Earth and Life Science
Quarter 2
Evolving Concept of Life
Based on Emerging
Pieces of Evidence
Lesson 1
Evolving Concept of Life Based on
Emerging Pieces of Evidence
• The universe is about 4.6 billion years old. Life on earth,
probably began only between 3.5 and 4.0 billion years
ago.
• Evidences from fossil records show the emergence of
the different life forms.
Evolving Concept of Life Based on
Emerging Pieces of Evidence
• The common ancestor of all life was prokaryotic.
Since, oxygen was scarce on the early Earth, so the
ancestral cell must also have been an anaerobic.
Challenges encountered in
searching for the evidence of
early life
1. Cells are microscopic and
most have no parts to
fossilize.
2. The tectonic plate movements
have destroyed nearly all rocks
older than about 4 billion years,
and most of the younger rocks
have been heated or undergone
processes that destroy the traces
of biological material.
Evolving Concept of Life Based on
Emerging Pieces of Evidence
• At present, the oldest cell microfossils
(microscopic fossils) are filaments from 3.5
billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia.
• The filaments resemble chains of modern
photosynthetic bacteria and the rocks in
which they occur are the remains of ancient
stromatolites.
Evolving Concept of Life Based on
Emerging Pieces of Evidence
• The researchers look for
biomarkers specific to
eukaryotes.
• It is a substance that occurs
only or predominantly in cells of
a specific type. Eukaryotes are
organisms having true nucleus.
Evolving Concept of Life Based on
Emerging Pieces of Evidence
• The DNA is enclosed
within the nucleus
whereas DNA of most
prokaryotes lies
enclosed in the cell’s
cytoplasm.
• The first eukaryotes
were protists.
Evolving Concept of Life Based on
Emerging Pieces of Evidence
• For life to evolve from simple single-celled organisms to
many millions of species of prokaryotic species to
simple eukaryotic species to all the protists, fungi,
plants, and animals, took some time.
• The first life forms were very basic and this then allowed
for the evolution of more complex life forms.
Evolving Concept of Life Based on
Emerging Pieces of Evidence
• Eukaryotic cells evolved from prokaryotic cells.
• The evolution of life is brought about the changes in
the environment which are linked to changes in
climate and geology.
• These Earth’s environmental changes made the Earth’s
environment more suitable for a wider variety of life
forms.
Timeline of Appearance
of Life Forms
4.6 – 3.8 BYA
• The early earth is said
to be violent because
of the meteorites and
volcanic eruptions.
• With this condition,
zircon crystal was
formed.
3.5 BYA
• Life on Earth
initially began
with
prokaryotes,
discovered in
sedimentary rock
formations called
stromatolites.
3.0 BYA
• The first photosynthetic organism thrived the earth
which is blue green algae called cyanobacteria
2.0 BYA
• Appearance of the first eukaryotes and the influx of
multicellular organisms occurred 1.2 billion years ago.
500 MYA
• The Paleozoic era when
the trilobites and
cephalopods became
dominant in the ocean
particularly during the
Cambrian and
Ordovician
251 - 65.5
MYA
• The Mesozoic
era-the age of
reptiles that has a
span of 251 to
65.5 MYA divided
into Triassic,
Jurassic, and
Cretaceous period.
250 TYA
• The Cenozoic era- recent life
and based on paleontological
evidence. Homo erectus have
evolved
