ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
OF LIFE
UNIT 5
1. ORIGIN OF LIFE
THEORY OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION
• Proposed by Aristotle.
• This theory states that life appear from innanimate objects.
• Scientist such as Francesco Redi questioned this theory and Louis Pasteur
in the 19th century refuted it.
Redi´s
experiment
Pasteur´s experiment lead to spread the biogenesis principle:
“life comes from life”
THEORY OF PANSPERMIA
• This theory was developed in the 5th century, however it grew in
popularity in the 20th century when organic matter, including fosilised
bacteria and primitive DNA, was observed in the analisis of certain
meteroites.
• I has not yet been proven that bacteria could survive the extreme
conditions of a journey through space.
OPARIN-HALDANE THEORY
• It was proposed by Aleksandr Oparin and John Haldane.
• According to their hypothesis, the primitive oceans contained a large
amount of disolved organic compounds, forming what is known as the
“primordial soup”.
• The American chemists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey supported this
hypothesis by performing an experiment that recreated the Earth´s primitive
atmosphere.
This theory suggests that life developed over several stages:
2. EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY EVIDENCE
• It is based in the comparative study of the organ morphology of living things
and fossils.
Analogous organs
Homologous organs
Vestigial organs: organs that have lost their original function in the course of
evolution.
EMBRYOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
• The great similarity between the
embryos of all vertebrate groups,
suggests all vertebrates have a
common origin.
PALENTEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
• The fossil record shows differences between organisms that correspond to
different geological periods.
• Fossils of organisms that are
intermediates between two groups of
livings things have intermediate
characteristics between both groups.
Archaeopteryx
litographica
BIOGEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE
• There are notable differences between living things occupying land masses
that were separated 200 million years ago, while those that live in placed that
were separated relatively recently (50 million years ago) are much more
similar.
BIOCHEMICAL OR MOLECULAR EVIDENCE
• All living things are made up of the same bioelements and biomolecules.
• The greater similarity between proteins and nucleic acids of different
organisms, the greater evolutionary relationship between them.
3. THEORIES OF EVOLUTION
A little bit of history……….
LAMARCKISM
DARWINSM OR THEORY OF EVOLUTION
BY NATURAL SELECTION
Charles DARWIN (1809-1882)
o Se enrola en el Beagle para dar la
vuelta al mundo entre 1831-1836. Se
lleva el libro de su amigo Lyell.
o No se atrevió a publicar sus ideas hasta
20 años después, cuando sus amigos
Lyell y Hooker lo empujaron.
o Con 10 capítulos escritos, recibe una
carta de Alfred R. WALLACE con una
teoría idéntica a la suya. Juntos
publicaron el artículo –resumen
conjunto (1858)
o En 1859, Darwin publica “Sobre el
origen de las especies…”
Principles of Darwinism:
NEO-DARWINSM OR SYNTHETIC THEORY OF EVOLUTION
Alternatives to synthetic theory: PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM OR
SALTATIONISM
• It was proposed by American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002)
• This theory states that in evolution, there are short periods in which
evolutionary changes occurs very rapidly, followed by other longer periods in
which the different forms remain stable.
• Evolution seems to ´jump´ from one species to another without intermediate
species.
4. MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION
❑ The theories of evolution explain the great diversity of organisms on Earth, as
well as the changes that can be observed in them throughout history.
❑ There are 2 mechanisms of evolution: the genetic variability and natural
selection.
GENETIC VARIABLITY
NATURAL SELECTION
5. CONSEQUENCES OF THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
The key consequences of the evolutionary process are: the organisms´ adaptation
to their envirnment, the speciation and the increase in biodiversity.
ORGANISMS´ ADAPTATION TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT
SPECIATION OR THE APPEARANCE OF NEW SPECIES
INCREASE IN BIODIVERSITY
6. HUMAN EVOLUTION
• The process of becoming human has been as following:
✔ A common ancestor to reptiles adquire the hability to produce milk to
feed their babies and mammals appears (180m.a.)
✔ A group of mammals starts living in the trees and primates appears
(65m.a)
✔ A group of primates move swingging from tree to tree (braquiación) and
the first hominoideos appears (23m.a)
✔ A group of hominoideos leave the trees and hominidos appears (4m.a)
✔ A group of hominidos starts making tools and the man appears (2.2m.a.)
6.1 THE HOMINISATION PROCESS
The hominisation process is the evolutionary acquisition of the traits human from
their ancestors: bipedalism, increase in cranial volume, development of lenguage,
diversification of diet, etc…
BIPEDALISM
It´s the hability to walk and balance the body upright on the rear legs.
❑ These feature involves considerable anatomical modifications:
An “S-shaped” spinal column
Spinal column inserted in the base of the cranium
Large hip bones
Forward-facing feet
Powerful calves and abdominal and gluteus muscles.
INCREASE IN CRANIAL VOLUME AND COMPLEXITY OF
BRAIN
❑ A progressive increase in cranial volume con
be noted in the evolutionary line of humans.
❑ Increase in cranial volumen + reduction in
width of hips difficult labor
❑ Emotions, concentration, memory…. INTELLIGENCE
❑ Development of the lenguage
6.2 HISTORY OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
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