History of life the sci-fi novel!

http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/alien/alien_evolution.html

1. What hook does the author use to capture your attention?
Shoshana Tobias the author uses a well written science fiction story to set up a small glimpse into a huge problem /mystery. He provides you with the story of a future scientist seeking to find out why a planetary colony just up and left. This was a great use of imagination and evolutionary theory and fact, it captures your curiosity.

2. How could you adapt this hook in your own case study?
This would be a fantastic style of hook to pull my readers into the story of how the extinction of the dinosaurs could have taken place. The method I’m introducing it the huge meteor that hit the earth and force the dinosaurs to extinction in one fell swoop.

3. Answer the questions at the end of Part I and Part II of this case study.

Part 1

1) What was the late Pre-Cambrian environment like on Earth?
In the late pre-cambrian environment there was a very low amount of oxygen, That soon rapidly changed with the new introduction of abundant plants due to the plants ability to provide a great deal of oxygen production, it is because of this rapid change that new multi-cellular life formed.

2) What were the Ediacaran organisms like and how were they adapted to their environment?
The Ediacaran were soft bodied multi-cellular organisms that lived in the oceans and other bodies of water, they did not have shells like their future ancestors did.

3) How is Earth’s Pre-cambrain similar to P-L5’s initial environment and organisms?
In both the pre-cambrain stage of evolution on Earth and the evolution on P-L5, we can see the rapid introduction of oxygen to the atmosphere as well as the existence of soft bodied organisms in the water. Both environments seem to be on very similar evolutionary paths though P-L5 could be doing it in a more pronounced and faster time line.

4) What was the “Cambrian Explosion”?
The Cambrian explosion was a period in time when earth’s environment underwent a rapid change, there was an explosion of multi-cellular organisms that covered and diversified life on earth. Before this time there was little more than unicellular organisms. This was also when the first sexual reproduction and complex life forms came into existence. (Woohoo!!, organisms started getting it on, this is when the real fun began.)

5) How did the environment and organisms change and adapt during the “Cambrian Explosion”?
The environment and the life within those environments adapted quickly, the environment we being now filled with oxygen at a very fast rate perhaps starting a Ozone layer, and the organisms started to grow in numbers and complexity. The sexual activity was fast and the adaptation and mutation to life followed that trend.

6) What causes lead into the “Cambrian Explosion”?
The causes that lead to the “Cambrian Explosion” are as follows:
-More oxygen in the atmosphere making it easier for organisms to grow and develop.
-Sexual reproduction caused complexity to take place in life, thus making way for rapid adaptations and population growth.

7) Could any of those Earth conditions have been mimicked on P-L5? How?
Yes, I believe that a great deal of these things happen on the P-L5 planet, Jay the researcher made note of the fact that the planet had received a great deal of oxygen in preparation of the new inhabitants thus providing a very similar atmosphere to that of a forming earth, next he goes on to discover both sketches of a soft bodied organism much like the first ones known to form here on earth. Finally we can start to see the rapid evolutionary change happening in the soft bodied organism with the new hard bodied organism (more complex).

8) Assuming that this alien planet was going through an Alien “Cambrian Explosion” that mimicked Earth, what do you think will happen next?
In the case that P-L5 is in fact having its own “Explosion” then there will start to be a abundant amount of new complex sea life, that will in the years to come become land animals as well.

Part 2

1) How were the Ediacaran organisms adapted for their environment?
They were soft bodied multi-cellular organisms, they adapted by growing a hard shell and craws thus gaining greater protection and mobility.

2) What major changes were occurring in the environment around the time of the “Cambrian Explosion”?
-Atmospheric oxygen
-the glaciers began to melt and deposit sediment rich in nutrients. (Some of the building blocks for the rapid complexity)
-Sexuality formed (paving the way for biodiversity)

3) Which of these changes were affected by the organisms themselves; which were purely geological trends?
The increase in oxygen levels can be traced to the cyanobacteria, but the glacial deposits can be seen as solely a geographical trend happening around the time of the explosion.

4) On P-L5, humans changed the environments in the ways mimicking the forces on early Earth. Do you really think that “Earth-like” animals would have evolved again? Why or Why Not?
Yes, I believe that this could very easily happen again if given the same environment, It kind of goes on the thought that we can many times replicate the same exact result to a experiment if we do everything the same. The only part that I’m not sure about it the pace in which the changes to the planet had been happening.

5) Assuming that this planet was undergoing an “Alien Explosion” similar to the “Cambrian Explosion” on Earth, what would you expect to evolve next?
Well according to the now known history of life the next step would be complex sea life, including some very large predators. From there we would see these sea creatures make their way onto land and start on their way to becoming complex dinosaur like animals. (Big legs little arms)

6) Is the planet safe for colonization? Why or Why not?
Taking that one day they will be confronted with animals bent on eating everything in sight it might be a good plan to find somewhere else to live, but if they would want to build up some defenses and compounds then I think it would be a fantastic place to live. Can you image being able to watch the earth’s history happen in real time. SOOOOO COOL!!!

Info taken from:
The Divisions of Precambrian Time
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/precambrian/precambrian.html
Life of the Vendian
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/vendianlife.html
Learning About the Vendian Animals
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/critters.html

Zimmer 2010, Lighting the Cambrian fuse

1.What hook does the author use to capture your attention?
This author like many other uses a introduction to the historically famous scientist Charles Darwin, Because of his work in the theory of evolution it can draw people into seeing what if anything has been proven different or the same as his works.

2. How could you adapt this hook in your own case study?
I believe this hook could only really be useful to me if I was to first find some of his work that I could agree with or disagree with. Due to the nature of my topic and it information only really becoming clear in the last hundred years or so I’m not sure Darwin would of had much information to theorize with.

3. Compare Zimmer’s hook to the one Tobias used in “Alien Explosion” in a table. Both hooks are useful
I would prefer Tobias hook, just because it causes you to think and theorize on your own before being presented with any kind of information and then once you are given the information you can see how it all fits within the story you have just embarked on with the writer.

4. What is a phylogeny? (You’ll probably have to look the word up on the internet)
A phylogeny is the evolutionary development of a particular group of organisms or the higher taxonomic grouping, sometimes in a family tree. (dictionary.com)

5. Over what time frame did the Cambrian Explosion occur?
510 -580 million years ago.

6. Why was the Cambrian Explosion so remarkable?
It was remarkable because it was a time of extremely rapid evolution, life and over all complexity. The rate of diversification and populations growth was unlike anything that has ever taken place on earth since.

7. Outline some of the triggers that might have led to the Cambrian Explosion.
-increase atmospheric oxygen
-ocean’s chemistry changed
-soft bodied organisms started mating