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ERS111: Lecture 10
Life, Evolution and Death

In this lecture we will cover:
• Why do fossils occur?

• When did life on Earth begin?
• The Cambrian Explosion
• Life on land
• Dinosaurs and the evolution of feathers
• The evolution of mammals
• Mass extinctions
Fossilisation
The process of turning biological material (e.g. bone)

into minerals.
Includes moulds (e.g. footprints), casts (e.g. replaced

structures), amber, petrifaction or carbonisation.
Why do fossils occur?
• Commonly in
water
• Low energy
• Low oxygen
• Protected from
scavengers
• Buried quickly
• Groundwater flow
through sediment
• Not buried too
deep, or deformed
After burial, water flowing
through the sediment / rock
exchanges ions with the
bone/shell to form a
mineralized replacement of
the fossil
Environments with good fossilization potential
Environments with poor fossilization potential
Less than 0.1% of species
through time have likely left
fossil evidence – missing links
Soft bodied organisms

even less likely – as are
terrestrial organisms
How have we made any
progress towards
understanding evolution?
Relying on dedicated work by
palaeontologists by studying
modern life forms
Iguanodon
progress towards
Life tends to follow

patterns and rules
progress towards
Areas with exceptional

fossilization – lagerstätte
(storage place)
The Cambrian Explosion
At 541 Ma, a mass extinction event destroyed the Ediaca
biota – and created the Cambrian Explosion
Why?
Post Snowball Earth?
Limited environment?
Predator/ prey arms race?
A rapid evolutionary surge
The Burgess Shale –
a lagerstätte from
~508 Ma
Discovered in 1909
and at the time
provided the earliest
evidence of many
modern day phylum.
Crucially, some of the earliest

examples of Chordata – animals
with a backbone.
Pikaia – up to 5cm long; swam
like an eel; must have had a
backbone
Hallucigenia – 3.5 cm long

worm-like, with protective
spikes
Possible early example

of sexual dimorphism
Nectocaris – a primitive
cephalopod?
Opabinia and Anomalocaris – Predatory arthropods up to

1m (!) long
So what was it about the start of the Cambrian
that made this surge in evolution?
• Change in mode of living from sessile or benthic

to mobile, nektonic and predatory, and bigger
planktonic organisms
• Rapid expansion of available ecological niches –
and an evolutionary rush to fill them
• Predator / prey arms race – eyes and sight
• Change in ocean water chemistry
• Formation of an ozone layer?
Many modern phylums can trace a possible ancestor to the
Cambrian explosion – including humans
Most successful organisms were Arthropods, Molluscs and

Brachiopods – dominated fossil record since their evolution
Diversity and longevity
of phylums since the
Cambrian explosion
Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian
For most of the start of the Palaeozoic, life was limited

to oceans
Cambrian to Ordovician marine life

Ordovician to Silurian marine life

The age of the Fish

“Fish” is a completely
useless word
(biologically)
Haikouichthys, an early vertebrate – 518 Ma
By the Devonian
Period, the oceans
were dominated by
groups of primitive
“Fish” including early
sharks
Evolution of
tetrapods – first true
land vertebrates
Evolved from fish in

late Devonian (~360
Ma)
Huge change in
lifestyle
Mostly amphibian-
like lifestyle through
to Carboniferous
Life on
land in the
Silurian
~350 Ma
As the diversity of
plant life on land
grew, so did the
diversity of
terrestrial animal life
420 Ma
428 Ma
Early Devonian – dominated by small,

spore producing plants
Mid Devonian – Ferns and horsetails
evolve; vascular plants dominate
Late Devonian – First proto-trees
appear; huge diversification in size
and nature of plant life
By the carboniferous,
forests dominate the planet
Huge decrease in
atmosphere CO2
from Devonian
onwards – led to
climate change and
mass extinction?
Reef building
organisms almost
completely extinct;
vertebrates barely
affected
Formation of Pangaea
in the Permian
Change from temperate,

wet forests to arid
scrubland and desert
Thicker skin; heavier

skeleton; entirely
terrestrial – still
‘amphibian’ though
The first true reptiles appear in the early Permian (~300

Ma) – defined by a hard (or leathery) egg shell with a
waterproof membrane. Spilt into 2 pathways:
Synapsids – all modern day Sauropsids – includes all

mammals modern reptiles and birds
Sauropsids to dinosaurs to
avians
The sauropsids split at
~300 Ma – true dinosaurs
appear at ~240 Ma; after
the Permian-Triassic mass
extinction
Crocodiles and dinosaurs
diverge at same time as
first appearance
Dinosaurs were the dominant

animal type for around 175 Ma
Dinosaurs Birds
Archaeopteryx is one of
the earliest discovered
examples of feathers on
a dinosaur
Why did feathers
evolve?
As a method of
display?
To assist in the catching

of prey?
As insulation from
cold?
Flight doesn’t require feathers –
Pterosaurs evolved in the late
Triassic – convergent evolution
with bats
So how did birds evolve to fly?

