EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE – Module 8

Learning Objectives:
1. 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.
2. Describe how the present system of classification of organisms is based on evolutionary
relationships.

The Process of Evolution

- Evolution is a change in species over time. There are evidences of evolution
such as: fossils, anatomical structures, embryological evidence, molecular and
chemical evidences. Mutation in genes is one of the agents of change in
organisms.

• Rice is the staple food in the Philippines. There are various types of rice in the country
and Filipinos call them by local names such as laon, wagwag, sinandomeng, and
angelica. These are some of the different varieties of the rice plant with the scientific
name Oryza sativa, yet they all differ. What do these differences imply? It means that
human intervention can change the organism into a different or improved organism.
Human intervention includes choosing specific traits mixed with other selected species.
• However, all organisms can change naturally through time even without human
intervention. This change through time is called evolution, the process by which
modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms.

Evidences of Evolution
Fossil Records
• By studying fossil records of organisms, experts revealed the existence of animals that
lived over million years ago. Most of the fossils excavated are bones, seeds, imprints of
plants and shells, and pollen grains. Studies use radioactive dating to measure the age
of fossils or the age of the rock where the fossils are found.

Comparative Anatomy
• Scientists study different anatomical structures of different organisms. The study of
anatomical features contributes to the understanding of the evolution of anatomical
structures and the evolutionary relationships among organisms.

Homologous Structure
• What seems to be entirely different organisms like man, whale, bat, and dog actually
have similar anatomical features. The arm of the man, lateral fin of the whale, the
wing of the bat, and the leg of the dog are similar in structures although the function
of each varies. These are called homologous structures. It reveals organisms’ common
origin and reflect
common ancestry.

Analogous Structure
• Analogous structures,
such as the wings of the
bird and the butterfly
wings, have the same
function. However, the
similarity is superficial
 and only reflects an adaptation to similar environment, and not a possible descent of
common recent ancestors.

Vestigial Structure
• Vestigial structures are evidences that physical structures evolve. One example of
vestigial structure is the human appendix. The appendix is believed to as vestige
structure that was once used and needed by the human ancestors due to their
different diet.

Comparative Embryology
• Embryology, the study of the
development of the anatomy of
an organism to its adult form,
provides evidence for evolution
as embryo formation in widely-
divergent groups of organisms
tends to be conserved.
Structures that are absent in the
adults of some groups often
appear in their embryonic forms,
disappearing by the time the
adult or juvenile form is reached.
For example, all vertebrate
embryos, including humans,
exhibit gill slits and tails at some
point in their early development.
These disappear in the adults of
terrestrial groups, but are
maintained in adults of aquatic
groups, such as fish and some
amphibians. Great ape
embryos, including humans,
have a tail structure during their
development that is lost by birth.

Comparative Biochemistry
• Several species of organisms have similar biochemical pathways. This reflects that the
more closely-related the organisms are, the more similar their biological pathways are.

Molecular Biology
• Like anatomical structures, the structures of the molecules of life reflect descent with
modification. Evidence of a common ancestor for all of life is reflected in the
universality of DNA as the genetic material, in the near universality of the genetic
code, and in the machinery of DNA replication and expression. In general, the
relatedness of groups of organisms is reflected in the similarity of their DNA sequences.
This is exactly the pattern that would be expected from descent and diversification
from a common ancestor.
• DNA sequences have also shed light on some of the mechanisms of evolution. For
example, it is clear that the evolution of new functions for proteins commonly occurs
after gene duplications that allow the free modification of one copy by mutation,
selection, or drift (changes in a population ‘s gene pool resulting from chance), while
the second copy continues to produce a functional protein.

Biogeography
 • The geographic distribution of organisms on the planet follows patterns that are best
explained by evolution in conjunction with the movement of tectonic plates over
geological time. Broad groups that evolved before the breakup of the supercontinent
Pangaea (about 200 million years ago) are distributed worldwide. Groups that
evolved since the breakup appear uniquely in regions of the planet, such as the
unique flora and fauna of northern continents that formed from the supercontinent
Laurasia compared to that of the southern continents that formed from the
supercontinent Gondwana.

Causes of Evolution of a Population

• According to evolutionary theory, every organism from humans to beetles to plants to
bacteria share a common ancestor. Millions of years of evolutionary pressure caused
some organisms to die while others survived, leaving earth with the diverse life forms
we have today. Within this diversity is unity; for example, all organisms are composed
of cells and use DNA. The theory of evolution gives us a unifying theory to explain the
similarities and differences within life’s organisms and processes.

