8.4 Life on Earth

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Cell formation and its significance in the evolution of life on Earth	Fossilisation
Evolution of living things	Abundance and diversity of fossils
Theory of evolution	Organisms and their environments
Understanding the origins of life and processes involved in evolution	Understanding organisms and environments of the past

Geology 105 History of Life - brief notes on Origins of the Earth and Life, Precambrian Life, Paleozoic Life and Mesozoic Life from San Francisco State University
http://www.es-designs.com/geol105/

Introduction to Exobiology - from Duke University including Miller/Urey Experiments and Possible Sites for the Origin of Life
http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/Exobiology/

Astrobiology and the Origins of Life - from Access Excellence
http://www.accessexcellence.org/BF/bf02/awramik/bf02a1.html

The Tree of Life Web Project - a collaborative web project, including the Life on Earth (Archaea)
http://tolweb.org/tree/

Scientists find clues that the path leading to the origin of life begins in deep space - an article on current research findings from NASA
http://web99.arc.nasa.gov/~astrochm/vesicle.html

The Emergence of Cells During the Origin of Life - prize winning essay, from AAAS Science Magazine
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/314/5805/1558

NASA Astrobiology Institute - from NASA
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/

Fingerprints of Life - classroom activity from NASA JSC Astrobiology Education
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/websites/astrobiologyeducation/index.html

What is Astrobiology? - from NASA JSC Astrobiology Education
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astrobiology/biomarkers/

How Did It All Begin? The Self-Assembly of Organic Molecules and the Origin of Cellular Life (1 of 4) - from Understanding Evolution, University of California Museum of Paleontology
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/resources/readings_deamer.shtml

Creatures from the Black Lagoon: Lessons in the Diversity and Evolution of Eukaryotes (1 of 5) - from Understanding Evolution, University of California Museum of Paleontology
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/resources/readings_dawson.shtml

The X-Treme Files - a WebQuest from The Astrobiology Curriculum, TERC
http://astrobio.terc.edu/xtreme/intro.html

Astrobiology in Your Classroom: Life on Earth ... and Elsewhere - a 60 page Educators Resource Guide in pdf with activities for grades 5 - 10 from NASA Astrobiology Institute
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/library/downloads/ERG.PDF

The Astrobiology Curriculum: A Integrated Inquiry-based Curriculum - from TERC, inlcudes Extreme Life Card Game, investigates extremophiles, download in pdf
http://astrobio.terc.edu/Activities/activities.html

Astrobiology - The Living Universe - includes section on Chemosynthesis: A Theory for the Chemical Development of Life
http://www.ibiblio.org/astrobiology/index.php

Evolution of the Atmosphere: Composition, Structure and Energy - from Global Change, The University of Michigan
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/samson/evolution_atm/index.html

Earth's Early Years: Differentiation, Water and Early Atmosphere - from Global Change, The University of Michigan
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/first_billion_years/first_billion_years.html

The Emergence of Complex Life - from Global Change, The University of Michigan
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/complex_life/complex_life.html

The Beginnings of Life on Earth - an article published in American Scientist
http://www.americanscientist.org/articles/95articles/cdeduve.html

Christian deDuve Lectures on the Origins and Evolution of Life at UCSD - from Access Research Network
http://www.arn.org/docs/news/deduveUCSD040501.htm

Rocks give clues to origin of Earth's oxygen and life - breaking news from SpaceFlight.now
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0008/04o2life/

Oldest rocks contain oxygen clues - from BBCNews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/864344.stm

Primodial air may have been 'breathable' - from CSIROnline
http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Prpisoliths

How It All Started - from Griffith University
http://trishul.sci.gu.edu.au/courses/ss13bmm/chronometer_partA.pdf

From Primordial Soup to the Prebiotic Beach - this page from Access Excellence also contains some useful links
http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/NM/miller.html

Amino acids are created in laboratory - at A Science Odyssey
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/do53am.html

Miller-Urey Experiment - from Scott Ellis, University of California San Diego Television
http://scottellis.net/personal/resume/portfolio/miller/index.html
also available at
http://www.ucsd.tv/miller-urey/

This section was removed from the syllabus in the October 2002 revision.

