ORIGIN OF LIFE AND GEOLOGIC AGES
SCIENCE 101
SPRING 1999
 
  1. Describe the Miller-Urey experiment.  What were the "ingredients"?  What were the products?  What is the significance of the results of the experiment with respect to understanding the origin of life on Earth?
  2. What is the significance of the discovery of chemical-based (rather than photosynthesis-based) ecosystems at hydrothermal vents near mid-ocean volcanoes?  How do these discoveries contribute to our understanding of how life may have begun on Earth?
  3. According to current estimates, when did cells first appear on Earth?
  4. When was it possible for first life as we know it to appear?  What conditions do we believe were needed to allow the simple chemicals from which biological molecules are formed to exist?
  5. When was the Precambrian Period?  What types of organisms were present during this period?
  6. What is the Cambrian explosion?  When did it occur?
  7. Name the four eras.  When did each occur?  What types of animals appeared (and disappeared) during each era?
  8. What event probably caused the mass extinction during which the dinosaurs went extinct?  What evidence indicates the occurrence of that event?  How did that event result in the death of so many species?
  9. What were the effects of mass extinctions on the diversity of life that evolved after the extinction?
  10. After photosynthesis evolved, what effects did this have on the further evolution of early cells?
  11. Given the following terms, order them according to the order in which they evolved:  a) eukaryotic cells, b) organic monomers, c) fish, d) aerobic respiration prokaryotes, e) mammals, f) fermenting prokaryotes, g) organic polymers, h) photosynthetic prokaryotes, i) reptiles, j) invertebrates