history of the Earth and how our planet
changed over time as describes on our geological timeline, we also try to
understand how biological processes that take place have caused disruptions in the
organismal equilibrium. These biological changes that happens through the course
of geological events that shaped our planet until today is explained through the
process of evolution.

Explore

Earth’s history describes not only the geological events that shaped
the planet but also the evolutionary changes of organisms. In your
next activities, you are going to enrich further your knowledge on
the characteristics of major groups of organisms present in the
different periods of the geologic time scale and familiarize further on
mechanism of evolution. Have fun while learning!

Enrichment Activity 1: This activity will help you familiarize the events (geological
and evolutionary) that happened during the different era in the geologic time scale.

Geologic Time Scale

Use these words and phrases to complete the Geologic Time Scale below:

Precambrian Age of mammals Pangaea formed

Cenozoic Age of dinosaurs abundance of carbonate
rocks Paleozoic First bony fish Most mountain ranges
formed Mesozoic Humans Pangaea split
First prokaryotes Appearance of grasses and coral reefs

Era Geological events Evolution of life forms

1.

2.

3.

4.

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Enrichment Activity 2: What’s in Here?

Below is diagram which resembles the geologic time scale. Fill-in the tables with the
information provided below. Your clue in order to now the correct placement is the
indicated date after each event. You can simply cut and paste each phrase or you
will copy and write on the spaces of the geologic timeline below.

Eras Geological events Evolutionary events

Cenozoic
(65 million
years ago to
present)
Mesozoic
(245 to 65
million years
ago)
Paleozoic
(540 to 245
million years
ago)
Precambrian
(4.6 billion
years to 540
million years
ago)

Evolutionary events
First evidence of life (3,850 ma) Arthropods on land (420 ma)
Photosynthesizing bacteria (3,700 ma) First insects (407 ma)
Oldest fossils (3,500 ma) First amphibian vertebrates (375 ma)
First Eukaryotes (2,700 ma) First dinosaurs (220 mya)
Ediacaran Fauna (600 ma) Early mammals (220 mya)
The Cambrian Explosion (530 ma) First birds (150 ma)
First land plants and fish (480 ma) First flowering plants (130 ma)

Geologic Events
Formation of the great oceans (4,200 Oxygen Levels reach 3% of the
ma) Atmosphere (1.9 ma)
Protective Ozone in place (600 ma) Gondwana forms (500 ma)
Oxygen nears present day Formation of Pangaea supercontinent
concentration (400 ma) (280 ma)
Pangaea supercontinent breaks up Continents near present-day positions
(200 ma) (40 ma)
. Initiation of Seafloor Spreading of Initiation of the Philippine Fault (4 ma)
South China Sea (32 ma)
Global ice ages begin (2 Ma)

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11
References
Printed Materials:

Department of Education. Bureau of Learning Resources (DepEd-BLR). (2017) First

Edition. Unit III: Evolution and Origin of Biodiversity. General Biology 2(pp.81-96),
Pasig City, Philippines.

The Commission on Higher Education. (2016). K-12 Basic Education Curriculum.

Teaching Guide for Senior High School. History of Life on Earth. General Biology
2(pp.50-68), Quezon City, Philippines

The Commission on Higher Education. (2016). K-12 Basic Education Curriculum.

Teaching Guide for Senior High School. History of the Earth. Earth and Life Science
(pp.135-138), Quezon City, Philippines

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