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Patterns of Evolution. Honors Biology Unit 7 Powerpoint #2 2011-2012. Macroevolution. Large-scale evolutionary patterns and processes that occur over long periods of time Key Concept: 6 important patterns of macroevolutions. 1) Mass Extinction.
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Patterns of Evolution Honors Biology Unit 7 Powerpoint #2 2011-2012
Macroevolution • Large-scale evolutionary patterns and processes that occur over long periods of time • Key Concept: 6 important patterns of macroevolutions
1) Mass Extinction • When many different species of organisms go extinct at the same time. • End of Paleozoic: 95% of complex life (both plants and animals on the land and in the sea) went extinct.
Causes of Mass Extinction • Climate Change: rapid changes in yearly weather patterns. Example: Ice Age • Volcanism: the sudden oozing of millions of cubic meters of lava from the earth that release gasses poisoning the atmosphere • Impact Events: Meteors or asteroids impacting the earth
The Future of Mass Extinction • E.O. Wilson of Harvard University predicts that man’s destruction of the biosphere will lead to the extinction of 50% of the species on earth in the next 100 years. • 70% of biologists agree
Example of Mass Extinction: 65 Million years ago (very recent) • 50% of all species went extinct including dinosaurs • Thought to be caused by the Chicxulub Meteor which hit the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
Chicxulub Crater • Made by a meteor 6 miles in Diameter • Equivalent to exploding 190,000 gigatons of TNT
Tsar Bomba: By comparison: The most powerful nuclear bomb ever tested (Russia 1961) was only 0.05 gigatons
2) Adaptive Radiation • A single species, or small group, evolves, through natural selection into diverse forms. Example: Darwin’s Galapagos Finches
3) Convergent Evolution • When unrelated organisms come to resemble each other due to environmental demands. Example: Placental v. Marsupials
4) Coevolution • When two species evolve in response to changes to each other over time Example: Insects and flowers
5) Punctuated Equilibrium • Long stable periods interrupted by periods of rapid change. Example: Darwin’s Galapagos Finches
6) Developmental Genes & Body Plans • Small changes in the activity of control genes can produce large changes in adult animals Example: HOX genes
Fossil Evidence of Mass Extinction • Fossilization does not happen very often. • Mass Extinctions also do not occur very often. • Scientist believe that there are more fossils to be found around the time of mass extinctions than any other time.
Strata • Layers of dirt and stone from different time periods on earth. • Form bands of rock layers.
Geologic Time Based Upon major changes in the fossil record in the rock strata ERAS are longer time divisions than PERIODS There are four eras: Precambrian (4.6 billion – 544 million years ago) Paleozoic (544 - 245 million years ago) Mesozoic (245 – 65 million years ago) Cenozoic (65 million – Present)
Dating of Fossils (p. 419-420) • Relative Dating: estimates a fossils age compared with other fossils but no info about age in years • Index Fossils: distinctive fossil used to compare the relative ages of fossils • Radioactive Dating: Calculate the age of a sample based on amount of remaining radioactive isotopes it contains • Half-life: length of time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay