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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution
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14.1 Biogenesis
1. We currently believe in a principle called biogenesis. Describe what this means.
2. Before this principle what did people believe? (name/explain)
Three scientists are credited with disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
They are named below. Describe their experiments and what they showed.
3. Francesco Redi (1600’s)
4. Lazzaro Spallanzani (1700’s)
5. Louis Pastuer (mid 1800’s)
14.2 Earth’s History
6. About ______ billion years ago, our solar system was a swirling mass of __________
and _____________.
7. What happened to make the planets and how long do scientists think that took?
8. One way to tell the age of something is to use radiometric dating (also called
absolute dating). Some isotopes of atoms have unstable nuclei which undergo
__________________________ ________________; that is, their nuclei release
particles or radiant energy or both. These are called __________________________
_______________________.
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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution
9. The length of time it takes for one ½ of any sample size to decay is called the
____________________ ____________________.
10. One theory of how organic compounds were first made was proposed by Oparin
and Haldane. Explain their theory.
11. Miller and Urey proved Oparin and Haldane’s theory y producing a number of
organic compounds, including ___________________ _______________.
12. An opposing theory states that these organic compounds may have come from
__________________ ________________.
14.3 The First Life Forms
(skip to The First Cells)
13. Many scientists think that __________________ or ________ oxygen gas existed on
early Earth.
14. The first forms of life on Earth were probably similar to archaea alive today.
Archaea are:
 ________________________________ (refers to number of cells)

Thrive under extremely ________________________ environments

Obtain energy by _____________________________. Explain what this is.
15. Some forms of life had become photosynthetic by __________________________
years ago, including ______________________________, a group of photosynthetic,
unicellular prokaryotes.
16. Many scientists think that it took _____________________________ years or more for
oxygen gas to reach today’s levels.
17. Describe how the first prokaryotes might have formed, and what organelles
developed from this process.
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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution
15.1 History of Evolutionary Thought
18. The development of new types of organisms from preexisting types of organisms
over time is called __________________________. Modern scientists also define it
as a heritable change in characteristics within a population from one
generation to the next.
19. A theory is a _____________________________ explanation for that incorporates
many __________________________, _____________________________ and tested
__________________________.
20. What were some of the thoughts scientists had in the 1800’s?
21. If you are looking at a bunch of rock (or strata) layers together, which one is the
oldest? Explain why.
22. A scientists named Cuvier made some important observations:
 Some organisms in the past _______________________ greatly from any
living species and some had become ________________________.

Deeper and ________________________ strata hold fossils that are
______________________________ different from living species.

Many ______________________ changes in the kinds of organisms found in
one rock strata compared to the next.
23. What were his conclusions based on these observations?
24. How did Lyell add to/change Cuvier’s conclusions?
25. Lamarck believed:

that populations or organisms ______________________ over time

that simple organisms could arise from _______________________ matter.
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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution

simple forms of life develop into _________________________ forms.

Individuals could acquire ___________________ during their lifetime as a
result of __________________________ or behavior and pass those traits to
offspring.
26. What did Lamarck call his idea?
27. Who, besides Darwin, came up with a theory of evolution?
28. Describe descent with modification.
29. Explain these four parts of natural selection:

Over production of offspring

Genetic variation

Struggle to survive

Differential reproduction
15.2 Evidence of Evolution
30. What is the Law of Superposition?
31. Define these terms and explain how they are different:

Relative age

Absolute age

How are these two different?
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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution
32. Here are some inferences that can be made from the fossil record:

different organisms lived at __________________________ times.

today’s organisms are __________________________________ those of the past.

fossils found in adjacent layers are __________________ like each other than
organisms that lived in widely separated time periods.

by comparing fossils and rocks from around the world, we can infer
__________________ and __________________ different organisms existed.

Species have differed in a _____________________ ______________________ of forms
over time.
33. What are transitional species?
34. How can you explain that humans, penguins, alligators and bats all have similar
arm bones?
35. Anatomical structures that occur in different species and that originated by
heredity in a recent ancestor are called _____________________________
structures. Give an example.
36. Analogous structures have closely related features, but do not derive from the
__________________ ___________________________ structure. Give an example.
37. _____________________ __________________________ seem to serve no function, but
resemble structures with functional roles in related organisms. Give an
example.
38. How can DNA be used to show organisms are related?
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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution
39. Although modern evolutionary theory can never be “proven,” it is widely accepted
and applied by scientists because it ___________________________ the broadest
range of observations and makes useful _____________________________.
15.3 Evolution in Action
Define the following terms:
40. Convergent evolution
41. Divergent evolution
42. Adaptive radiation
43. Artificial Selection
44. Coevolution
16.1 Genetic Equilibrium
45. In your own words, what is population genetics?
46. Describe how variations in population occur. (There is more than one answer…)
47. All the genetic information in a population is its _____________ _______________.
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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution
48. Over time __________________ frequencies in a population can change
dramatically, but ____________________ frequencies tend to remain the same.
This is referred to as __________________________ ___________________
_________________________ and assumes 5 conditions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Exceptions to this result in evolution of a population.
16.2 Disruption of Genetic Equilibrium
49. How frequently do mutations occur and how do they affect genetic equilibrium?
50. Describe gene flow and how it affects genetic equilibrium (giving an example).
51. Describe genetic drift. How is the size of the population important for the effects
of genetic drift (give an example to illustrate your answer)
52. Many species do not mate randomly. Describe some things (3 are mentioned)
that cause nonrandom mating.
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Ch 14 - 16 Reading Guide: History of Life and Theory of Evolution
Evolution relies on natural selection, which disrupts genetic equilibrium. Describe
each of these means of natural selection and give an example of it in action.
53. Stabilizing selection
54. Disruptive selection
55. Directional selection
16.3 Formation of Species
56. The process of species formation is called _________________________. There are
two different ways to decide if something is a different species:
a. by looking at its internal structures and external appearance, called
_____________________________. What are some limitations to this?
b. __________________________ speciation, where new species can not breed with
the old one. What are some limitations to this?
57. One way that new species develop is through __________________, where two parts
of a population stop breeding.
This can happen in several ways. Explain and give an example of each:
58. Geographic Isolation:
59. reproductive isolation (there’s more than 1 way…the names aren’t
important, though the processes are)
60. Changes in population can happen slowly over time. This is called
___________________________. But sometimes fossil evidence shows changes
happen quickly. This is called _____________________ _______________________.
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