History of Life on Earth

The Earth is around 4.5 billion years old. The planet we call our home has undergone a series of
geological and biological challenges that have changed not only its landscape but also its inhabitants. The
geological time scale is the record of the life forms and geological events in Earth’s history. At present,
we are in the Holocene epoch of the Quarternary period of the Cenozoic era of the Phanerozoic eon.

The Earth’s geological life may simply be subdivided this way:

1. The Precambrian life, composed of the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic Eras, started more than
550 million years ago. This covers 88% of the Earth’s history.
It started with the planet’s creation 4.5 billion years ago from dust and gas orbiting the Sun and
ended with the emergence of complex, multi-celled organisms 4 billion years later.

It is during this time that the Earth was transformed from a ball of gas and dust to liquid rock
enveloped with gases mostly composed of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and sulfur. The molten rock
cooled down to form the Earth’s crust. The Earth became more conducive to life and allowed
single-celled cyanobacteria to exist.

The earliest life of Precambrian biota includes tiny, sessile, soft-bodied sea creatures. Fossils of
the oldest animals with hard body parts were discovered. Until this discovery, most scientists
believed that therebwas no animal life prior to the Ediacaran period. They believe that animals
may in fact have evolved during the Cryogenian period.

The latter part of Precambrian life, the Proterozoic era, was greatly affected by the movement of
the tectonic plates forming the supercontinent Rodinia. The Earth’s core and atmosphere cooled
and brought about the Ice Ages. The production of oxygen of the primitive cyanobacteria caused
change in chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere resulting in the killing of many
species of bacteria and protists due to higher concentration of oxygen. New types of organisms
evolved using adaptations enabling them to survive the presence of oxygen. 

2. The Paleozoic era known as “Old Life”, started more than 540 millions of years ago and lasted
for more than 300 million years. This era is divided into 6 geologic periods: Cambrian,
Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian. 

This era began with a breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia into continents Gondwana and
Laurentia.

Gondwana and Laurentia were continents located near the equator that subsumed much of the
current-day landmasses in a different configuration. Sea levels were very high and as Paleozoic
progressed, glaciations created a cool global climate.

During the latter half of the Paleozoic, the landmasses began moving together. Eventually, a
single supercontinent, called Pangaea, was formed in the latter third Paleozoic. Glaciations began
to affect Pangaea’s climate, affecting the distribution of animal life.
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 During the Paleozoic Era, around 550 million years ago, the continent Gondwana formed. Both Gondwana and
the continent Laurentia were located near the equator.

The Cambrian period ushered the most massive occurrence of evolution and divergence of the
species. This period marked the most rapid evolution of new animal phyla and animal diversity in
Earth’s history. 

These fossils belong to trilobites, extinct arthropods that appeared in the early Cambrian period, 
525 million years ago, and disappeared from the fossil record during a mass extinction at the end of the Permian
period, about 250 million years ago.

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 The periods that followed the Cambrian are marked by further animal evolution and the
emergence of many new orders, families, and species.

During the Ordovician period, plant life first appeared on land mostly closely related to modern
day mosses called the bryophytes. 

By the Silurian period, vascular plants had spread through the continents. Continual changes in
temperature and moisture due to continental plate movements encourage the development of new
adaptations to terrestrial existence in animals such as limbed appendages in amphibians and
epidermal scales in reptiles.

Towards the latter part of the Paleozoic Era, the largest mass extinction occurred in history
wiping out all marine animal species and land animals. Lower sea levels when the continents
were rejoined as Pangaea(convergent boundary), increased volcanic activity(ash and dust), and
climate changes are the possible causes of the mass extinction event during this era.

3. The Mesozoic Era or “Middle Life”, started around 245 million years ago and lasted for 180
million years. It is divided into 3 periods: Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods.

Movement of the tectonic plates was milder during this era and created a passive continental
margin in the Atlantic coastline. 

By the end of the era, the continents had rift into their present form. Laurasia became North
America and Eurasia, while Gondwana split into South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica
and the Indian Subcontinent.

