The Origin and History of Life on Earth.ppt

The Origin and History of Life on Earth What is Life? Life is, to the best of our knowledge to date, unique to our planet Earth. There is no simple definition of Life, except that life forms are able to act on their own behalf to support their own existence, and to reproduce themselves. The field of science known as Biology is dedicated to the study of life, its component species, and the variations within species of life forms. The Origin and History of Life on Earth What Is a Species? Species Are Groups of Interbreeding Populations Appearance Can Be Misleading Allopatric and sympatric speciation Geographic Separation of a Population Can Lead to Allopatric Speciation Ecological Isolation of a Population Can Lead to Sympatric Speciation Earth’s Biosphere and Life Science Our Earth is, to the best of our current knowledge, the only planet in our Solar System (or beyond) which supports life of any kind. The time table and processes of the origin of life is poorly known at present, but there is evidence that the simplest forms of life came into being more than 3 billion years ago (out of the total of 4.6 billion years our Earth has been in existence). Earth’s original atmosphere contained little or no molecular oxygen, which is required by current animal and advanced plant life forms. Earth’s Biosphere and Life Science The oxygen currently in our atmosphere is produced by green plant photosynthesis, which began with reduction of carbon dioxide by anaerobic bacteria, also known as cyanobacteria or “blue-green algae”, inhabiting the oceans in Earth’s early history. Animal life, as we know it (which requires atmospheric oxygen), did not come into existence until about 600 million years ago. An important topic of the present day is that humans are returning CO2 to the atmosphere at a faster rate than plants can reduce it to form O2, which can cause global warming. How Do New Species Form? Changes in Chromosome Number Can Lead to Sympatric Speciation Speciation by polypl