Evolution of

Living
Things
EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE 2ND QUARTER
CONTENT STANDARD
• The
learners demonstrate an
understanding of:
1. the evidence for evolution
2. the origin and extinction of
species
 PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learners shall be able to:
Design a poster tracing the
evolutionary changes in a crop
plant (e.g., rice or corn) that
occurred through domestication
 LEARNING COMPETENCIES
The learners:
- Describe evidence of evolution such as homology, DNA/protein
sequences, plate tectonics, fossil record, embryology, and
artificial selection/agriculture
- Explain how populations of organisms have changed and
continue to change over time showing patterns of descent with
modification from common ancestors to produce the organismal
diversity observed today
- Describe how the present system of classification of organisms
is based on evolutionary relationships
• As early as 1900s, many scientists
suspected that some kind of change
had given rise to all the species
around us. Paleontologists collected
evidences like fossils to show that a
slow process of change happened co
organisms that inhabited Earth in the
past. It was believed that modern
organisms descended from these early
organisms through evolution.
• Evolution explains similarities and
differences between species as well as
the changes in life forms.
• Using fossil records, it was found out
that life has changed over time.
Evidence of Evolution
• Current studies suggest that all organisms
that exist today descended from
prokaryotes. Remember that prokaryotes
are unicellular organisms that lack a
membrane-bound nucleus and membrane-
bound organelles. These first cells were
probably the first living organisms on
Earth. Scientists have found remains of
these cells in layers of sedimentary rocks.
• Evolution is the theory that species
change over time. According to this
theory, new species form from existing
species through variation and natural
selection. The evolutionary process is very
slow and the transformation of one
species into another requires thousands of
years. Several evidence are used to prove
evolution and somehow reconstruct how
this process occur.
Fossil Records
• ossils are not always the body parts of an organism.
• An imprint is a type of fossil in which a film of carbon
remains after the other elements of an organism have
decayed. A mold is a type of fossil in which an impression
of the shape or track cast forms when sediments fill in the
cavity left by a fossil mold.
• Relative dating and radioactive dating methods are used
to determine the age of fossils. Relative dating
determines whether the fossil is older or younger than
other fossils. It is based on where fossils are found in the
stratified rock layers. Fossils from lower rock layers are
assumed to be older than fossils from rock layers doser to
the surface. Index fossils represent species that have
lived for a short period of time but over a wide geographic
range. They are used as indicators of a particular geologic
period.
• One of the most widely employed method of radioactive
dating to determine the age of a fossils fewer than 50000
years old is carbon-14 dating. Some radioactive elements
are found in rocks. Rocks are usually dated by measuring
the degree of radioactive decay of certain radioactive
atoms among rock-forming minerals. These elements
decay or break down into another element at a steady
rate. The rate of radioactive decay of an element is called
Homologous Body Structures
• Comparing the way organisms are put together provides
important evidence for evolution. Your arm appears quite
different from the wing of a bird, the fin of a whale, or the
limb of a dog. But if you examine the placement and order
of the bones, they are very similar. Biologists say that these
limbs are homologous. Homologous structures share a
common ancestry.
• Compare the forelimbs of the human, bird, whale, and dog.
Find the humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, and metacarpals in
each forelimb. Though the limbs look different on the
outside and though they may ray in function, they are very
similar in skeletal structure. You can see in Figure 14-3 how
the bones of the forelimbs have been modified in one way
in the wings of the bird, in a another way in the fins of the
whale, and yet in another in the limb of the dog. Although
suited for flying, swimming, and grasping, the Limbs of
these animals are modified versions of the front fins of their
common fish ancestor.
• Not all similar features are homologous. Sometimes
features come to resemble each other as a result of parallel
evolution of separate lineages. These are called analogous
structure. For example, the flippers of dolphins, wings of
penguins, and fins of sharks are three very different
structures, which originated from three different ancestors,
are modified through natural selection to look the same and
serve the same function.
Vestigial Structures
• Some structures found in living things have no
functions. These structures with no purpose are
known as vestigial structures. Vestigial organs are
often homologous to organs that are useful in other
species. The vestigial tailbone in humans is
homologous to the functional tail of other primates.
• Vestigial structures are remnants of an organism's
evolutionary past. The whale’s pelvis is evidence of
is evolution from four-legged land-dwelling
mammals. A whale propels itself with its powerful
rail and has no need for hind limbs or the pelvis.
Nevertheless, whales still have a reduced pelvis thar
serves no apparent purpose. Another example of a
vestigial organ is the human appendix. In the great
apes, human's closest relatives, their appendix are
larger compared to humans. It is attached to the gut
rube which functions in digestion, holding bacteria
used in digesting cellulose of the digested plants.
• Organisms having vestigial structures probably
share a common ancestry with organisms in which
the homologous structure is functional.
Similarity of Embryos
• An embryo is an unborn (unhatched)
animal in its earliest phases. Embryos are
studied in the science of embryology.
Study Figure 14-5 showing embryos of a
fish, chicken, pig, and human. What
similarities do you observe in the
embryos? Notice that all the embryos have
gill slits. The gill slits develop into gills in
fish and disappear in the chicken, pig, and
human before birth. What does this
suggest? These early similarities are
evidence that all vertebrates share a
common ancestor. Although the embryos
look similar to each other in very early
stages, none of them look like their adult
forms. Embryo development has evolved
over millions of years, causing embryonic
structures to grow into many different
Biochemical Evidence
Biochemistry reveals similarities
between organisms of different
species. Closely-related species
will show more similarities in the
amino acid sequences of their
proteins. This is because the
amino acid sequence in a protein
reflects the nucleotide sequence of
the gene coding for that protein. If
the genes of several species are