1. Genetic Variation in Populations

• A population is a group of individuals that can all interbreed, often distinguished as a
species. Because these individuals can share genes and pass on combinations of
genes to the next generation, the collection of these genes is called a gene pool. The
process of evolution occurs only in populations and not in individuals. A single
individual cannot evolve alone; evolution is the process of changing the gene
frequencies within a gene pool. Five forces can cause genetic variation and evolution
in a population: mutations, natural selection, genetic drift, genetic hitchhiking, and
gene flow.

2. Mutations
• Why do some organisms survive while others die? These surviving organisms generally
possess traits or characteristics that bestow benefits that help them survive (e.g., better
camouflage, faster swimming, or more efficient digestion). Each of these
characteristics is the result of a mutation, or a change in the genetic code. Mutations
occur spontaneously, but not all mutations are heritable; they are passed down to
offspring only if the mutations occur in the gametes. These heritable mutations are
responsible for the rise of new traits in a population.

3. Natural Selection
• Just as mutations cause new traits in a population, natural selection acts on the
frequency of those traits. Because there are more organisms than resources, all
organisms are in a constant struggle for existence. In natural selection, those
individuals with superior traits will be able to produce more offspring. The more
offspring an organism can produce, the higher its fitness. As novel traits and behaviors
arise from mutation, natural selection perpetuates the traits that confer a benefit.

4. Genetic Drift
• When selective forces are absent or relatively weak, gene frequencies tend to “drift”
due to random events. This drift halts when the variation of the gene becomes “fixed”
by either disappearing from the population or replacing the other variations
completely. Even in the absence of selective forces, genetic drift can cause two
separate populations that began with the same genetic structure to drift apart into
two divergent populations.

5. Genetic Hitchhiking
• When recombination occurs during sexual reproduction, genes are usually shuffled so
that each parent gives its offspring a random assortment of its genetic variation.
However, genes that are close together on the same chromosome are often assorted
 together. Therefore, the frequency of a gene may increase in a population through
genetic hitchhiking if its proximal genes confer a benefit.

6. Gene Flow
• Gene flow is the exchange of genes between populations or between species. If the
gene pools between two populations are different, the exchange of genes can
introduce variation that is advantageous or disadvantageous to one of the
populations. If advantageous, this gene variation may replace all the other variations
until the entire population exhibits that trait.

The Path to Modern Classification

- Biologists use phylogenetic trees for many purposes, including:
• Testing hypotheses about evolution
• Learning about the characteristics of extinct species and ancestral
lineages
• Classifying organisms

- Using phylogenies as a basis for classification is a relatively new development in

biology.
- Most of us are accustomed to the Linnaean System of Classification that assigns
every organism a kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species,
which, among other possibilities, has the handy mnemonic King Philip Came
Over For Good Soup. This system was created long before scientists understood
that organisms evolved. Because the Linnaean system is not based on evolution,
most biologists are switching to a classification system that reflects the
organisms’ evolutionary history.

- This phylogenetic classification system names only clades — groups of

organisms that are all descended from a common ancestor. As an example, we
can look more closely at reptiles and birds.

- Under a system of
phylogenetic classification, we
could name any clade on this tree.
For example, the Testudines,
Squamata, Archosauria, and
Crocodylomorpha all form clades.

- However, the reptiles do not

form a clade, as shown in
the cladogram. That means
that either “reptile” is not a
valid phylogenetic grouping
or we have to start thinking
of birds as reptiles.
 - Another cool thing about
phylogenetic
classification is that it
means that dinosaurs are
not entirely extinct. Birds
are, in fact, dinosaurs
(part of the clade
Dinosauria). It’s pretty
neat to think that you
could learn something
about T. rex by studying
birds!

Concepts at a Glance:
• Darwin’s theory explains evolution based on his observations. Natural selection is the
survival and reproduction of organisms that best adapted to their changing
environment.
• Taxonomy is important to show the relationships between organisms and to possibly
trace the evolutionary origin of organisms.
• The pieces of evidence for evolution are: (a) fossils; (b) anatomical evidence; (c)
embryological evidences; (d) biogeographic evidence; and € biochemical pieces of
evidence.