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History/Origins/Future
of Energy, Years Ago ~3.5 to 2.7 billion .... The Rise of Oxygenhttp://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_exclusive&task=detail&id=541 ... Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae became the first microbes to produce oxygen by photosynthesis, perhaps as long ago as 3.5 billion years ago and certainly by 2.7 billion years ago. ... ~ 3.43 billion
.... Ancient rocks (Stromatolites)
'built' by microbes: ~3.2 billion .... Ancient oil points to 'cradle of life'http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/864777.stm ~2.7 billion
.... Eukaryote Ancient rock points to
life's origin ~2.4 to 2.3 billion .... The Rise of Oxygen Snowball Earth Culprit Found? http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_news&task=detail&id=1671 "... cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae) suddenly evolved the ability to break water and release oxygen [in climate- impacting amounts] about 2.3 billion years ago. Oxygen destroyed the greenhouse gas methane that was then abundant in the atmosphere, throwing the global climate completely out of kilter. ..." ~2 billion .... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4685389.stm
~800 million .... Precambrian http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/precambrian.html "... About 800 million years ago, oxygen levels reached about 21 percent and began to breathe life into more complex organisms. The oxygen-rich ozone layer was also established, shielding the Earth's surface from harm- ful solar radiation. ..." ~750
to 570 million ....
Paleomap project -
detailed maps with continental ~700
million ....
...The earliest
multicelled animals that survived the Pre- Keys to evolution of
all life ...
Repeat of the reference
to a comprehensive An Origin of Species: Tree of Life web
project: Naturalistic Origins and Evolution of Life (expanded to 4 of 4 on 031909  )http://prohuman.net/science/evidence_for_evolution_1_of_3.htm http://prohuman.net/science/evidence_for_evolution_2_of_3.htm http://prohuman.net/science/evidence_for_evolution_3_of_3.htm http://prohuman.net/science/evidence_for_evolution_4_of_4.htm "Intelligent Design advocates (i.e., the latest phase in the evolution of creationists/ goddidditists) seem to be steadfastly com- mitted to dismissing out-of-hand the prepon- derance of evidence for evolution against the extreme lack of evidence for 'goddiddit' or 'aliensdiddit' ..." Evolution? 'It's not only a theory. It is a historical fact, evident and provable.' (1 of 2) http://prohuman.net/science/evolution_evident_provable.htm "... 'The proof comes from fossils, geographical distribution, genetics' ... Links/excerpts to some helful information regarding evolution's past/ present/future, science, and how the scientific method is a superior methodology when it comes to open-minded search for verity ..." Evolution? 'It's not only a theory. It is a historical fact, evident and provable.' (2 of 2) http://prohuman.net/science/evolution_evident_provable_2.htm "Charles Darwin ... Sir David Attenborough discusses how Darwin helped shape his career ... What evidence supports evolution through natural selection? ... Why Evolution Is True ..." The Woodstock of Evolution http://prohuman.net/science/woodstock_of_evolution.htm "... 8 key highlights of some of the fascinating information contained in the article: 1) Darwin was a Creationist before he developed the theory of evolution 2) Origin of Life (on Earth) -- 3 sources 3) Origin of Life (on Earth) -- what we know and what we don't know yet 4) Origin of Life (on Earth) -- what came first, cells or RNA 5) Extinctions 6) Intelligent Design Creationism 7) Sex 8) Science's Greatest Strength ..." Intelligent Design versus Evolution http://prohuman.net/science/intelligent_design_versus_evolution.htm "... 'Intelligent design is just a way for creationists to put a new face on their beliefs and agenda and to try and get around legislation on the separation of church and state.' ... 'Why Evolution is True' ..." Charles Darwin, a Hero of Humankind, born 200 years ago http://prohuman.net/science/darwin_hero.htm "February 12, 1809, a monumental day in the evolution of humankind from ignorance and myth -to- a much deeper understanding of the place of homo sapiens and all life in a naturalistic world. ..." Richard Dawkins: The Importance of Charles Darwin Richard Dawkins: Fossils & Darwin Richard Dawkins: Why Darwin Was Right Richard Dawkins: Creationism Richard Dawkins: God & the Universe ~600 to ~580 million .... Fossil may be ancestor of most animals http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5112628/ "... The earliest known ancestor of most animals may have been a minute creature shaped like a flattened helmet and barely visible to the naked eye, according to a new fossil discovery. ... The researchers named the new animal 'Vernanimalcula', or 'small spring animal', referring to the fact that it lived after a 'wintry' period of extensive glacia- tion. This photomicrograph shows a cross-section of the newly discovered animal fossil from 580 million-year-old to 600 million-year-old rocks in south China. The creature would have been barely visible to the naked eye ..."
