Evolution in Action

Theo-Idiocracy

2009-12-31T20:28:00.000-08:00

American politico's usurp religion to garner votes, while pandering to the rigid morality of the religious right (the religious wrong).

However, USian religiosity has other negative consequences. The US's degree of religiosity places it alongside nations with functional IQs close to 83. Science education is under threat from creationism, even though most of Europe reconciled religion to the fact of evolution over 1oo years ago. Within the US, a disproportionately high percentage of religious folk refuse to recognize that the Bible is a pseudohistoric allegory and insist on Biblical inerrancy, counter to all known facts that demonstrate that much of the Bible is inaccurate. Because science disproves Genesis, creationists have mounted a campaign to attack the fact of biological evolution in hopes of inserting creationist pseudoscience for dummies in competition with science.

Although the Founding Fathers' intent was that the state could neither establish a religion nor interfere with personal religious beliefs, religion and state are to be maintained distinct. The exigent need is no longer the protection of religious freedoms, but rather to protect political decision making, minority rights, and education from the depradations of religious fundamentalists.

ɷ junk tanks
ɷ Agnostic vs Atheist
ɷ Apologists make Apologies for God
ɷ Creationism only flourishes amidst Ignorance
ɷ Dei Non Existent
ɷ Furor over Stupidity
ɷ Inverse Correlations
ɷ Judge Jones Rules
ɷ Moral Absolutism
ɷ Myths Revered and Myths Exposed
ɷ One Evolution, Many Creationisms
ɷ Statistics on Stupidity
ɷ Spirituality, Religiosity, and Madness
ɷ State must keep Church out of State
ɷ Statistics on Stupidity
ɷ un-designed intelligences = intelligent [sick] design
ɷ The Wedge Document
ɷ We, the Products of Blind Evolution
ɷ YEC yack

π All Concepts are NOT Created Equal
π Black Sheep are Sheep Too
π Anti-Stupidity Quotes
π Behe Retreats
π Free Speech or Propaganda of Hate?
π Myths Revered and Myths Exposed
π Pseudoscience Chicanery
π Rigidity and Religiosity
π Error Filled Belief Systems
π Un-Designed Intelligences

γγ Cartoons
γ Against Theocracy
γ intelligent [sick] design
γ And Man Created . . .
γ Misleading Pseudoscience For Dummies
γ Caught in own Mousetrap
γ Cousinhood

σ Theocratic Threats

This blog is participating in the July 1-4 Blogswarm against Theocracy. First Freedom First is an organization dedicated to separation of church and state, and provides resources, including articles and book recommendations. FFF is NOT a "sponsor" of the Blog against Theocracy blogswarm.

Evolution in Action

2008-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Since the advent of modern molecular genetics, biological evolution has come to be understood as a change in genotype – a genetic alteration in the intergenerational frequency of alleles in populations. However, long before the nature of genes was deciphered, amateur and professional scientists were aware that morphological changes had occurred over time – phenotypic evidence of changes in body structure were observed in the fossil record.

. . . click to enter . . .

The purpose of this site is to present clickable images that will illustrate the branching changes in evolution of bauplans. As such, this will be a work in slow progress limited by my ability to create images.

αΩ Hadean αΩ abiogenesis αΩ LUCA αΩ phylogenetic tree αΩ evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis αΩ geological time αΩ timeline of life αΩ fossilization αΩ Ediacara Biota ▫ site map

tags [Evolution]

Hadean

2008-12-31T23:58:00.000-08:00

Based on radio-dating of meteorites, the solar system is about 4600 Ma (4600 million years), or 4.6 billion years old (Ga). Condensation of the solar system from a large, hot accretion disk occurred about 10 Ga after the Big Bang.

When early Earth was cooling from its molten state, conditions would have been like hell on Earth – hence the term "hadean" for this earliest segment, or eon, of the Precambrian. Meteors rained down on the hot Earth, ultraviolet radiation was unchecked by an ozone belt, and volcanos belched fumes into a reducing atmosphere, which sparked with lightning.

The term "hadean" was coined to designate the time before the earliest known rocks. However, rocks have been found that are older than the time-frame of the Hadean.

Life, of course, had not yet arisen by biopoiesis, but it probably had an earlier start than thought previously.

