Biology 1307 Exam I Study Guide – Origin & Diversity of Life, Microbes
Origin and Diversity of Life
1. How old is the earth? 4.6 billion years old
2. When did the first prokaryotic cells appear? First eukaryotic? 3.8 & 2.7 billion years ago
3. Be familiar with the three hypotheses for the origin of life discussed in class.
1. Oparin-Haldene (Miller-Urey soup) 2. RNA World 3. Metabolism-first
4. What was the Miller-Urey Experiment? What were its results? Why was it significant?
Primordial soup made organics found in cells
5. Who was Carolus Linnaeus and what did he contribute to our understanding of what a species
is?
Started morphology and Created binomial nomenclature
6. Who is Ernst Myer and what did he contribute to our understanding of what a species is?
Biological Species concept: Isolated groups that breed and fill a niche
8. When does the biological species concept NOT work?
Fossils, asexual, fine line, ring species, hybrids
9. How do new species originate?
Isolation + Evolution
10. What is reproductive isolation?
Prevented from breeding
11. What are examples of pre-zygotic barriers?
