The Cladogram The cladogram is used to show evolutionary relationships between organisms, NOT ancestry. The human shares more DNA with the Chimpanzee than any other Great Ape, followed closely by the Gorilla. The Ape that is least related to the human (through DNA analysis) is the GIBBON Gorillas are not ancestors of humans, but they’re related. Extinct APE Cladistics may also be more specific, and show relationship based on similar structures.

Phylogeny does show relationships according to evolution.

What is the image below of? Which organisms in the cladogram below, share lungs as a characteristic? Which organisms have fur, and mammary glands? What is the common ancestor of Pterosauria and Dinosauria? Is Deinonychosauria more related to Sauropodomorpha or Tyrannasauroidea?

Macroevolution measures large scale evolutionary patterns, trends, and rates of change… Microevolution measures small scale change in allelic frequencies and changes due to genetic drift, or simple mutation.

What types of events would “encourage” microevolution, or evolution in a “gradual” style? What types of events would “encourage” macroevolution, or evolution in a rapid pace? Continental drift (driven by plate tectonics), mountain building, and other geologic processes which take great deals of time. Meteoric blasts, extreme earthquakes or volcanoes or other geologic processes which occur rapidly. Gradualism Punctuated Equilibrium 99.9% of all organisms who ever lived are now extinct. Remember, extinction is a natural result of evolution.

The two largest time periods are known as EONS. There have been two…the Precambrian, and the Phanerozoic (present eon). Within the Eons, there are many ERAS, and within the eras, periods, and within periods there are epochs. Scientists have named six eras in our geologic history. Let’s begin our journey through time, starting with the present…and move backward! We all know the Earth is very old. Scientists have calculated its age approximately 4.5 billion years!

Within the Phanerozoic Eon, the Cenozoic Era encompasses the most recent period in Earth’s geologic history. The Cenozoic Era is divided into two main sub-divisions known as periods: the Tertiary and the Quaternary. Most of the Cenozoic is the Tertiary, from 65 million years ago to 1.8 million years ago. The Quaternary includes only the last 1.8 million years. Paleocene Epoch Eocene Epoch Oligocene Epoch Miocene Epoch Pliocene Epoch Pleistocene Epoch Holocene Epoch The Cenozoic is sometimes called the Age of Mammals, because the most successful land animals have been mammals during that time. 65 to 1.8 mya 1.8 mya to present

What is the Eon we are currently in? What are the three eras within the Phanerozoic Eon? What is the era we are currently in? What is another name given to the Cenozoic era, and why? Why are periods in geologic history divided the way they are?

The Mesozoic is divided into three periods mya mya mya Collectively, the Mesozoic has been romantically called the “Age of Dinosaurs”. At the end of the Cretaceous Period, it is hypothesized that a huge meteorite crashed into Earth, and changed the climate to such an extent that the dinosaurs couldn’t survive. K-T Extinction Event Magnetic Intensity Map of the Chicxulub Crater

The Paleozoic is bracketed by two of the most important events in the history of animal life. At its beginning, multicelled animals underwent a dramatic “explosion” in diversity, and almost all living animal types appeared within a few millions of years. At the other end of the Paleozoic, the largest mass extinction in history wiped out approximately 90% of all marine animal species. This was called the Permian Mass Extinction. The Paleozoic is divided into several Periods. Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian 543 to 245 Million Years Ago Cambrian Explosion 125-mile-wide crater called "Bedout" off the northwestern coast of Australia.

How did the Mesozoic end? What is the Mesozoic also known as? What two important events bracketed the Paleozoic Era? Describe the Cambrian Explosion.

The earliest eon in Earth’s geologic past is known as the Precambrian Eon. It is made up of a time from 4.5 billion years ago, to 543 million years ago. The two time periods you need are responsible for are: Archaean Hadean

3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago The atmosphere was very different from what we breathe today. At that time, it was likely an atmosphere of methane, ammonia, and other gases which would be toxic to most life on our planet today. Also during this time, the Earth's crust cooled enough that rocks and continental plates began to form. It was early in the Archaean that life first appeared on Earth. Our oldest fossils date to roughly 3.5 billion years ago, and consist of simple prokaryotic life known as stromatolites (cyannobacteria). The only life during the more than one billion years of the Archaean was bacterial.

The Earth and other planets would have been molten at the beginning of their histories. Solidification of the molten material into rocks happened as the Earth cooled. 4.5 to 3.8 billion years ago The oldest meteorites and lunar rocks are about 4.5 billion years old, but the oldest Earth rocks currently known are 3.8 billion years old. Sometime during the first 800 million or so years of its history, the surface of the Earth changed from liquid to solid. Once solid rock formed on the Earth, its geological history began. The oceans probably formed as soon as the Earth cooled enough for water to become liquid, about 4 billion years ago. The oldest sedimentary rocks are 3.9 billion years old. Some water and gasses came from this heating and reorganization of early Earth. As the surface cooled, water condensed to the liquid form.