The Hadean Eon extends from Earth's formation to 3.8 billion years ago (Ga) and is succeeded by the Archean Eon (not to be confused with prokaryotic Archaea), which lasts until 2.5 Ga. The Proterozoic Eon next extends from 2.5 billion years ago to 540 million years ago, and is succeeded by the Phanerozoic ('visible life') Eon.

αΩ Beginning αΩ Geological Time αΩ Ediacara ▫ site map

tags [Evolution] [Hadean Eon]

abiogenesis

2008-12-31T23:50:00.000-08:00

In current biological terminology "abiogenesis" refers to the emergence of life as self-replicating assemblages of organic chemicals able to control chemical energy from non-life assemblages of chemicals. This is the hypothesis that primordial life originated within the first billion years of Earth's history as a result of chemical reactions that generated larger and larger organic polymers, which ultimately attained control of bioenergetics and the property of chemical self-replication. This modern conceptualization is reasonable in view of what is now known of the biochemical basis of all life.

image : joke based on the magic thinking of creationism

poke the can to continue, or proceed directly to fossils

αΩ Beginning αΩ Geological Time ▫ site map

tags [Evolution] [abiogenesis] [biopoiesis]
[Origin of Life]

LUCA

2008-12-31T23:45:00.000-08:00

The earliest life forms (gray '?') were probably in existence at least 4 billion years ago (4 Ga), and, as depicted, would have evolved along different branches.

The last universal common ancestor (LUCA), or universal cenancestor, depicted with a yellow '?' is the prokaryotic organism hypothesized as being at the ancestral root of all living organisms. Not the earliest or simplest living organism, and not necessarily the sole example of its type, this organism possessed the genetic material that diverged (about 3.5 Ga) into all current living organisms. A number of terms are employed to refer to the universal cenancestor – last universal ancestor (LUA), last common ancestor (LCA), or last universal common ancestor (LUCA).

αΩ Beginning αΩ Geological Time ▫ site map

tags [Evolution] [universal cenancestor] [LUA] [LCA] [last universal common ancestor]

phylogenetic tree

2008-12-31T23:40:00.000-08:00

LUCA ultimately gave rise to the prokaryotic Bacteria (Eubacteria) and the Archaea.

Phylogenetic separation into evolutionary relationships (clades), based on comparison of genomes is likely to supplant phenotypical (phenetic) taxonomies of the prokaryotes. Phenetic systems group organisms based on mutual similarity of phenotypic (physical and chemical) characteristics. Phenetic groupings may or may not correlate with evolutionary relationships. The image above left shows a phylogenetic tree of living things, based on 16s rRNA data and proposed by Carl Woese, showing the separation of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes.

Trees constructed with other genes are generally similar to the 16s rRNA tree, although they may place some early-branching groups very differently due to analysis problems arising from long branch attraction. The exact relationships of the three domains are still being debated, as is the position of the root of the tree. It has also been suggested that due to horizontal (lateral) gene transfer, a tree may not be the best representation of the genetic relationships of all organisms.

Long branch attraction (LBA) is a problem in phylogenetic analyses, particularly in those analyses employing the non-parametric statistical method termed maximum parsimony. In LBA, rapidly evolving lineages are inferred to be closely related, regardless of their true evolutionary relationships. This problem in analysis arises when the DNA of two (or more) lineages evolves rapidly. Because there are only four possible nucleotides, high rates of DNA substitution create the probability that two separate lineages will convergently evolve the same nucleotide at the same locus. In such cases, parsimony erroneously interprets this similarity as a synapomorphy, that is, as having evolved once in the common ancestor of the two lineages. The problem of LBA can be minimized by applying statistical methods that incorporate differential rates of substitution among lineages, such as maximum likelihood, or by breaking up long branches by adding taxa that are related to those with the long branches.

A synapomorphy is a derived character-state that is shared by two or more terminal groups – taxa included in cladistic analyses as being units that cannot be further divided. The pertinent character-states in synapomorphy are inherited from their most recent common ancestor.

αΩ Beginning αΩ Geological Time ▫ site map

tags [Evolution] [phylogenetic tree] [evolutionary relationship] [clade] [phenetic] [taxonomy] [domains of life]

evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis

2008-12-31T23:30:00.000-08:00

About 3.5 billion years ago (Ga), LUCA gave rise to the two prokaryotic domains – Eubacteria (more commonly called bacteria) and Archaea (formerly archaeobacteria, commonly called 'extremophiles' because of their persistence in extreme environments).