compared, closely-related species
would show more similarities in
their nucleotide sequences than
distantly-related species.
Geographical Evidence
In Antartica, must have had a warm climate
to support these large reptiles. This could
indicate that Antartica was once located
closer the equator. This movement is
explained by the theory of plate tectonics,
which states that Earth is continents were
once a huge landmass. According to this
theory, the outer crust of Earth was broken
into seven large rigid plates and several
smaller ones. These plates are slowly
moving, carrying the continents on top of
the plates. The movement of plates also
explain why several species are found in
continents separated by vast oceans and
how these species were separated. This
change in Earth's geological environment
caused changes in the biological
environment as well.
Origin and Extinction of Species
• Evolution is usually interpreted to mean
changes in the kinds of animals and plants
on Earth that take place over long periods of
time. This kind of evolution is called
macroevolution. Macroevolution is
evolutionary change on a grand scale,
encompassing the origin of novel designs,
evolutionary trends, new binds of organisms
penetrating new habitats, and major
extinction episodes.
• Much of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution
focuses not on how new species are formed
from old ones (macroevolutionary changes),
but on how changes occur within species. A
population is a group of interbreeding
organisms that occupy a given geographic
area. For example, all the fish of a single
species that live in a pond make up a
population. Within a population, individuals
vary in many observable traits, In nature,
many traits in populations show variation.
Origin of Species
• In a forest alone, there are thousands
species, which include plants, insects,
birds, and mammals. But how did all these
species evolved? A species is a group of
individuals that can interbreed and
produce fertile offspring but cannot breed
with any other group.
• Biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck stated that
organisms change because they need to
respond to stimuli from their
environments. His theory states that if an
organism uses a particular structure less, it
becomes weaker, less developed, and
eventually disappears. Lamarck also
believed that once these structures
change, based on use or disuse, then
these characteristics could then be passed
on to their offspring.
Extinction of Species
• After a fossil is dated using dating methods,
paleontologists place the fossil in a geologic time scale.
• This gives a picture of the past, showing how organisms
have changed over time. It also shows which plant or
animal species had become extinct. Once a species is
extinct, it does not reappear. There have been several
periods in Earth's history when a large number of
species died out at the same time. These large-scale
extinctions are called mass extinctions.
• What causes extinction? Extinction may be caused by
major changes in Earth's climate or atmosphere. Some
scientists believe that the mass extinction of dinosaurs
and other species occurred after a meteorite struck
Earth. The collision may have caused a change in the
climate or atmosphere, leading to the death of many
species. Other causes could be global environmental
changes, changes in climate due to movements of
continents, and competition among species. Humans
could have also contribute to the extinction of species.
Human activities have been pointed out as the major
cause of present extinctions.
Classification and Evolution
Humans have been classifying organisms for
thousands of years. Today, biologists classify
organisms not by their usefulness, but by their
physical, chemical, and behavioral similarities.
These similarities reveal evolutionary
relationships. The branch of science concerned
with classifying organisms is called taxonomy.
The modern system of classification was
developed by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist.
Linnaeus classified all known organism by their
shared characteristics. Linnaeus introduced a
system of assigning a standard, two-word Latin
name to each organism known in his time. This
system was called binomial nomenclature,
referring to the species' scientific name.
The first part of the name identifies the genus
and the second part identifies the species. Using
an organism's two-part scientific name is a sure
way for scientists to know they are discussing
the same organism.
Classification and Evolution
In convergent evolution, organisms
evolve similar features independently,
often because they live in similar
habitats. Similar features that have
evolved through convergent evolution are
known as analogous characteristics.
Analogous characteristics are
characteristics in different organisms
which are similar because of similar
selection. However, convergent evolution
creates a problem for taxonomists
because similar appearance does not
guarantee common ancestry. In the case
of the shark and dolphin, the shark is a
fish while the dolphin is a mammal. They
belong to two unrelated species but they
have become more and more similar as
they adapt to the same kind of
Development of the Evolutionary Theory
Evolutionary theory is the foundation of biological science.
The current evolutionary theory is a collection of carefully
reasoned and tested hypotheses. Ideas on how evolution
happens have been revised as more evidence is
accumulated. Lamarck proposed a theory of evolution long
before Darwin. He based his explanation on assumptions
that were proven to be incorrect. He believed that
organisms changed because they had an inborn urge to
improve themselves, that organisms could change the
shape of their bodies through use, and that once
characteristics were acquired, they are passed on to their
offspring.

The principles revolving the evolutionary theory was based

on the evidences discovered and studies conducted by
several scientists such as Lamarck, Darwin, and Lyell.

Darwin's theory has been revised over the years. Darwin

was influenced by Charles Lyell, a geologist who
demonstrated that Earth was very old. This was essential
to Darwin because it confirmed his theory that organisms
had evolved over long periods of time. Darwin was also
influenced by Thomas Malthus, an English economist and
demographer. According to Malthus, people were born at a
faster rate than they were dying, so there has to be some
outside control on the growth of human population.
SEATWORK: Section Review 101
1. Describe how the classification of
living things reflects their
evolutionary history.
2. What makes convergent evolution
difficult for taxonomist?
3. How does cladistics classify
organisms?
Topic review: Answer the
following questions.
1. Fossils are commonly found in_______.
2. A human’s arm, a cat’s front leg, a dolphin’s
front flipper, a bat’s wing___.
3. The fact that all organisms have DNA as their
genetic material is evidence that____.
4. The fossil record shows how______.
5. The age of fossils can be determined
through______.