During the Triassic period, Pangaea still formed one massive supercontinent. Pangaea
experienced major temperature swings and was covered in large swaths of desert.

The Jurassic period saw a rise in sea levels which flooded coastal regions and hastened the break-
up of the supercontinent, with more coastlines warmer, more stable temperatures, and a wetter
climate.

The Cretaceous Era, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere had risen, trapping the planet’s heat
resulting to a hotter planet.

Known also as the era of the dinosaurs, Mesozoic era’s predominant animals were the reptiles
because of their ability to withstand drier climates. Small birds and mammals also thrived
because they are warm-blooded and had feathers or hair to protect them from changing climate.
Gymnosperm were most abundant during this era because their seeds were protected to endure
the dry weather. 
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The Cretaceous period ended with a mass extinction event brought about by the collision of an
asteroid or comet with Earth.
Edmontonia was an armored dinosaur that lived in the late Cretaceous period, 145.5 to 65.6 million years ago.

4. The Cenozoic Era or “Recent Life” started 65 million years ago and continues up to the present
time. It is divided into 3 periods: Paleogene, Neogene, and Quarternary. The world’s great
mountain ranges were built during this era. The formation of these ranges contributed to the
cooling down of the climate in this era.

As the climate changed, animals had to adapt to the rise and fall of the oceans caused by the
melting glaciers.

Also known as the Age of Mammals, where mammals began to increase and evolve adaptations
that allowed them to live in many different environments- land, air and sea.

It was also this timethat the first hominids appeared. Early modern humans did not emerge until
the Pleistocene epoch. The Cenozoic era was affected by a major extinction event that occurred
between 10 000 and 8 000 years ago. This event, which involved the sudden disappearance of
many Ice Age mammals has been linked to either 2 factors: climatic change following the melting
of the most recent Pleistocene glaciers or overkill by Paleolithic hunters.

The diversity that characterizes our present flora is associated with expansion and adaptive
radiation of the angiosperms that began during Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era. 

As climatic differentiation increased, flora became more adaptive. Deciduous angiosperms came
to predominate in colder regions, whereas evergreen varieties prevailed in the subtropics and
tropics. Grasses also increased and provided a food source for grazing animals allowing them to
increase in population.

Mass Extinction
Changes in the environment often create new niches(living spaces) that contribute to rapid speciation and
increased diversity. 
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Cataclysmic events such as volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes that obliterate life can result in
devastating losses of diversity.
Such periods of mass extinction have occurred repeatedly in the evolutionary record of life, erasing some
genetic lines while creating room for others to evolve into the empty niches left behind.

The end of the Permian period and Paleozoic Era marked the largest mass extinction event in Earth’s
history. Some of the dominant phyla in the world’s oceans disappeared completely. On land, the
disappearance of some dominant species of reptiles made possible for new line of reptiles to emerge, the
dinosaurs. 

Another mass extinction event occurred at the end of Cretaceous period bringing the Mesozoic era to an
end. Skies darkened and temperatures fell as a large meteor impact and tons of volcanic ash blocked
incoming sunlight. Plants died, herbivores and carnivores starved, and most cold-blooded dinosaurs ceded
their dominance of the land. Mammals radiated into terrestrial and aquatic niches once occupied by
dinosaurs and birds. The appearance and dominance of flowering plants created new niches for insects as
well as for birds and mammals.

Changes in animal species were promoted by a shift in Earth’s geography as continental plates slid over
the crust into their current positions leaving some animal groups isolated on islands and continents or
separated by mountain ranges or inland seas from other competitors. New ecosystems appeared with the
evolution of grasses and coral reefs. Further extinctions followed by speciation occurred during Ice Ages
that covered high latitudes with ice and then retreated leaving new open spaces for colonization.

By studying the Earth’s geological timeline, we will be able to trace the processes by which fossils and
living organisms have evolved since the time that life appeared and until the present day. Both the
likeness and the differences between all present-day organisms indicate the presence of a common
ancestor from which all known species have originated and diverged from through the process of
evolution.