~580 million .... Acraman asteroid impact, South Australia: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3721/is_200307/ai_n9258635/ ~542 million to ~488 million .... Cambrian Period 542 Million to 488 Million Years Ago http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/cambrian.html "The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era, produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known. The Cambrian Explosion saw an incredible diversity of life emerge, including many major animal groups alive today. Among them were the chordates, to which vertebrates (animals with backbones) such as humans belong.
What sparked this biological bonanza isn't clear. It may be that oxygen in the atmosphere, thanks to emissions from photosynthesizing cyanobacteria and algae, were at levels needed to fuel the growth of more complex body structures and ways of living. The environment also became more hospitable, with a warming climate and rising sea levels flooding low- lying landmasses to create shallow, marine habitats ideal for spawning new life-forms. ... the scale of the Cambrian Explosion is likely exag- gerated due to the proliferation of hard-bodied animals that fossilized much more readily than their soft-bodied precursors. ... the 530-million-year-old Chengjiang fossil bed in China, where scientists found the remains of two differ- ent types of tiny, jawless fish. Representing the oldest known backboned animals with living relatives, the fossils showed that our vertebrate ancestors entered the evolutionary story ... The end of the Cambrian saw a series of mass extinctions during which many ... ani- mals went extinct. ..." The Cambrian Explosion http://www.pbs.org/kcet/shapeoflife/episodes/explosion.html "... during a 10 to 20 million year stretch of time, beginning about 540 million years ago, life evolved at an explosive rate. Scientists call the period the 'Cambrian Explosion'. ... by the end of the Cambrian explosion, all of the eight major animals body plans in existence today, along with 27 minor ones, had emerged. ..." Biological Big Bang http://www.pbs.org/kcet/shapeoflife/episodes/explo_explo1.html "... Before the Cambrian, genes were only able to control the production of simple animals, such as sponges and jellies. During the Explosion, assem- blages of animal genes may have evolved sufficiently to direct the production of more complex groups of creatures -- animals with heads, brains, arms and legs. It's possible as well that during the Cambrian, the waters' oxygen levels increased. And finally, the Cambrian Explosion might have happened because of the development of a biological arms race that continues to this day. As more animals appeared and the food web diversified, the pressure to adapt to increasingly competitive predator prey interactions may have dramatically amplified the evolutionary response. ..."
Click-drag virtual reality display of continental drift resulting in the assembly of the super-continent of Pangea, from ~540 to ~240 million years ago: http://www.scotese.com/pzanim.htm ~530 million .... Walking With Monsters -- Part 1 of 9 Early Earth-Moon / Cambrian / Silurian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Monsters#Episode_one "The first episode begins with an illustration of the giant impact hypothesis: ... when the Earth was formed, it is conjectured that a planet-like object referred to as Theia collided into the early Earth, dynamically reshaping the Earth and forming the moon. ... Cambrian Place: the Chengjiang biota, China — Oxygen Content: 30% Below Today — Hazards: World's First Super Predator [featured in this part]
~514 million .... View of the earth in the late Cambrian: http://www.scotese.com/newpage12.htm ~510 million .... Odd looking (to us, anyway) soft body creatures present, as evidenced by an impressive fossil find in the Burgess Shale (of the Canadian Rockies). Detailed graphics/descriptions of continental drift and evolution of life from ~510 million years ago to the current day: http://www.handprint.com/PS/GEO/geoevo.html ~505 million .... The backbone evolves in the form of jawless fish; mass extinction of marine life; marine animals develop hard shells (trilobites, crustaceans, and corals). ~500 million .... Green algae (plant ancestors) start a green revolution from sea to land; anthropods (insects) follow them. ~488 million to 443 million .... Ordovician Period 488 Million to 443 Million Years Ago http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/ordovician.html "... a rich variety of marine life flourished in the vast seas and the first primitive plants began to appear on land, before the second largest mass extinction of all time ended the period.
... Life at the start of the Ordovician remained confined to the seas with new animals evolving in place of those that didn't survive the Cambrian. ... Fish started becoming more widespread in the fossil record. They were small and had downward-pointing, jawless mouths, indicating they lived by sucking and filtering food from the seabed. Bony shields covered the front of their bodies—the begin- nings of a fashion for armor plating among fish. ... hard-bodied arthropods started eyeing opportunities on land. Edging into freshwater and shallow lagoons, they likely included horseshoe crabs, which, despite their name, are more closely related to spiders and scorpions. A few species of these 'living fossils' still survive today, such as along the eastern seaboard of the United States, where each spring horseshoe crabs crawl ashore to spawn. There is also evidence that the first primitive plants began to appear on the previously barren land. These first steps toward life on land were cut short by the freezing condi- tions that gripped the planet toward the end of the Ordo- vician. This resulted in the second largest mass extinction of all time, wiping out at least half of all marine animal species about 443 million years ago. ..." ~458 million .... View of the earth in the middle Ordovician: http://www.scotese.com/newpage1.htm ~455 million .... Plant & fungi kingdoms evolve on land. ~445 million .... ~445 million year old giant trilobite discovered near Manitoba, Canada: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_964000/964027.stm ~443 million to 416 million .... Silurian Period 443 Million to 416 Million Years Ago http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/silurian.html "... animals and plants finally emerge on land. ... The growth of corals and other marine organisms was stoked by oceans teeming with tiny planktonic creatures. Waiting at the other end of the food chain were the fearsome eurypterids, or sea scorpions. Some species grew to more than six feet ... in length and are considered the largest arthropods ever to have lived.
