Question 1 - Multiple Parts
a. Outline the 4 stages by which chemical and physical processes
could produce the first simple cells.
b. How old is the Earth? When is it thought that life first
evolved? Describe each of the 3 ways ancient organisms have been
preserved that has allowed scientists to study them today.
c. Arrange the following terms in the order from longest time
period duration to shortest:- eon, epoch, era, period. Arrange the
subdivisions of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic from most ancient to
most recent.
d. During which eon, and approximately when did the following
forms of life first appear on Earth?
e. Discuss the impacts that oxygen had on the early earth. Where
did the first atmospheric oxygen come from? How did paleontologists
arrive at the date for the oxygen revolution? How can you explain
the second rapid rise in atmospheric oxygen that occurred about 450
Million years ago?
f. Outline the sequence of evolution of terrestrial animals.
g. Provide some examples of the effect continental drift has had
on (a) past rates of extinction and speciation, (b) the
biogeography of modern species.
h. Imagine a wayward windblown bird or seed reaches an isolated
oceanic archipelago. Describe the sequence of events that would
need to occur in order for an adaptive radiation event to
occur.