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Life, 4/e

Ricki Lewis, University of New York at Albany
Mariëlle Hoefnagels, University of Oklahoma
Douglas Gaffin, University of Oklahoma
Bruce Parker, Utah Valley State College

The Origin and History of Life

Testing Your Knowledge

1. About how soon after the earth formed did life first appear, according to fossil evidence?

2. Cite a chemical and a geological reason why life may have originated in as short a time as 10 million years.

3. What chemical elements had to have been in primordial “soup” to generate nucleic acids and proteins?

4. Cite four reasons why RNA or a similar molecule is a likely candidate for the most important biochemical in the origin of life.

5. List the major life events of the five geological eras.

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Additional Questions

1. What role did hydrolysis and dehydration synthesis play in chemical evolution and the origin of life?

2. What roles might clays and minerals have played in the origin of life?

3. Cite two examples of unusual circumstances leading to extensive fossilization.

4. List in the order of their appearance:

a. Lobe-finned fishes, crinoids, tetrapods.

b. Neanderthals, Australopithecus afarensis, Dryopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus.

c. Cycads, algae, flowering plants.

5. What is the difference between a hominoid and a hominid?

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18.1 How Might Life Have Originated?

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18.2 Highlights in the History of Life

18.3 The Age of Mammals

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