Oxygenic photosynthesis first arose in the Cyanobacteria at least 2.8 to 2.7 Ga, and gradually converted the Earth's atmosphere from its primordial reducing state. Oxygen is toxic to organisms that lack the metabolic machinery to rapidly utilize oxygen, so coexistent organisms faced the challenge of coping with rising atmospheric levels of toxic oxygen. Serial Endosymbiosis Theory (SET) is a widely accepted, evidence-based theory of cellular evolution that explains the cellular evoluton of eukaryotes through the endosymbiotic union of engulfed bacteria with a precursor eukaryotic cell. The archaeobacteria are more similiar than are eubacteria to eukaryotic cells, so it is believed that eukaryotes sprang from an archaeobacterial eukaryotic-precursor cell.

Symbiotic unions with bacteria capable of oxidative metabolism would have ensured cellular survival in environments with increased oxygen tension (pO2). Serial endosymbiotic transfers ultimately resulted in mitochondrial organelles, while another union with Cyanobacterial cells ultimately resulted in photosynthetic plastids (chloroplasts).

Cyanobacteria are found in the earliest known microfossils, and built large stromatolite reefs, dominating life for more than 2 billion years (~3.5 Ga to ~1 Ga). Modern stromatolites exist in only a few stressed environments on the planet, though Cyanobacteria remain relatively plentiful among the prokaryotes. ∩ Cyanobacteria and stromatolites ∩ Stromatolite structure
∩ Ancient stromatolite reefs ∩ Imaging fossil cyanobacteria ∩ Stromatolite fossils

Stromatolites at Virtual Fossil Museum

αΩ Beginning αΩ Geological Time ▫ site map

tags [Evolution] [evolution of photosynthesis] [stromatolite] [Cyanobacteria] [Serial Endosymbiosis Theory] [SET] [microfossils]

geological time

2008-12-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

Geologists have based geological timelines on significant events in Earth history, as a result the named geological intervals are not of equal length.

Eons are the longest intervals (hundreds of millions of years) and are subdivided into eras, which are further subdivided into periods, and still further subdivided into epochs.
mnemonics

By convention: Precambrian Eons are:
The Hadean Eon, which extends from Earth's formation to 3.8 billion years ago (Ga) is succeeded by the Archean Eon (not to be confused with prokaryotic Archaea), which lasts until 2.5 Ga. The Proterozoic Eon next extends from 2.5 billion years ago to 543 million years ago.

From 543 million years ago to the present geological time is classified as the Phanerozoic (visible life) Eon, and the eon opens with the Cambrian Period.

Geological Society of America time scale - pdf
Geologic Time Scale from International Commission on Stratigraphy
Geologic Time Scale - University of California Berkeley
Geologic Time Scale - US Geological Survey
Paleontology and the Geologic Time Scale - US Geological Survey

PaleoMaps Precambrian Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Early Carboniferous Late Carboniferous Permian Triassic Jurassic Late Jurassic Cretaceous K/T extinction Eocene Miocene Last Ice Age Modern World Future World Future +100 Future +250

αΩ Beginning αΩ Hadean αΩ abiogenesis αΩ LUCA αΩ phylogenetic tree αΩ evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis αΩ geological time αΩ timeline of life αΩ fossilization αΩ Ediacara Biota ▫ site map

tags [Evolution] [geological timeline]

timeline of life

2008-12-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

4.6 billion years ago the sun and planets condensed from a large, hot accretion disk.

Earth's earliest atmosphere of H2 and He was lost to space, and was replaced by a reductive atmosphere with a composition probably similar to outgassing of modern volcanoes – H2O, CO2, SO2, S2, Cl2, N2, NH3, and CH4.

Oxygen levels began to rise after the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis by the Cyanobacteria, which evolved at least at least 3450 million years ago (3.45 Ga) and formed the earliest microfossils as stromatolite reefs.

Computer simulations that examine the effect of oxygen on metabolic networks demonstrate that many of the complex biochemical networks employed by advanced organisms could not have evolved without oxygen. The largest and most complex of these networks require the presence of molecular oxygen. Comparatively smaller, simpler networks encompass anoxic, or oxygen-free, pathways common to all life, from single-celled bacteria to the largest mammals. [n]

As Cyanobacteria poured oxygen into the early atmosphere, horizontal gene transfer probably enabled some prokaryotes to acquire oxygen-metabolizing machinery. There is considerable evidence that the earliest eukaryotes evolved through serial endosymbiosis. Chloroplasts resulted from endosymbiotic transfers of Cyanobacteria, and mitochondria originated from endosymbiotic transfers of alpha-proteobacteria (purple bacteria). Mitochondria are the site of oxidative phosporylation in eukaryotes.

