Module 2 Gen Bio

Adaptation is the process of adjusting something to better match its environment or situation.
Evolution is a broad term that refers to any change in anything over time.
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In the previous activity, you have made some modifications in your chosen organism. Those
changes are essential and responsive to what you believe will help the organisms to adapt,
survive and proliferate their species. For billions of years earth has become the witness to various
life forms that live in its every conceivable corner. The first living thing that is believed to have
existed on earth are the unicellular prokaryotes 3.8 billion years ago. The multicellular organisms
are said to evolved in the last 540 million years ago. Terrestrial plants appeared 475 million years
ago, while mammals have only evolved around 200 million years ago and the human ancestors
Homo Sapiens appeared 200,000 years ago which makes us only 0.004 percent old in the Earth’s
life history.
Mapping the earth’s history is is a difficult job, thus geologists devised a time scale to show
Earth’s history. They called it geologic time scale a record of the appearance of life forms as well
as the phase of extinction. In doing this geologists studied the different rock layers and fossil
records throughout the word applying methods and techniques to determine their ages.
The geologic time scale is the extensive interval of time occupied by geologic history of earth. It
is divided into hierarchical chunks of time. This hierarchy includes eons, eras, periods epochs
and Age.
Eon- half a billion years or more
Era -several hundred million years
Period- one hundred million years
Epoch- tens of millions of years
Age- million of years
Here is the table that shows the geologic time scale

The life forms that exist on this planet is the product of the evolutionary process. Experts have relied
on the scientific evidence that accepts the idea of evolution to explain the existence of various life
forms on earth.
Evolution is defined as the collective genetic change in a population of organisms over a period
of time. Population on the other hand refers to a group of interbreeding organisms of the same species.
It is believed that evolution occurs within the population when some of the traits become common or
less common from one generation of population to the next. What are the mechanisms that produce
change in population from generation to generation?
The following are some of the mechanisms that produce change in population from generation to
generation.
A. Artificial selection
Artificial selection, also called "selective breeding”, is where humans select for desirable traits in
agricultural products or animals, rather than leaving the species to evolve and change gradually
without human interference, like in natural selection.
B. Natural Selection
It is a process by which the populations of organisms adapt and change. Individuals in population
are innately different in some ways. Some have better traits suited to the environment compared to
others. Organisms with adaptive traits give them an advantage. They are the most likely to survive
and proliferate their species. This organism can pass the adaptive traits on to their offspring. Over
time, these advantageous traits become more common in the population. Through this process of
natural selection, favorable traits are transmitted through generations. This process leads to speciation
where one species gives rise to a new and distinctly different species. It is one of the processes that
drives evolution and helps to explain the diversity of life on Earth.
c. Genetic drift
It is an evolution mechanism in which allele frequencies of a population change over generations
due to chance. It may result to loss of some alleles. This is observed in all population but its effect is
strongest in small populations. It may have major effects when a population is sharply reduced in size
due to natural disasters.
d. Mutation
A mutation is a change in DNA, the hereditary material of life. An organism's DNA affects how it
looks, how it behaves, and its physiology. So a change in an organism's DNA can cause changes in
all aspects of its life. Mutations are essential to evolution; they are the raw material of genetic variation.
e. Recombination:
Recombination is an event, occurring by the crossing-over of chromosomes during meiosis, in

which DNA is exchanged between a pair of chromosomes. Thus two genes that were previously
unlinked, being on separate chromosomes, can become linked because of recombination; and vice
versa: linked genes may become unlinked. Like mutation, recombination is an important source of new
variation for natural selection to work upon. However, also like mutation, recombination places a
genetic load upon the population.

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Adaptation is the process of adjusting something to better match its environment or situation.

Eon- half a billion years or more

Era -several hundred million years

Period- one hundred million years

Epoch- tens of millions of years

Age- million of years

Here is the table that shows the geologic time scale

Recombination is an event, occurring by the crossing-over of chromosomes during meiosis, in

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