Geologic time scale

The geologic time scale is a system of chronological measurement that relates stratigraphy to time, and
is used by geologists, paleontologists, and other earth scientists to describe the timing and relationships
between events that have occurred throughout Earth's history. The table of geologic time spans presented
here agrees with the dates and nomenclature set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy,
and uses the standard color codes of the United States Geological Survey.
History and nomenclature of the time scale
In Ancient Greece, Aristotle saw that fossil seashells from rocks were similar to those found on the beach
and inferred that the fossils were once part of living animals. He reasoned that the positions of land and
sea had changed over long periods of time. Leonardo da Vinci concurred with Aristotle's view that fossils
were the remains of ancient life

Evidence of evolution
All observations and discoveries confirm evolution.
Scientists adduce many evidences to support the theory of evolution. Some aspects are still the matter of
controversies and disputes, some are not well understood, but the fact that evolution takes place in nature
is widely and undoubtedly documented.
Like all other theories, the evolutionary theory should lead to testable statements, and ineed it is so.
Evidences of evolution are divided into two groups: indirect and direct.
Direct evidences are fossils
and other paleontological data and examples of evolution that take place now. Biochemistry, genetics,
physiology, comparative anatomy, embryology, biogeography offer indirect evidences.
DIRECT EVIDENCE
fossil - recognizable fragment, or an impression left by an animal or plant preserved in the Earth crust
Formation of fossils
Usually when an organism dies, its body decompose. Fossils formed only if some matter (suspension of
small mineral particles in water, sand, mud, bog, asphalt, volcanic ashes) covered it and protected from
carrion eaters, air, microbes and other. This is why land and soft-bodied organisms fossils are less
frequent.
Types of fossils.
What are the kinds of animal fossils?
In original structure, porest have been filled with minerals. For example: bone filled with calcium
carbonate or silica.
Natural moulds and casts that formed after decomposition of the original tissues. When the hole
was filled by minerals before tissues were resolved or by sediment replicas of the internal structure
were made.
Imprints, like tracks and footprints. For example impression of feathers of Archaeopteryx or
footprints of dinosaurs from Paluxy River.
Also unaltered remains preserved in frozen soil, asphalt lakes, peat bogs. Mamooths bodies from
Pleistocene Epoch discovered in frozen soil of Siberia were such well preserved, that is was
possible to analyse its DNA.
Organisms, mainly insects trapped in resin of ancient conifers hardened into what is called amber.
Fossilzied excrements, called coprolites. They often contain hard parts of digested organisms, such
as bones or fish scales.

 In industralized areas, where lots of dust settle on ground and plants brighly coloured moths are
replaced by dark ones. Bright moths are easy spotted by predators. Dark moths are less visible
and have greater chance to survive (reproduce and transmit this feature to their young).
By using insecticides we cause origin of races of pests immune from what we use. Also amongt
microbes we can observe rise of strains, that are resistant against medicines, such as antibiotics or
sulphonamides.
These occurences are unintended results of human activity. But we also change our environment
intentionaly. These are agricultures and animal husbandries. We select individuals in consideration
of features we need. This is what Darwin called artificial selection. As a result there are now
hundreds of breeds of dogs, cats, pigeons.
Direct evidence is the observation of evolution as it occurs. Indirect evidence is looking for signs of
its results.
Indirect evidence includes all the evidence that this same process of evolution has been occurring
for a very long time (billions of years), and that modern species are related by common ancestry
(e.g. that wolves, foxes, and coyotes, while now separate, non-interbreeding *species* have a
common genetic ancestor). Indirect evidence includes fossil evidence, evidence from radiometry,
stratigraphy, DNA, shared genetics, shared junk DNA, the very existence of junk DNA, proteins,
physical structures, vestigial structures, homologous structures, atavisms, the ways that embryos
develop, biogeography (the distribution of organisms on the planet), the immunity of insects to
pesticides,

Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire
planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate.
In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions support fewer species.
Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions. One estimate is that less than 1% of the
species that have existed on Earth are extant.[1][verification needed]
Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and
sudden drops in biodiversity. The Phanerozoic eon (the last 540 million years) marked a rapid growth in
biodiversity via the Cambrian explosiona period during which the majority of multicellular phyla first
appeared.[2] The next 400 million years included repeated, massive biodiversity losses classified as mass
extinction events. In the Carboniferous, rainforest collapse led to a great loss of plant and animal life. [3]
The PermianTriassic extinction event, 251 million years ago, was the worst; vertebrate recovery took
30 million years.[4] The most recent, the CretaceousPaleogene extinction event, occurred 65 million years
ago and has often attracted more attention than others because it resulted in the extinction of the
dinosaurs..
The term biological diversity was used first by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond F. Dasmann
in the 1968 lay book A Different Kind of Country[7] advocating conservation. The term was widely adopted

only after more than a decade, when in the 1980s it came into common usage in science and
environmental policy. Thomas Lovejoy, in the foreword to the book Conservation Biology,[8] introduced the
term to the scientific community. Until then the term "natural diversity" was common, introduced by The
Science Division of The Nature Conservancy in an important 1975 study, "The Preservation of Natural
Diversity." By the early 1980s TNC's Science program and its head, Robert E. Jenkins, [9] Lovejoy and
other leading conservation scientists at the time in America advocated the use of the term "biological
diversity"
What are the 6 kingdom scheme classification of organism?
Kingdom Eubacteria
Kingdom Archaebacteria
Kingdom Protoctista
Kingdom Plantae
Kingdom Fungi
Kingdom Animalia
Kingdom Classification Table
Kingdom Archaebacteria
Cell Type
Prokaryotic