What is a fossil? from Museum Victoria, includes How are fossils formed? and Determining the age of fossils
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/prehistoric/what/

Fossils - a MinFact from NSW Department of Mineral Resources - on-line or download in pdf
http://www.minerals.nsw.gov.au/minfacts/61.htm

Evolution and the Fossil Record - download this booklet in pdf from the American Geological Institute
http://www.agiweb.org/news/evolution.pdf

Museum of Paleontology - at the University of California, Berkeley with virtual exhibitions on the theory of evolution, history of evolutionary thought, geological time and Metazoa: Fossil Record
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/

Who's on First? A Relative Dating Activity - a classroom activity (student and teacher versions provided) from LEARNING FROM THE FOSSIL RECORD at the Museum of Paleontology, University of California Berkerley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/BarBar.html

Biological Identity of Procaryotes - from University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Bacteriology
http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact303/TheProcaryotes

Australia's fossil past - from Australia's Cultural Network
http://www.acn.net.au/articles/1998/07/fossils.htm

Dinosaur Dreaming - Research from the Monash University Palaeolab
http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/

Yale Researchers Attribute Ancient High Levels of Oxygen In The Atmosphere To The Rise of Trees and Large Plants - press release from Yale University
http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/00-03-06-01.all.html

Koonwarra: A Famous Victorian Fossil Field from Museum Victoria
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/prehistoric/fossils/koonwarra.html

Naracoorte Caves - from Department of Environment and Heritage, SA
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/naracoorte/

Fossils Sites - from Australian Museum on Online
http://www.amonline.net.au/fossil_sites/

Localities of the Vendian: Ediacara Hills, Australia - from the Museum of Paleonotology, University of California, Berkeley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/ediacara.html

Mazon Creek Fossils - from Illinois State Museum - contains plant and animal fossils dated at 300 million years old
http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/mazon_creek/

Burgess Shale fossils - a locality in British Columbia, Canada with a exceptional collection of Cambrian fossils, from University of Calgary
http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/Burgess_Shale/

The Talk.Origins Archives - Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy - a well developed site that explores both sides of the debate
http://www.talkorigins.org/

Anatomy of a Belief System - from University of Texas, Sociology
http://www.la.utexas.edu/course-materials/sociology/soc313k/fl97/beliefs.html

Creation Evidence and Evolution Myth
http://www.matthewmcgee.org/creation.html

Welcome to True.Origin
http://www.trueorigin.org/index.htm

Stories of the Dreaming - Aboriginal stories of the dreamtime including Creation Story, The Two Wise Men and the Seven Sisters and The Two Wise Men and the Seven Sisters story explanation, from Australian Museum
http://www.dreamtime.net.au/

Intro to Archaea - from Pennsylvania State University
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/e/e/ees135/

Major Groups of Procaryotes - from Pennsylvania State University
http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact303/MajorGroupsOfProkaryotes

PROCARYOTES IN THE ENVIRONMENT - from Pennsylvania State University
http://http://textbookofbacteriology.net/environment.html

Triumph of the Archaea - from Biodigest
http://acadprojwww.wlu.edu/vol4/BlackmerH/public_html/xliberty/biology/a6.html

Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve - from NatureBase, WA's Department of Conservation and Land Management Online
http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/national_parks/hamelin_pool_evolution.html

Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve - from NatureBase, WA's Department of Conservation and Land Management Online
http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/national_parks/hamelin_pool_mnr.html

Stromatolite - from the National Museum of Natural History Virtual Tour
http://www.mnh.si.edu/museum/VirtualTour/Tour/First/Early/early2.html

Stromatolites in Western Australia - from Geological Survey of Western Australia
http://www.doir.wa.gov.au/gswa/5324c322356f454e8576ec29791518e2.asp

Early Life on Earth: Stromatolites - from Worldwide Museum of Natural History
http://www.wmnh.com/wmel0000.htm

