BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Growth

Science
Growth
Fossils provide a record of organisms that lived a long time ago. They also provide evidence that animals and plants can change over long periods of time. The fossil record is often incomplete.

Fossil records
Fossil remains have been found in rocks of all ages. Fossils of the simplest organisms are found in the oldest rocks, and fossils of more complex organisms in the newest rocks. This supports the theory of evolution, which states that simple life forms gradually evolved into more complex ones.

Fossils contained in layers of sediment

Certain environmental conditions drastically slow down the decaying process, helping to preserve the tissues. Examples of this are:

Insufficient oxygen, eg when an organism becomes trapped in amber Low temperatures, eg when an organism becomes frozen
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BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Growth

in a glacier High soil acidity, eg when an organism falls into a peat bog
If these conditions are not present, the remains will not be fossilised. This makes tracing the story of evolution of any one species challenging. In most cases there are big gaps in fossil records, making it like a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. Problems also arise as soft tissues decay resulting in scientists having to estimate what the organism was like. Finally, there are also lots of fossils that we haven't yet found.

The pentadactyl limb - Higher tier

Many vertebrates have a very similar bone structure despite their limbs looking very different on the outside. This structure is known as the pentadactyl limb five fingered. This suggests that many vertebrates descended from the same common ancestor. Even species such as the horse, which now only has one "finger", has the remains of two other fingers still present the phalanges. Scientists can look at the fossil record and show how the ancestor of the horse originally had more fingers.

The evolution of the horse Time period 1 million years ago Height 1.6 metres

Modern horse

10 million years ago 1.0 metres

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BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Growth

Pliohippus

30 million years ago 1.0 metres

Merychippus

40 million years ago 0.6 metres

Mesohippus

60 million years ago 0.4 metres

Eohippus

Growth defined
Humans are made of millions of cells. This has a number of benefits:

Cells can be specialised to do particular tasks. Groups of cells can function as organs, making a more efficient but complex organism. The organism can grow very large
Growth can be defined as an increase in size, length and mass.

Cell division
New cells are needed throughout life. These are for growth, to replace damaged cells and repair worn out tissues. Normal
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BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Growth

human body cells are diploid they have two of each chromosome. When new cells are made, these 46 chromosomes (in other organisms the number is different) are copied exactly in a process called mitosis.

Growth in plants and animals Feature Where growth occurs How growth occurs Plant Mainly at shoot and root tips and in special growth zones like buds Size increase often caused by increasing the size (elongation) of cells by absorbing water into the vacuole Animal New cells can be made by most tissues Size increase is brought about by increasing the number of cells Only stem cells can differentiate into different cell types. Other animal cell functions remain fixed

Cell Most plant cells can specialisation differentiate into different cell types

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells , found in animals, that have the ability to grow into different tissues

Measuring growth in humans

Human growth is monitored using percentile charts. This allows medical professionals to monitor a child's growth compared to a certain percentage of the population. The age of the child is taken into consideration as well as the spread of differences in the population. Height, weight, BMI and head circumference are all measured in this way.

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BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Growth

Centile health chart for boys

Now try a Test Bite. Back to Revision Bite

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