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    ENVR 202 - Class Notes

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    Léandre Noël

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    ENVR 202 - Class Notes

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    Léandre Noël
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    6 views7 pages

    ENVR 202 - Class Notes

    Uploaded by

    Léandre Noël

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 7

    ENVR 202 – The Evolving Earth

    Lecture 1 – The scientific process


    Idea/argument > Testable > Based on empirical observation > Potential to overturn dogma > Not a
    single observation but rather a slow accumulation of evidence

    A Model is a mathematical, conceptual, or verbal abstraction of the real world

    A Hypothesis is a testable model

    Lecture 2 – Origins: Tectonic Plates


    The evolution of the earth is described on geological timescales. It is measured in millions or billions
    of years. Absolute dating and Relative dating helps us get an idea of time.

    Three types of rocks: Igneous “fire formed”: formed through the cooling and solidification of magma
    or lave, Sedimentary-formed from chemical precipitates or fragments of earlier formed rocks,
    Metamorphic -formed by application of heat and pressure to either igneous or sedimentary rocks.

    Radiometric dating is a technique that can tell us how old things are. Unstable isotopes undergo
    decay. We can measure the amount of carbon 14 to determine how old something is. However it
    can lony go back from 15,000 years. We can measure the decay of other elements found within rock
    to determine an absolute age.

    Isotopic Dating of Rocks

    Assuming that when a rock forms it contains an unstable isotope and non of the daughter isotope,
    and assuming that over geologic time.
    Sedimentary rocks allow us to infer a age based on the sequence. Sedimentary rock is produced
    from the gradual accumulation of sediment on the surface. Therefore newer sediment is continually
    deposited on top.

    Fossils and Relative Dating

    Fossils are generally most abundant in marine sedimentary rocks. They are generally not found in
    igneous or metamorphic rocks. Using fossils is not always clear-cut/straightforward:

    A large river may dump a large amount of sediment into the sea. But rocky stretches of coast
    may see very little sediment accumulation? Far offshore

    How it all started…

    Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago out of a solar nebula.
    ?ebula: a swirling could made up.

    During Hadean Eon, it was initially molten. There were constant bombardments by asteroids and
    comets. The formation of the moon.

    The Earth was bomba


    LECTURE 3 – The origins of life
    What about a virus?

    Bacteriophage – virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. Many do not consider

    What is Life

    There is not a single accepted definition of life

    Nasa ‘working definition’: “Life is a self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian
    evolution”

    Requirements to be a “alive”

    Most theories of life

    - Maintain internal homeostasis


    - Respond to external

    Maintain Homeostasis

    The inside of a living thing is different from the external environment.

    Organisms regulate their internal environment to maintain the relatively narrow range of conditions
    needed for cell function such as internal temperature, internal pH, nitern

    LECTURE 4 –
    How did we get such diversity?

    1. Maintain internal hoomeostasis


    2. Respond to external stimuli
    3. Consume and produce energy

    The first 3 are related to survival

    4. Reproduce and have a form of heredity

    Are associated with natural selection

    The Darwinian Revolution

    … began in 1859 with the publication of On the Origin of Species.

    In that book, Darwin established two ideas.

    Gene: A self replicating DNA unit that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and determines
    a particular characteristic in an organism

    How many offsprings do u have compared to others in the population.

    Phenotype (interaction between genotype and environment).

    Plasticity is environmentally determined, non-heritable, trait differences)


    Melanine or body size could be an example.

    Why do inviduals’ genetics vary?

    - Mutation is the essential source of genetic variation


    - Mode of reproduction

    Eukaryotic Sex: two parents needed

    Mate searching costs. As pop size go smaller the probability decrease and could have a positive
    feedback loop causing extinction.

    Competition for mates can be brutal. It creates Display costs.

    LECTURE 7: Evolution and Early Diversification


    Assessing descent: comparisons involving simple phenotypic traits

    Simple observation and measurement suffice (NOT high-tech). Evaluate degrees of similarity and
    account for patterns of change in time to reconstruct relationships and lines of descent.

    Fossil sequences test inferred patterns of change.

    LECTURE 8 – Moving on to land


    Before Life on Land: Proterozoic

    - Photosynthesis evolves
    - Eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus) evolve
    - Proliferation of bacterial mats
    Recall the Great Oxygenation Event

    - Also formed the Ozone Layer


    o Filters out harmful UV radiation
    - Oxygen began building up in the atmosphere

    Cambrian

    - Shells and hard bodies start to dominate in the fossil record


    - Animals become more motile (predation)
    - Explosion of evolution of new body types in animals
    - The first chordate (animals with a long central nerve). The lineage that would go on to give
    rise to all vertebrates

    Barriers to Adapting Land

    1. Harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation

    Water could filter UV light, protect life

    Oxygen changed everything:

    - Created an ozone shield


    o Filters out enough UV radiation that life can survive on land
    2. Desiccation (drying out)

    Aquatic organisms are adapted to being surrounded by water, dry out easily

    … INCOMPLETE

    If land was so inhospitable, how and why did life make the jump?

    Traits of the first colonisers

    - From early cyanobacteria, green algae (eukaryotes, incl. multi-cellular) appeared ~ 0.75 bya
    - What could have prompted plants to move onto land? Plants are autotrophs (get their
    energy from the sun!)
    - Advantageous to grow near the surface (near light), in shallow waters, on coastal shelves!

    Evolution of Green Algae

    Populations of green algae exposed to periods of drought in the intertidal

    - Selection for individuals which could tolerate extended periods of desiccation?


    - i.e. existing species had traits which likely predisposed them to being able to adapt to the
    terrestrial environment

    Over time, evolved from green algae to more complex forms that could survive entirely on land

    First animals on land

    Behavior – pascing on a rock

    LECTURE 9 –

    Homo neanderthalensis
    Sister species to us – not direct ancestors but share the same one as homo sapiens. They had food,
    art… Timeframe: 400,000-30,000 years ago.

    Denisovans

    Another sister species to us. No homo because it identified through little bones and DNA. No skull
    identified to date -> no official species name.

    Homo sapiens

    LECTURE FEBRUARY 21st

    - What is extinction?

    Death of the last individual of the species

    - …

    - Why do species go extinct

    Global extinction arises in local extirpation


    Guest Lecture

    Many communities rely on ecosystem services provided by lakes including:

    - Provisioning – portable freshwater for drinking purposes, fishes


    - Cultural – chalet, beaches
    - Regulating and Maintenance

    How do we protect freshwater resources?

    - To create effective environmental policy to protect lake ecosystems, we need to understand


    the current condition of lakes
    - We also need to know how they are changing in response to environmental disturbances
    - Direct monitoring can help here, but it requires sites to have been monitored

    One option is to study sediment cores – Paleolimnology

    - Paleolimnology generates critical time-series data to fill these gaps


    o Quantify pre-disturbance baselines
    o Understand long-term dynamics
    - We study “proxies” in the sediment to generate these date
    o Properties – related to temperature

    How do we know how old sediments are ?

    Lead-210 – shorter half life

    Climate trends in the Boreal Zone

    Despite being in the middle of the ocean, the islands are full of life. So remote places have a
    very interesting amount of biodiversity. Three ways to get to an island:
    - Ocean dispersal – coconuts, vegetation during storms
    - Aerial dispersal – very small plant seeds, fungi
    - Avian dispersal – Birds can disperse it eating (seeds, eggs), stick to birds (
    Random mutations between diff lineages – molecula clock

    Rocks disintegrate and are full of nutrients

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