Synopses & Reviews
BIOLOGY is an authoritative majors textbook with evolution as a unifying theme. In revising the text, McGraw-Hill has consulted extensively with previous users, noted experts and professors in the field. It is distinguished from other texts by its strong emphasis on natural selection and the evolutionary process that explains biodiversity.
Not only has the book been thoroughly updated to reflect rapid advances, there is more emphasis today on the teaching of concepts and this has led to significant changes in how the material is presented. Technology also plays a greater role in teaching and the Online Learning Center found at http://www.mhhe.com/raven6 provides professors and students alike with an abundance of resources.
Five considerations influenced this revision. They are: 1) Focus on concepts; 2) Reinforcing Ideas; 3) Emphasizing relevance to students; 4) Keeping up with new developments; and 5) Careful editing.
About the Author
Peter H. Raven, Ph.D., is director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and Engelmann professor of botany at Washington University at St. Louis. He oversees the garden's internationally recognized research program in tropical botany--one of the world's most active in the study and conservation of imperiled tropical habitats. Raven's botanical research and work in the area of tropical conservation have earned him numerous honors and awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship. He has written 17 textbooks and more than 400 articles, and he is a member of th National Academy of Science and the National Research Council.George B. Johnson, Ph.D., is a professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis and a professor of genetics at the university's School of Medicine. He is a prolific author of life science texts and curriculum products in a variety of media. New to his list of works are the Explorations of Human Biology CD-ROM and the textbook Human Biology, both offered by Wm. C. Brown Publishers.Johnson is acknowledged as an authority on population genetics and evolution variability, and he has published more than 50 research papers dealing with these and related topics. Visitors to the St. Louis Zoo can appreciate Johnson's work in the Living World, the educational center of which he is the founding director.
Table of Contents
Section A General PrinciplesPart I The Origin of Living Things 1 The Science of Biology 2 The Nature of Molecules 3 The Chemical Building Blocks of Life 4 The Origin and Early History of Life Part II Biology of the Cell 5 Cell Structure 6 Membranes 7 Cell-Cell Interactions Part III Energetics 8 Energy and Metabolism 9 How Cells Harvest Energy 10 Photosynthesis Part IV Reproduction and Heredity 11 How Cells Divide 12 Sexual Reproduction and Meiosis 13 Patterns of Inheritance Part V Molecular Genetics 14 DNA: The Genetic Material 15 Genes and How They Work 16 Control of Gene Expression 17 Cellular Mechanisms of Development 18 Altering the Genetic Message 19 Gene Technology 20 Genes within Populations Part VI Evolution 21 The Evidence for Evolution 22 The Origin of Species 23 How Humans Evolved Part VII Ecology and Behavior 24 Population Ecology 25 Community Ecology 26 Animal Behavior 27 Behavioral Ecology Part VIII The Global Environment 28 Dynamics of Ecosystems 29 The Biosphere 30 The Future of the Biosphere 31 Conservation Biology Section B Organismal BiologyPart IX Viruses and Simple Organisms 32 How We Classify Organisms 33 Viruses 34 Bacteria 35 Protists 36 Fungi Part X Plant Form and Function 37 Evolutionary History of Plants 38 The Plant Body 39 Nutrition and Transport in Plants Part XI Plant Growth and Reproduction 40 Early Plant Development 41 How Plants Grow in Response to Their Environment42 Plant Reproduction 43 Plant Genomics Part XII Animal Diversity 44 The Noncoelomate Animals 45 Mollusks and Annelids 46 Arthropods 47 Echinoderms 48 Vertebrates Part XIII Animal Form and Function 49 Organization of the Animal Body 50 Locomotion 51 Fueling Body Activities: Digestion 52 Circulation 53 Respiration Part XIV Regulating the Animal Body 54 The Nervous System 55 Sensory Systems 56 The Endocrine System 57 The Immune System 58 Maintaining the Internal Environment59 Sex and Reproduction 60 Vertebrate Development