Cell Parts

Body type

Nutrition
Examples

Eubacteria
Prokaryotic

Protista
Eukaryotic

Fungi
Eukaryotic

Plant
Animal
Eukaryotic
Eukaryotic
Cell wall
Some contain Cell wall
containing
Cell wall not
Cell wall
a cell wall, All containing
cellulose, No cell wall,
containing
containing
contain a
chitin,
Nucleus
Nucleus, and
peptidoglycan, peptidoglycan , nucleus and Nucleus, and
and
membrane
Single
Single
membrane
membrane
membrane bound organelles
chromosome
chromosome bound
bound
bound
organelles.
organelles
organelles
Some
multicellular,
Unicellular
Unicellular
Multicellular Multicellular Multicellular
most
unicellular.
Heterotrophic Heterotrophic
Heterotrophic and
and
and
Heterotrophic Autotrophic Heterotrophic
autotrophic
autotrophic
autotrophic
Ameba,
Ferns,
Mushrooms,
Man, dogs,
Methanogens
E. coli
Paramecium,
grasses,
yeast,
worms
Euglena.
mosses

SEVEN PHYLA OF THE FUNGI

Basidiomycota
o most common, larger species,such as gill fungi, pore fungi, stinkhorns, coral fungi, puffballs,
bird's nest fungi, jelly fungi, rusts, smuts & stem rot
Ascomycota
o mildews, molds, morels

 Zygomycota
o bread molds and such
Glomeromycota
o form mycorrhizae on higher plants
Chytridiomycota
o microscopic, simplest of the true fungi, mostly aquatic and not something we can do much
with in our backyards
Blastocladiomycota
o microscopic parasites and saprotrophs closely related to the above Chytridiomycota
Neocallimastigomycota
o microscopic, live in digestive systems of larger herbivorous mammals
Types Of Algae
Here is a list of the most common types of algae.
Staghorn Algae

Description
Staghorn algae looks like
thick strands that may
branch once or twice until it
ends.
The color is a blue-greengrey and the algae itself
feels slimy to the touch.
Usually grows in high-light
slow moving areas of the
tank.

Black Brush (Beard) Algae

Description

What To Do
Manually remove the threads
with hand, or remove the leaf
they are attached to.
Lower light levels in tank.
Siamensis will eat this.

What To Do

Depending on extent of
growth it could look like small
tufts of black hairs, or a black
carpet (as in the picture).
The strands don't ever get
very long, one centimeter is
the usual size.
It usually forms on slowgrowing plants such as
Anubias, but it can also grow
on gravel.

This is one of the worst

algaes to get rid of. It cannot
be manually removed off a
leaf or other surface, the
entire leaf must be removed.
Siamensis are one of the
only known fish to eat this
type of algae. If you have
space it is highly
recommended to get these
fish as they really earn their
keep.

Description

What To Do

Green Spot is just that,

green spots on the glass or
plant leaves.
It usually doesn't grow in
epidemic proportions (as in
the picture!) and is more of
an aesthetic problem than
anything else.
Faster growing plants will not
succumb to this type of
algae, but slow growers like
Anubias may.

This algae can't be scraped

off with a fingernail. You must
use a razor on glass, or a
scrubby pad meant for acrylic
tanks if you want to take this
off.
Most rasping fish (otocinclus,
plecos) cannot eat this algae
as it is really fused onto the
surface.

Green Spot Algae

Green Thread/Hair
Algae

Image waiting

Description

What To Do

This algae can grow fairly quickly and

within a few days take over a tank.
It is usually in the form of long, wispy
threads that can grow up to 20
centimeters.

This algae can be removed manually,

but it may grow back unless conditions
are improved.
Reduce light levels, and nutrient levels
if necessary.
Some algae eating animals will go
after this, Siamensis , Live bearers,
and even most shrimp.

Green Water Algae

Description

What To Do

Blue Green Algae

A single-celled algae that

floats in the water column.
If it grows well enough it will
soon turn the tank cloudy
with green.

This algae can't be manually

removed except by a diatom
filter.
It cannot be eaten by fish
except small fry and perhaps
water fleas (daphnia).
The best way to get rid of this
is nutrient control of the water
column.
I have dedicated an entire
article to this type of algae
HERE.

Description

What To Do

This is actually not an algae,

but a type of bacteria.
It grows in thick slimy sheets,
under rocks, over gravel, and
can eventually cover
everything in the tank.
Sometimes small portions
grow between the gravel and
the sides of the tank.
It has a "musty" odor.

This stuff can be removed

manually, but it may grow
back unless conditions are
improved.
Excess waste and poor water
quality is usually the fault.
There's no fish that will eat
this stuff.
I have had good luck
manually removing as much
as I could from the tank, and
dosing with Mardel Lab's
Maracyn for 3-4 days.