Historyoflife Histor of life Pleasegetoutnotesfromlasttimewellfinishthe Pl t t t f l t ti ll fi i h th slidesonsympatricspeciation Todaysquestions: 1. HowcanwestudyevolutionsGreatestHits? 1 H t d l ti G t t Hit ? 2.Whyiscorroboratingevidencefromindependent 2 Wh i b i id f i d d sourcesofdataimportant?

Thebasicformofthetetrapod limb:
Four legged, for land mammals.

Hypothesis:thetetrapod li b H h i h d limbevolvedfrom l df

the lobes of the lobe finned fish.

Fossillimbsfromlobefinned fishandearlytetrapods Whichhavethebasictetrapod limbpattern?

Whichhavedigits?(howmany?) hi h h di i ? (h ?)

Whichswam?Crawled? Walked?

Phylogenyofearly h l f l tetrapods,basedon skullcharacters. skull characters Dothesedatasupport thehypothesis? Whyorwhynot?

Independentsourcesofdataprovidecorroboratingevidence d d fd d b d 1.Thegeologicrecord/timescaleestablishedtheagesof sedimentsandotherrocksrelativetoeachother sediments and other rocks relative to each other Youngerrocksaredepositedontopofolderrocks Lavasandsedimentaryrocksareoriginallylaiddown horizontally(tippingorbendingoccurslater) Rocksthatintrudeintoseamsorcracksareolderthan thehostrock Cobblesorotherfragmentsareolderthanthehostrock Earlierfossilformsaresimplerthanmorerecentforms; recentformsaresimilartoextantspecies

Specieswithlobedfinsarefoundinolderstrata(rockbeds) thanspecieswithlimbs.Dothesedatasupportorconflict withthefinstolimbshypothesis?Explain.

Support because you expect the fins to show up first and be older since it's an ancestral (basal) trait.

2.Radiometricdatingestablishedtheabsoluteagesofthe d d bl h d h b l f h fossilbearingrocks 1. Ratioofparenttodaughterisotopewhenrockformed (e.g.initially,volcanicrockshavenoargon40;itisagas thatbubblesoutofmagma) 2.Decayrate(e.g.rateatwhichpotassium40decaysto argon40)measuredinhalflives 3.Currentratioofparenttodaughterisotope(e.g. amountofpotassium40relativetoargon40) amount of potassium 40 relative to argon 40)

Radiometricdatingisbased Radiometric dating is based onakeyassumption.What isit?

That the isotopes behaviors doesn't change over time?

Specieswithlobedfinsarefoundinrockswitholder absoluteagesthanspecieswithlimbs.Dothesedata supportorconflictwiththefinstolimbshypothesis? support or conflict with the fins to limbs hypothesis? Aredatafromrelativeandabsolutedatingindependent? Are data from relative and absolute dating independent?
The data is relative.

3.Associatedfossilsandthenatureofthehostrock df l d h f h h k supportthehypothesisofanaquatictosemiaquaticto terrestrialtransition terrestrial transition Rockslaiddowninaquaticenvironmentsaredifferent thanrockslaiddowninterrestrialenvironments; h k l id d i i l i Findfossilsofaquaticversusterrestrialorganisms q g (algae,landplants)

4.Comparativemorphologysupportsthehypothesisof h l h h h f homologyinlimbelements

5.Evodevoresearch 5 Evo devo research Studygenesandallelesinvolvedintheoriginofkey synapomorphies ( (morphologicalinnovations) )

The phylogeny in your notes was estimated from skull characters, not fin or limb characters, why is this important? -Otherwise the argument it's circular. -We use skull to have another independent source to help support our thinking.

7.Comparisonswithextanttaxa: h ( ) Modernlobefinnedfish(coelacanths)donotusetheir finstocrawl.Butwhentheyswim,theymovetheirfins inthesamepatternastetrapods movetheirlimbs whenwalking. Modernlungfishcanbreatheairandusetheirfinsto crawlacrossdryingpondsurfaces

Dothesedatasupportorconflictwiththefinstolimbs pp hypothesis?Explainyourreasoning.
If the lobe-finned fish were able to have a walking motion, it might suggest that they are able to develop traits. The fins could be used in a walking motion, so that means they could have been on land and selected for limbs more fit for walking.

Whichofthesesevensourcesofevidencedoyoufind h h f h f d d f d mostconvincing,andwhy?
There is no one piece of evidence that is the most convincing, it's the entire body of evidence that's convincing.

Whydoscientistsstresstheimportanceofdatathatare y p independentandcorroborating?
So it's more reliable. It helps prevent circular reasoning.