ORIGIN OF BIOSPHERE

Cards (17)

  • BIOSPHERE - The region on, above, and below the Earth's surface where life exists. Includes all living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) organisms.
  • ABIOGENESIS - Suggests that life initially developed from nonliving materials
  • Theory of Spontaneous Generation • Some animals were spontaneously created from non-living substances
  • “Primordial Soup” • Alexander Oparin (1900s) • Simple elements -> complex elements • Amino acids
  • Jean Baptiste Lamarck: Theory of Use and Disuse - If the environment changes, behavior will change.
  • Lean Baptiste Lamarck - Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics • Changes in anatomy are inheritable
  • Charles Darwin - Geographic location was a determining factor for characteristics of species.
  • “Survival of the fittest” • Coined by Herbert Spencer • All descendant of a progenitor are modified
  • FOSSIL RECORD - Provides clues on how creatures evolved, how the environment changed, and how creatures are related to one another. Through Radiometric dating
  • FOSSIL RECORD - The number of species known about through fossils is less than 1% of all species that have ever lived • Romer’s Gap
  • MILLER-UREY EXPERIMENT - Simulation in 1953 that attempted to replicate the conditions of Earth’s early atmosphere and hydrosphere
  • HYDROTHERMAL VENTS - Similar to geysers or hot springs. Occur along mid-ocean ridges. As pressure builds, it dissolves minerals and rise towards the surface. Seawater becomes super heated by magma.
  • Black Smokers - Emit the hottest, darkest plumes • High in sulfur
  • White Smoker - Emit cooler plumes • Rich in Barium, Calcium, and Silicon.
  • SeepsVents with even cooler and weaker flows“Shimmery” due to temperature or bubble due to gases such as carbon dioxide
  • PANSPERMIA - Suggests that life came from outside Earth. Carried to Earth via meteoroids or other space bodies.
  • PANSPERMIA:
    Heavily debated
    • No signs of life elsewhere.
    • Bacteria should be coming from nearby space bodies
    • Space is hostile to life