... Fish were now diversifying and extending their feeding options beyond simply vacuuming meals off the seabed. ... spiny sharks, evolved more menacing mouths with jaws. While these fish, the first true jawed fish, reached no great size during the Silurian, they were on their way to becoming one of the planet's top predators. Creepy-crawlies also began to appear on land. Starting off small, they measured no more than a few centimeters long. These terrestrial pioneers were arthropods, such as primitive centipedes and arachnids, the ancestors of spiders. The first true plants began to take root on land some 430 million years ago. They evolved rigid stems, enabling them to stand upright, and the tubular tissues common to all vas- cular plants that allowed the transport of water and nutrients. These first colonizers lacked leaves, but mosses and other plants followed, providing a thin layer of waterside vegeta- tion that encouraged more aquatic animals to make the transition to land. The climate remained warm and stable throughout most of the Silurian. The supercontinent of Gondwana was still positioned over the South Pole but the vast icecaps of the late Ordovician period melted almost to nothing. Sediments formed from massive quantities of broken shells suggest violent storms were triggered by the warmth of tropical oceans. The Silurian drew to a close with a series of extinction events linked to climate change ..." ~425 million .... View of the earth in the middle Silurian: http://www.scotese.com/newpage2.htm ~418 million .... For the first part of the Silurian video, see the latter part of Part 1 above. Walking With Monsters -- Part 2 of 9 Silurian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Monsters#Episode_one "... 418 Million Years Ago — Silurian — Place: South Wales, UK — Oxygen Content: 30% Below Today — Hazards: Giant Scorpions: [featured in this part]
Devonian Period 416 Million to 359 Million Years Ago http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/devonian.html "... the planet was changing its appearance. The great supercontinent of Gondwana was headed steadily north- ward, away from the South Pole, and a second super- continent began to form that straddled the Equator. Known as Euramerica, or Laurussia, it was created by the coming together of parts of North America, northern Europe, Russia, and Greenland. Red-colored sediments, generated when North America collided with Europe, give the Devonian its name, as these distinguishing rocks were first studied in Devon, England. The Devonian, part of the Paleozoic era, is otherwise known as the Age of Fishes, as it spawned a remarkable variety of fish. The most formidable of them were the armored placoderms, a group that first appeared during the Silurian with powerful jaws lined with bladelike plates that acted as teeth. ... later species developed into fero- cious, fish-slicing monsters measuring up to 33 feet ... long. ... ancestors of fishes living today belonged to two main nonarmored groups. The cartilaginous fish, so-called because cartilage formed their skeletons, later gave rise to sharks and rays. ... The second group, the bony fish, were covered in scales and had maneuverable fins and gas-filled swim bladders for controlling their buoyancy. Most modern fishes are bony fish. The bony fish included lobefins. ... credited with the giant evolutionary stride that led to the amphibians, making lobe- fins the ancestors of all four-limbed land vertebrates, includ- ing dinosaurs and mammals. ... Some lobefins are still around today, such as the famous 'living fossil' fish, the coelacanth.
The first amphibians breathed through simple lungs and their skin. They may have spent most of their lives in the water, leaving it only to escape the attentions of predatory fish. ... Plants began spreading beyond the wetlands ... with new types developing that could survive on dry land. Toward the end of the Devonian the first forests arose as stemmed plants evolved strong, woody structures capable of supporting raised branches and leaves. Some Devonian trees are known to have grown 100 feet ... tall. ... The new life burgeoning on land apparently escaped the worst effects of the mass extinction that ended the Devonian. The main victims were marine creatures, with up to 70 per- cent of species wiped out. Reef-building communities almost completely disappeared. Theories put forward to explain this extinction include global cooling due to the re-glaciation of Gondwana, or reduced atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide because of the foresting of the continents. A major asteroid impact has also been suggested." ~390 million .... View of the earth in the early Devonian: http://www.scotese.com/newpage3.htm ~360 million .... Walking With Monsters -- Part 3 of 9 Devonian / Carboniferous http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Monsters#Episode_one "... Devonian — Place: Pennsylvania, USA — Oxygen Content: 20% Below Today — Hazards: Giant Killer Fish: [featured in this part]
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