What are Microbial Mats?? - from NASA's Astrobiology Institute, inlcuding the interactive Microbial Mat and Stromatolite Image gallery
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/students/this_month/index.cfm

Cyanobacteria: Fossil Record - from University of Paleontology, University of California Berkeley, including the Bitter Springs Formation, Australia
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanofr.html

MICROORGANISMS SURVIVE ONE STEP CLOSER TO MARS ENVIRONMENT - a news release from University of Arkansas
http://www.marstoday.com/viewpr.html?pid=4969

Microbes Could Live on Mars! - from Headline Universe
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/headline_universe/methanogens.html&edu=high

Microbial Colony in U.S. Suggests Life Could Live on Mars - from National Geographic News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/01/0116_020116microbes.html

The SLIME Hypothesis (Subsurface LIthotrophic Microbial Ecosystems) - from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
http://www.pnl.gov/slme/SLMEweb.html

Life in Extreme Environments - from WomenOceanographers
http://www.womenoceanographers.org/Default.aspx?pid=28EF75D5-D130-46c0-947E-5CCBC627B0EE&id=MelanieSummit

Exploring of microbial diversity in the deep-sea environments - Japan Marine Science and Technology Center
http://www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstec-e/bio/detal/MPR1.html

Bizarre Creature in Idaho Raises Prospects for Life on Mars - from SpaceNews
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/life_methane_020116.html

Introduction to the Cyanobacteria Architects of earth's atmosphere - from Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanointro.html

Scientists find direct evidence of early oxygen-producing organisms - a report in SciTech from Augusta Chronicle
http://augustachronicle.com/stories/080599/tec_124-4844.shtml

Introduction to the Archaea: Life's extremists. . . - Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/archaea/archaea.html

Life at High temperatures - University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Bacteriology
http://www.bact.wisc.edu/themicrobialworld/LAHT/B1

Domain Archaea - from the Virtual Lab Book, Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC
http://www.sidwell.edu/us/science/vlb5/Labs/Classification_Lab/Archaea/

Classification of living things: An Introduction to the Principles of Taxonomy with a Focus on Human Classification Categories - from Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College
http://anthro.palomar.edu/animal/default.htm

Dichotomous keys - from LucidCentral
http://www.lucidcentral.com/keys/dichotomous.htm

Key to the Invertebrates - and interactive key from CSIRO
http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/key/couplet_01.html

CLASSIFYING AND SEQUENCING: Introduction - This exercise from Activity Exchange at Access Excellence develops dichotomous schemes and keys for both imaginary and real populations
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/ATG/data/released/0182-JimMariner/

Donut Sort - An AskERIC Lesson Plan
http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/quick/eric/donut.html

Taxonomy: What's In a Name? - from Florida Center for Library Automation
http://susdl.fcla.edu/lfnh/currmat/Taxonomy.html

Keys to the pteridophytes of Australia - an interactive key for Australian ferns from the Australian National Botanical Gardens
http://www.anbg.gov.au/projects/fern/taxa/australia_family.html

How to Construct and Use a Dichotomous Key - from the Association for Biology Laboratory Education
http://www.zoo.utoronto.ca/able/volumes/vol-12/7-timme/7-timme.htm

EucaLink: A web guide for Eucalypts - from Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/PlantNet/Euc/index.html

Interactive dichotomous keys - from Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/interactive_keys.htm

Fish Key - from Australian Museum Fish Site
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/students/key/

What is FaunaKeys? - web-based taxonomic tools for easy identification of selected invertebrate and vertebrate groups in New South Wales and Australia, from Australian Museum Online
http://www.faunanet.gov.au/faunakeys/index.htm

Simple Key to Insect Orders - uses Lucid, from University of Queensland
http://www.brightminds.uq.edu.au/thechallenge/whatami/lucid/lucidinsect_middlepage.htm

DNA sequencing: A powerful new tool for the classification and identification of bacteria and fungi - from Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms (BCCM Online)
http://www.belspo.be/bccm/news/4-97/bccm4a.htm

Classification and Phylogeny - in microorganisms, from Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois
http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact303/Phylogeny

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