CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Answer the following questions:

1. Name & describe the major events in the history of life on Earth. Use the table below.

MILLION YEARS
ERA PERIOD MAJOR EVENTS
AGO
Photosynthetic prokaryotes
appear. Filling of ocean basins;
first evidence of life;
4600 - 540 PRECAMBRIAN oxygenation of the atmosphere.
Additional multicellular form
quickly follows. Life existed only
on the seas.
During this period, incredible
radiation of species was
Cambrian
540 existing. There is also a large-
scale global warming.
This period started with a major
extinction event that is called as
Cambrian-Ordovician extinction
510 Ordovician event. During this period, a
diverse marine life species
developed and first plants
species grew on the land.
During this period, many
biologically significant events
happened. In the oceans, it
includes general radiation of
crinoids, a continued
430 Silurian proliferation and expansion of
450 - 245 the brachiopods and this was
the time where oldest coral reef
fossils are found. The climate
during this time is stable and
warm.
During this period, two major
animal groups populated land
masses. First tetrapods or land-
living vertebrates were born.
First terrestrial arthropods also
Paleozoic 400 Devonian existed such as wingless insects
and earliest arachnids. This
period is also known as the Age
of Fishes since during this
period, many species of fish
spawned.
Carboniferous During this period, it has
 experienced glaciations, low sea
level, and mountain building
when the continents collided to
form the supercontinent
Pangaea. There are some
marine and terrestrial extinction
event. And during this period
360 there is an appearance of first
extensive forests on Earth
which removed huge amount of
carbon dioxide which leads to a
surplus of oxygen but at the
end of the period, a collapsing
Carboniferous rainforest
happened due to climate
change.
This is the last period of
Paleozoic era. This period was
shut down by the largest mass
extinction ever happened on
Earth. During this period, the
emerging of the Pangaea
Permian
285 showed severe extremes of
climate and environment due to
its large size. In the south, it
was arid and cold. Many of the
region were frozen under ice
caps.
245 - 65 Triassic Violent volcanic eruptions
happened during this period.
Triassic period is the start of
Mesozoic era and a desolate
time in the Earth’s history.
Climate change also happened
during this period. 90% of
Earth’s species have become
extinct due to a fatal run-in
245 with an asteroid or comet.
Triassic period happened after
the Earth’s worst extinction; a
Permian-Triassic extinction
event happened during this
time. It is also known as the
Great Dying and was one of the
most significant events in the
history of the Earth. It is also
the period wherein the
dinosaurs spawned that is why
 Triassic Period is the rise of the
dinosaurs.
During the Jurassic period, the
Pangaea split apart. Laurentia
was introduced and it is the
northern half. It was split into
landmasses that eventually
formed North America and
Eurasia. During this period,
there are many living largest
land animals including the
Jurassic dinosaurs, the gigantic
sauropods which are
Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus,
Apatosaurus. There is also an
herbivorous dinosaur that
includes the plated
Mesozoic 200
stegosaurus. The period was
known as warm, and has a wet
climate which made a lush
vegetation and abundant life.
During this period, dinosaurs
are still present. This period
gave birth to the Tyrannosaurus
Rex which thrived as a top land
predator until the dinosaurs
were wiped out. During the end
of the period, such plants
dominated the Earth. There are
Cretaceous
Willow, grape, elm, birch,
laurel, oak, and maple. Grass
also appeared together with the
sequoias of California. Insects
also appeared including a form
140
of the dragonfly and the others
are similar to the insects we
have today.
65 - Present Tertiary Tertiary period is the start of
Cenozoic era. This has begun
with a meteorite that slammed
into the Earth and became the
Cenozoic reason why many of the species
65 on Earth were shut down. A
mass extinction during this
period happened and it is
known as Cretaceous-Tertiary
extinction event. This period
witnessed the evolutionary
 expansion of not only mammals
but also flowering plants, birds,
corals, insects, deep-sea
organisms, marine plankton,
and mollusks especially snails
and clams. Tertiary period is
the rise of mammals.
This period is famous for many
cycles of glacial growth. An
extinction of many species of
large mammals and birds also
happened during this period.
And this period is the reason
Quaternary why there are humans in
today’s world. During this
period, the spread of humans
happened. Quaternary has two
2.0
epochs, which is Pleistocene
and Holocene. We are in the
Holocene epoch.

2. It has been suggested that the current time should be made into a different period. In
other words, it should not have been part of the Holocene Period due to extreme
changes man has made to the Earth. If you were a scientist tasked to give a name to
the period of today, what name would you give it and why?

- If I were a scientist that would be given a chance to give a name for today’s period,
I will name it as Technocene. We are all aware that this period of time has the
advancement of technologies and technology is used by almost all of living things
today not just humans. Even other living things use technology, I mean that we
humans use technologies to animals, plants, and other living species. Technologies
made lives easier, this period became the rise of different technologies that is why I
would like to name it as Technocene.

3. What would you say is the driving force behind changes in populations of organisms
across periods of time? Why?

- I think the driving force to the changes in population of organisms is the different
extinction events happened during the different periods of time of Earth. Many
extinction events have happened in the history of our planet and these events have
caused extinction in species which really affects the population here on Earth. For
example, there are periods that completely wiped out species. One of the examples
is the dinosaurs, during that event the population in Earth have decreased since
dinosaurs all died due to the meteorite impact. Other example is in every period,
there are species that are spawning. With those examples, that explains changes in
population of organisms.