Function of DNA, RNA, and amino acids
- How life (amino acids) formed?
- A) Miller-Urey experiment
- B) Panspermia
- i) meteorites
- ii) Comet
- How genetic material formed?
- A) DNA vs RNA
- B) RNA world and evidence
- C) Ancient Virus World
- Who was first life: Achaeans, cyanobacteria or LUCA (evidence for each)
Proterozoic - Proterozoic Atmosphere
- A) role of cyanobacteria
- B) The Great Oxygenation Event
- C) Huronian Glaciation/Snowball Earth
- i) how was it generated?
- ii) how did earth get out of it?
- Who are the first eukaryotes?
- Prokaryote vs Eukaryote
- A) Differences
- B) Theory on how we moved from prokaryotic to eukaryotic
- i) Evidence
- C) Importance of Eukaryotes in the history of life
- First craton?
- A) Name
- B) Where is it located now?
- C) The Great Unconformity
- First supercontinent?
- Cryogenian Ice Age/Snowball Earth
- A) Evidence
- B) Cause
- C) Why did it end?
- First Metazoans/Multicellular Life
- A) Ediacarian Fauna
- B) Possible ways to move from unicellular to multicellular
Taxonomy - Taxonomic classifications
- A) Correct order: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
- B) Difference between domains Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya
- Biological Species Concept and Problems
- How to read and make a cladogram
Cambrian Explosion - Burgess Shale Fauna
- A) Significance
- B) Pikaia
- Escalation and coevolution
- Possible scientists: Gould, Vermeij, Sepkoski
Cambrian Period - Cambrian reef builders
- A) who are they
- B) why are reefs important
- Trilobites
- Brachiopods vs Bivalves
- A) Differences
- B) Importance of Cambrian substrate revolution
- Chordates
- A) Pikaia
- B) Jawless fish
Natural Selection and Evolution - Importance of sexual reproduction
- Darwin vs Lamarck (must know)
- Epigenetics
- What is required for evolution
- A) genetic variation
- B) limited resources
- C) carrying capacity
- D) mate selection
- Possible scientists: Weismann, Wallace, Malthus, Franklin
5 Mass Extinction Events (we’ll only get to the first two before the exam) - Ordovician Mass Extinction Event
- Devonian Mass Extinction Event
-Causes
-Who went extinct/why
