History of Life on Earth

Flashcards summarizing key vocabulary and concepts related to the history of life on Earth, including major eras, events, and evolutionary milestones.

Prokaryotes

Simple cells with loop DNA, existing around 3.5 billion years ago.

Great Oxygenation Event

Event caused by phototrophic bacteria releasing oxygen approximately 2.5 billion years ago.

Eukaryotes

Cells that evolved a nucleus and endomembranes around 1.5 billion years ago.

Multicellular Eukaryotes

Organisms such as fungi and algae that emerged about 1 billion years ago.

Simple Animals

The first ——— appeared around 600 million years ago.

Complex Animals

The emergence of — occurred around 550 million years ago.

Land Plants

The appearance of ———— on Earth was around 430 million years ago.

Tetrapod Animals

—-, which have four limbs, appeared around 360 million years ago.

Hadean Era

The earliest geologic eon of Earth's history, lasting from 4.6 to 4 billion years ago.

Phanerozoic Eon

The eon that shows significant development of animal and plant life, starting from 543 million years ago.

Archean Eon

The eon in which Earth's crust cooled and stable continents began to form, from 4 to 2.5 billion years ago.

Proterozoic Eon

The eon marked by the emergence of multicellular life and lasting from 2.5 billion to 543 million years ago.

Dinosaurs

— dominated during the Mesozoic Era, which lasted from 251 to 65 million years ago.

Big Bang

The leading explanation about how the universe began, occurring about 13.8 billion years ago.

Formation of Earth

Earth formed about 4.56 billion years ago through the coalescing of matter due to gravity.