αΩ Beginning αΩ Hadean αΩ abiogenesis αΩ LUCA αΩ phylogenetic tree αΩ evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis αΩ geological time αΩ timeline of life αΩ fossilization αΩ Ediacara Biota ▫ site map

tags [Evolution] [primordial atmosphere] [evolution of oxygenic atmosphere]

fossilization

2008-12-29T23:59:00.000-08:00

The processes of fossilization (taphonomy) preserve evidence of organisms as mineralized or imprinted traces within sediments. Fossils may be altered remains of the actual organism or imprints such as body impressions, trails and footprints, or holes made by burrowing creatures.

(Left - fossilization by various mechanisms with trace fossils at center.)

▼ ammonites : biostratigraphy : creationist fallacies : discovery of fossils : fossilization potential : graptolites : index fossils : lagerstätte, lagerstätten : taphonomy : trilobites ▼

Fossilization potential (FP) is the likelihood that an organism will leave some trace of its existence, and this is increased by:
● hard body-parts (exoskeletons, endoskeletons)
● marine rather than land habitat (longer history of marine life, greater likelihood of burial in sediments)
● possibility of rapid burial by sediment (slides, volcanic ash)
● burial of soft-bodied organisms in fine-grained sediment (imprints)
● anoxic environment at burial (swamps, tar sands, resin, rapid burial under sediment)

● 'mummification' by desiccation, ice
● perfusion of burial site by mineralizing solutions (petrification)

The chances that a particular fossil remain will be discovered by paleontologists and earth scientists depends upon:
● geologic stability of biostrata

● protection of soft body parts from scavengers and decomposition
● erosion of overlying strata
● freedom from permanently overlying snow or ice
● geographic location and accessibility (physical, political, educational)

Index fossils are particularly useful in biostratigraphic correlation of the age of rock formations [diagram, shale fossil index]:
● rapid evolution constricts the timeframe (range) during which a particular species lived, enabling more exact identification of the relative age of strata
● abundant and widespread occurrence relatively unaffected by environment increases the likelihood that the species will have fossilized across different rock strata formed contemporaneously
● easy identifiability aids cross-correlation

Index fossils, or guide fossils include:
● graptolites (Paleozoic)
● trilobites (extinct arthropods from Cambrian to Permian extinction)
● ammonites (cephalopods from Late Silurian or Early Devonian to KT-boundary)
● some corals
● brachipods (Paleozoic)
● some echinoids (e.g., Micraster in Cretaceous)
● conodonts

While a lagerstätte (pl. lagerstätten) is a fossil bed that displays exceptional quality of preservation, the vast majority of organisms that have lived have left no fossilized traces or their fossilized remains will never be uncovered or discovered. The fact that relatively few organisms leave any trace has been twisted by creationists in fallacious arguments against the fact of biological evolution.

◘ biostratigraphy ◘ Timeline Earth Life ◘ Hadean ◘ Archaean ◘ Proterozoic ◘ Phanerozoic

Table Lagerstätten & Biota

Burgess Shale : Canowindra : Chengjiang Lagerstatte : Doushantuo : Florissant formation : Gilboa : Gogo Formation : Grübe Messel : Hunsrück Shale : Holzmaden : Karatau : Lake Turkana : Las Hoyas : La Voulte-sur-Rhône : Liaoning : Ludford Bonebed : Mazon Creek : Monte Bolca : Princeton Chert : Riversleigh Fossil Sites : Rhynie Chert : Santana Formation : Sirius Passet Formation : Solnhofen : Soom Shale : Tlayúa

: WHO'S ON FIRST? A RELATIVE DATING ACTIVITY :

Ediacara Biota

2008-12-20T23:58:00.000-08:00

The supercontinent Rodinia, which was centered at the South Pole, broke apart 750 million years ago. Laurentia, which included the future North America was carried southward and crossed the South Pole, while Baltica and Siberia drifted northward. 600 Ma, 570 Ma, 530 Ma, NA-centric animation

Because so much landmass had been carried toward the poles, much of Earth's land was ice-covered in the Late Precambrian. The Precambrian ended 543 million years ago, by which time diverse multicellular animals had already evolved and fossilized in the oceans.

