REFERENCE: The Blue Planet An Introduction to Earth System Science. Brian J. Skinner and Barbara W. Murck (2011) Third Edition. John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Most life on Earth lives within a zone no wider than 20 km.
the general condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms. -Webster s College Dictionary a characteristic of organisms that exhibit certain biological processes such as chemical reactions or other events that results in a transformation. -Wikipedia
METABOLISM The entire set of chemical reactions by which an organism derives energy for life processes. REPRODUCTION The capability of giving offspring of the same type. In single-cells organisms occurs when cells divide and in multicelled organisms occurs either through sexual or asexual reproduction. GROWTH Involves the ordering and organizing of atoms and small molecules to make larger molecules. EVOLUTION It is the potential to develop new forms and species by changing the genetic information over time.
What about the viruses? Watch the YouTube video called Are Viruses Alive
DNA - DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID HUMAN GENOME
Prokaryotic cells are generally small and comparatively simple in structure. These cells house their DNA with all its genetic information in a poorly demarcated part of the cell. Eukaryotic cells are larger and more complex in structure. Their genetic information is housed in a well-defined nucleus that is separated from the cytoplasm by a membrane.
Biological entities are organized in a hierarchical structure, ranging from cells to the biosphere.
3 6 Domain: Eukarya Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Hominidae Genus: Homo Species: sapiens Subspecies: sapiens
Watch the YouTube video called The RNA Origin of Life
This diagram shows the major events and trends in the history of the surface environment during approximately the first 4 billion years of the Earth's history.
4 BY - simple cells (prokaryotes) 3 BY - photosynthesis 2 BY - complex cells (eukaryotes) 1 BY - multicellular life 600 MY - simple animals 570 MY - arthropods (ancestors of insects, arachnids and crustaceans) 550 MY - complex animals 500 MY - fish and proto-amphibians 475 MY - land plants 400 MY - insects and seeds 360 MY - amphibians 300 MY - reptiles 200 MY - mammals 150 MY - birds 130 MY - flowers 65 MY - big extinction of dinosaurs 200,000 - humans like today
Single-origin Hypothesis Map of early human migrations according to mitochondrial population genetics (numbers are millennia before present); The letters on the arrows represent groups of people belonging to the same haplogroup. Haplogroups are a type of genetic categorization that groups people together base on shared variation in their mitochondrial DNA.
Watch the YouTube video called Evolution Homo Sapiens Versus Neaderthals
Over the past 200 million years, oxygen levels in the atmosphere have increased. The rise of mammals, aided by the demise of the dinosaurs 65 millions years ago, may also have resulted partly from the plentiful oxygen supply.
Charles Darwin
is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, which is the product of nearly 3.5 billion years of evolution.
TELEMETRY OF THE BIOSPHERE
BIODIVERSITY IN CORAL REEFS
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
CORAL REEFS IN PUERTO RICO
MAYAGUEZ BAY
LA PARGUERA
JOBOS BAY
MULTISPECTRAL SENSOR Landsat RGB Landsat 7 ETM+ (30m resolution) Ishigaki, Ryukus, Japan Reef Classification Millenium Coral Reef Mapping Project: S. Andrefouet
Image interpretation and classification HYPERION IKONOS
SIGNAL FROM THE BOTTOM Seagrass Sand Corals Deep Sea Remote Sensing Reflectance of Benthic Habitats 0.18 0.16 Rrs Sand Rrs Seagrass 0.14 0.12 Rrs (sr-1) 0.1 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 Spectral libraries of sea bottom are being created using submersible spectroradiometers. 0 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 Wavelength (nm) The bottom signal must be extracted from the total signal measured by removing the atmosphere and the water column contributions.