The Evolving
Concept of Life
EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE 11 QUARTER 2
Most Essential Learning Competency
EXPLAIN THE EVOLVING CONCEPT
OF LIFE BASED ON EMERGING
PIECES OF EVIDENCE
(S11/12LT-IIA-1).
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the sequence of events of
the history of life on Earth.
2. Name the pieces of evidence on
the evolution of life on Earth.
3. Recognize the importance of
knowing the history of life on
Earth.
WHAT ARE THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF
LIFE?
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE
Organisms belonging to different kind
share the following characteristics that
allow us to identify that they are living:
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE
1. They are made up of cells.
2. They grow and develop.
3. They are capable of reproduction.
4. They exhibit metabolism.
5. They respond to their environment.
6. They maintain homeostasis.
TYPES OF ORGANISMS BASED ON
CELL STRUCTURE
1. Eukaryote
2. Prokaryote
EUKARYOTE
Any cell or organism that possesses a
clearly defined nucleus.
Contain organelles
animals, plants, fungi, and protists
may be unicellular or multicellular
PROKARYOTE
Any organism that lacks a distinct
nucleus and other organelles due to
the absence of internal membranes.
bacteria and archaea
unicellular
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BIOLOGY
Biology is a science that
deals with all forms of life,
including their
classification, physiology,
chemistry, and
interactions.
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BIOLOGY
The term was introduced
in Germany in 1800 and
popularized by the French
naturalist Jean-Baptiste
de Lamarck as a means of
encompassing the growing
number of disciplines
involved with the study of
living forms.
WHEN AND WHERE DID
LIFE BEGIN ON EARTH?
Theory of Special creation
Theory of Special creation
In accordance with the Book of
Genesis, that every species was
individually created by God in the
form in which it exists today and is
not capable of undergoing any
change.
Cosmozoic Theory (Panspermia Theory)
Cosmozoic Theory (Panspermia
Theory)
The idea was proposed by Richter in 1865 and
supported by Arrhenius (1908). According to
this theory, life has reached the planet Earth
from other heavenly bodies such as
meteorites, in the form of highly resistant
spores of some microorganisms.
Cosmozoic Theory (Panspermia
Theory)
The spores of some microorganisms are called
cosmozoa or panspermia because they are
preserved inside meteorites coming to the
earth from the outer space. These meteorites
struck the barren earth to release the
cosmozoa and they developed into different
creatures on the earth.
Theory of Spontaneous Generation also known
as Abiogenesis
Theory of Spontaneous
Generation also known as
Abiogenesis
The idea that life arose from nonlife more
than 3.5 billion years ago on Earth.
Abiogenesis proposes that the first life-forms
generated were very simple and through a
gradual process became increasingly complex.
Biogenesis Theory
Life is derived from the reproduction of other
life, was presumably preceded by abiogenesis,
which became impossible once Earth’s
atmosphere assumed its present composition.
Primordial Soup Theory
According to proposed by Alexander Oparin
and John Haldane primordial soup theory, life
started in a primordial soup of organic
molecules.
Some form of energy from lightning combined
with the chemicals in the atmosphere to make
the building blocks of protein known as the
amino acids .
THE EARLY LIFE
Mural at NASA Ames Research Center
Title: Origin and Evolution of Life Original Art by Robert Bausch
Date Created: 1988/12/08
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This painting shows the history of life on Earth. On the left is the earliest Earth, hot and
with many volcanos. This ancient Earth already had oceans with the simplest molecules
of life forming in them. Much of the water in the oceans and carbon for the life
molecules may have come to Earth from comets impacting the planet. Time passes as
we move to the right: The Earth cools down and the simplest molecules in the ocean
organize into more complicated, twisting molecules (DNA, RNA, and proteins), and life
itself starts. In the center of the mural, representing times from about 3.9 to 0.7 billion
years ago, the only living things on Earth are algae, which grow in lumpy mounds near
the ocean's shores. Further right, and closer to today, complicated multicellular life
forms exist: jellyfish, snails, trilobites. Next come fish. Life begins to inhabit the dry land
at about 400 million years (0.4 billion years) ago. From then to the present we see
trees, dinosaurs, mammals, and finally human beings.
abc
EVIDENCES on the evolution of life on Earth
During the 1800s geologists and naturalists
found several forms of physical evidence that
confirmed that Earth is very old.
1. Fossils of ancient sea life on dry land abc
far from oceans.
This supported the idea that the Earth changed
over time and some dry land today was once
covered by oceans.
trilobite fossil fish fossil
abc
2. The many layers of rock
This allowed people to realize that rock
layers represent the order in which
rocks and fossils appeared, thus they
were able to trace the history of Earth
and life on Earth.
2. The many layers of rock abc
abc
3. The indications that volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, and erosion that happened long
ago shaped much of the Earth’s surface
This supported the idea of an older
Earth.
abc
EARLY FORMS OF LIFE
The first forms of life are believed to have
appeared some 3.5 billion years ago.
Photosynthetic organisms are organisms who
make their own food by utilizing the energy from
the sun and the carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. The process of photosynthesis
produced more oxygen that changed the Earth’s
early atmosphere, allowed oxygen-breathing
organisms to exist.
abc
EARLY FORMS OF LIFE
Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are the first
photosynthetic organisms to form.
METEORITES AND VOLCANIC PROKARYOTES FOUND IN CYANOBACTERIA EUKARYOTE
ERUPTIONS STROMATOLITES
TRILOBITE REPTILES HOMO ERECTUS