Animations of Continental Drift from 750 to 540 Mya PaleoMap Project : from 750 Mya to present :

The Ediacara Biota, or Ediacaran Assemblage, named for the Ediacara Hills of South Australia, has been uncovered at more than 30 sites worldwide on all continents except Antarctica. The biota includes oval, frondose, and spindle-shaped forms of unknown affinity to later organisms.

Based on shared taxa in various localities, the fossil locations dating from the Vendian can be assigned to three groups:
(1) Newfoundland (Mistaken Point Formation) and Charnwood Forest, UK.
(2) Ediacara Hills (SA), Baltica, Siberia (White Sea) and NW Laurentia.
(3) Namibia, SW Laurentia, S. America and S. China.

The assemblage comprises marine life forms with fossils dating from the Vendian, which is the latest period of the Precambrian, to the basal Cambrian period of the Phanerozoid Eon – 620 to ~543 Ma. Thus, the Vendian assemblages comprise the oldest known fossils of multicellular organisms. Undoubtedly, multicellular organisms evolved well before their fortuitous fossilization in deposits that have since become exposed. Many of these soft-bodied creatures went extinct during the Cambrian "explosion", but some members of this biota, including primitive worms, survived. [more, images, images, images ]

Images of fossils : Charniodiscus arboreus : Aspidella terranovica : Dickinsonia costata : Parvanorina minchami : Spriggina floundersi :

Descriptions & images of fossils White Sea Region of Russia : Cyclomedusa : Charnia : Eoporpita : Nemiana : Pteridinium : Ediacara Hills of South Australia : Arkarua : Dickinsonia : Dickinsonia sp : Spriggina : Spriggina sp : Tribrach : Kimberella : Mawsonites sp : Medusinites sp : Glaessnerina sp : Charnia sp :

Atheism in Action

1990-01-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

Gray Matters
Adeistic
Avidity
Eine Kleine Nattermusing
eMusings
eVolition
Galaria
Godspell Follies
MetaThoughts
Mimble Wimble
Naturalism
Neologisms
palimpsest
Sechuam
Sintheist
Tabula Flexuosa
Weltschauung

associated

1990-01-01T01:00:00.004-08:00

Associated science sites • Abiogenesis and Evolution • Algorithms of Evolution • Archea Eubacteria • Cancer • Cell Biology • Complex Systems • Cyanobacteria • Diagrams Tables • Endosymbiosis • Enzymes • Evo Devo • Evolution in Action • Fat • Geology • Glossary • Immunology • Life Chemistry • Medical Science • Mechanisms of Evolution • Molecule • Molecular Biology • Molecular Paths • Neurosciences • Organics • Origin of Life • Paleogeology • Pathways • Photosynthesis • Protein • Receptor • Rocks & Minerals • SET • Signaling • Sleep • Stem & Progenitor Cells • Stromatolites • Taxonomy Phylogeny • Tissue • Virus •

And some philosophy/general interest sites: Avidity : Eine Kleine Nattermusing : eMusings : Galaria : Godspell Follies : Harper's Folly : Mimble Wimble : Sintheist : Tabula Flexuosa :

ooo

1990-01-01T01:00:00.003-08:00

• Abiogenesis and Evolution • Algorithms of Evolution • Archea Eubacteria • Cancer • Cell Biology • Complex Systems • Cyanobacteria • Diagrams Tables • Endosymbiosis • Enzymes • Evo Devo • Evolution in Action • Fat • Geology • Galaria • Glossary • Godspell Follies • Harper's Folly • Immunology • Life Chemistry • Medical Science • Mechanisms of Evolution • Mimble Wimble • Molecule • Molecular Biology • Molecular Paths • Organics • Origin of Life • Paleogeology • Pathways • Photosynthesis • Protein • Receptor • Rocks & Minerals • SET • Signaling • Sleep • Stem & Progenitor Cells • Stromatolites • Tabula Flexuosa • Taxonomy Phylogeny • Tissue • Virus •

oo

1990-01-01T01:00:00.002-08:00

site map

1990-01-01T00:10:00.000-08:00

αΩ In the Beginning ▫ Evolution in Action ▫ Hadean ▫ abiogenesis ▫ LUCA ▫ phylogenetic tree ▫ evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis
αΩ Geological Time ▫ Hadean ▫ geological time ▫ timeline of life
αΩ Ediacara ▫ Ediacara Biota
▫ site map