5. Mulitcellularity arose in the fossil record about 1.2 bya. Ediacaran fauna sh

ID: 72079 • Letter: 5

Question

5. Mulitcellularity arose in the fossil record about 1.2 bya. Ediacaran fauna show up in the

fossil record about 575 mya and the Cambrian explosion occurred 565 mya. What hypotheses

are there to explain the lack of diversification in multicellular life between this time span?

6. What are some major differences between Ediacaran fauna and those of the Cambrian

explosion?

7. About 500mya life emerged from the oceans to cover land. Place the following in the correct

sequence of which group likely colonized land first and give an explanation of why each

proceeded the former: animals, plants, fungi.

8. Define how each of the following helped shape the diversity and distribution of organisms

we see on Earth today: continental drift, mass extinctions, adaptive radiations.

9. Explain the importance of studying developmental genes to understand how species evolved.

10. In your own words, discuss what it means to say that evolution is not goal oriented? Some

food for thought, consider the following statement: Bacteria have been evolving on Earth for

billions of years yet compared to vertebrates; they are simple single celled organisms,

evolution must have left them behind.

5. There are several hypotheses. Two of them are: -

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