Microrapter
Hoatzin chick
Hoatzin
The Terror Birds of the early
Tertiary
A Cretaceous bird – the

sort of link between
dinosaurs and modern
birds
The Age of the Birds – the Palaeocene
Did the dinosaurs really become

extinct at the end of the Cretaceous?
Outcompeted by
mammals in the late
Palaeocene – how?
Synapsids in the Permian
Dominant group of
mammal-like reptiles in
the Permian
Non-mammalian
synapsids (early Permian)
Therapsids (mid to late

Permian)
Cynodonts (late
Permian)
Note the fur
Synapsids to proto-mammals
Permian – Triassic
extinction event
decimated land organisms
Archosaurs – group that

became Dinosaurs,
Crocodiles and birds
Vs
Cynodonts – group that
became mammals
Why did Archosaurs “win”?

Cynodonts to mammals
Mammals are defined
by:
• Live young + fed with
milk
• Warm blooded and
furry
• Placenta
Mammals in the Mesozoic
To survive, mammals adapted – smaller, nocturnal,
temperature regulation, hearing + smell + night vision
Typical Cretaceous
mammal – small,
probably nocturnal,
adaptive
‘True’ mammals
probably appeared
in the Jurassic
The post-Dinosaur world
How could life survive

such a huge event?
Survival in the KT extinction
What mammalian traits meant that some species survived

the KT extinction?
Mammals into the Tertiary
Within ~10 Ma of
extinction of
dinosaurs – huge
expansion in
diversity of
mammals
The early Tertiary (known as

the Palaeocene and the
Eocene) was the warmest the
world had ever been (maybe)
Included in this
diversity were a small
group of tree dwelling,
squirrel-like mammals -
primates
55 to 65 Ma
25 to 30 Ma
~15 Ma
The strange forms of Mammals
The strange forms of Mammals
Evolution of cats
Cats are part of a Family called Felidae (lions, tigers etc.)
and appeared approx. 30 million years ago.
Before this, the first cat-like mammals appear approx. 50

million years ago, and split into several Families
Evolution of cats
Just 10,000 years ago
there were saber-
toothed cats roaming
North America, Cave
Lions in Europe and giant
Tigers in Asia
The domestic
cat is one of a
number of
species to
“evolve” as a
direct result of
human
intervention
Marine mammals
Cetaceans represent a very different group of mammals
How and when did mammals make the switch to a marine

lifestyle?
Marine mammals
The oldest
recognized
Cetacean is ~50 Ma
A more aquatic
lifestyle is seen by
~45 Ma
Entirely aquatic by ~40 Ma

Marine mammals
By ~40 to 35 million years ago, huge whale-like cetaceans
existed
A very rapid
evolution from
mostly land
based to entirely
marine in just 10
million years
Key points to know:
• The conditions needed to create fossils

• The times in Earth’s history where large leaps in
evolution occurred – and why (Cambrian explosion,
the evolution of reptiles, birds and mammals)
• What impact or effects were caused to, or by, climate
Readings
• Essentials of Geology – Interlude E (Memories of Past

Life: Fossils and Evolution)
• Portrait of a Planet - Interlude E (Memories of Past
Life: Fossils and Evolution)

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ERS111: Lecture 10

Life, Evolution and Death

• Why do fossils occur?

The process of turning biological material (e.g. bone)

Includes moulds (e.g. footprints), casts (e.g. replaced

Soft bodied organisms

Life tends to follow

Areas with exceptional

Crucially, some of the earliest

Hallucigenia – 3.5 cm long

Possible early example

Opabinia and Anomalocaris – Predatory arthropods up to

• Change in mode of living from sessile or benthic

Most successful organisms were Arthropods, Molluscs and

For most of the start of the Palaeozoic, life was limited

Cambrian to Ordovician marine life

Ordovician to Silurian marine life

The age of the Fish

Evolved from fish in

Early Devonian – dominated by small,

Change from temperate,

Thicker skin; heavier

The first true reptiles appear in the early Permian (~300

Synapsids – all modern day Sauropsids – includes all

Dinosaurs were the dominant

To assist in the catching

So how did birds evolve to fly?

A Cretaceous bird – the

Did the dinosaurs really become

Therapsids (mid to late

Archosaurs – group that

Why did Archosaurs “win”?

How could life survive

What mammalian traits meant that some species survived

The early Tertiary (known as

Before this, the first cat-like mammals appear approx. 50

How and when did mammals make the switch to a marine

Entirely aquatic by ~40 Ma

• The conditions needed to create fossils

• Essentials of Geology – Interlude E (Memories of Past

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