Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 1

HON-3230

Chance, Emergence or Design

Origin of Ecological Environments

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 2

Classification System• Kingdom (Monera, Protista , Plantae, Fungi,

Animalia)• Phylum (Chordata)• Class (Mammalia)• Order (Proboscidea)• Family (Elephantidae)• Genus (Loxodonta)• Species (africana)

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 3

Natural Selection• More offspring produced than those that survive to

reproductive age.

• Heritable variation exists among members of each species.

• Best adapted to get resources most likely to produce progeny.

• Each species becomes well adapted to reproducing in its environment.

• Change in environment may select for other features.

• Isolated populations diverge when placed under different selective pressures.

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 4

Common Ancestry

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 5

Discontinuity

Actual

Punctuated Equilibrium

Darwinian Evolution

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 6

Geological Column• Cenozoic

– Quarternary (2.5 M) Large Mammals– Tertiary (65 M) First primates

• Mesozoic– Cretaceous (145 M) Flowering plants– Jurassic (210 M) Dinosaurs– Triassic (250 M) First mammals

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 7

Geological Column• Paleozoic

– Permian (290 M) Reptiles, large insects– Carboniferous (365 M) Large amphibians, coal

forests– Devonian (415 M) First forests and amphibians– Silurian (465 M) First land plants– Ordovician (510 M) First vertebrates– Cambrian (575 M) Marine shelled invertebrates

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 8

Cambrian Explosion

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 9

Mass Extinctions• Early Cambrian (Marine invertebrates)

• Late Ordovician (Fish)

• Late Devonian (Amphibians)

• Permo-Triassic (End of trilobites)

• Late Triassic (Initiated rise of dinosaurs)

• Cretaceous-Tertiary (Dinosaur extinction)

• Holocene (Humans)

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 10

Biodiversity• # Species (1.5 - 1.8 M)

– Est. 3.6 – 100 M

– Species rate 1 per million years

– 1/2 plants & animals extinct by 2100

• Mass extinction– Biodiversity destroyed

– Disaster species fill habitable spaces

– Lazarus species reappear

– Evolve to full, original variety

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 11

Separation by a Global Flood

• Motility

• Buoyancy

• Ecological Zonation

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 12

Origins by Ariel Roth

Missing LinksSedimentary Deposits

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 13

Evolutionary Evidence

• Homology– Structural

– Biochemical

• Embryology• Fossil Record• Darwin Finches

Steven GollmerCedarville University

Env. Systems: Page 14

Rapid Phenotypic Change

• Hopeful Monster– Rapid evolutionary change in

geological scales.

• Punctuated equilibrium– Eldredge & Gould

• Evo-Devo– Developmental-genetic toolkit– Hox genes– Endless Forms Most Beautiful, S.

Carroll