Synopses & Reviews
Authoritative, thorough, and engaging, Life: The Science of Biology achieves an optimal balance of scholarship and teachability, never losing sight of either the science or the student. The first introductory text to present biological concepts through the research that revealed them, Life covers the full range of topics with an integrated experimental focus that flows naturally from the narrative. This approach helps to bring the drama of classic and cutting-edge research to the classroombut always in the context of reinforcing core ideas and the innovative scientific thinking behind them. Students will experience biology not just as a litany of facts or a highlight reel of experiments, but as a rich, coherent discipline.
Synopsis
Authoritative, thorough, and engaging, Life: The Science of Biology achieves an optimal balance of scholarship and teachability, never losing sight of either the science or the student. The first introductory text to present biological concepts through the research that revealed them, Life covers the full range of topics with an integrated experimental focus that flows naturally from the narrative. This approach helps to bring the drama of classic and cutting-edge research to the classroom--but always in the context of reinforcing core ideas and the innovative scientific thinking behind them. Students will experience biology not just as a litany of facts or a highlight reel of experiments, but as a rich, coherent discipline.
Table of Contents
1. An Evolutionary Framework for Biology
PART ONE THE CELL
2. Life and Chemistry: Small Molecules
3. Life and Chemistry: Large Molecules
4. Cells: The Basic Units of Life
5. Cellular Membranes
6. Energy, Enzymes, and Metabolism
7. Cellular Pathways That Harvest Chemical Energy
8. Photosynthesis: Energy from the Sun
PART TWO INFORMATION AND HEREDITY
9. Chromosomes, the Cell Cycle, and Cell Division
10. Genetics: Mendel and Beyond
11. DNA and Its Role in Heredity
12. From DNA to Protein: Genotype to Phenotype
13.. The Genetics of Viruses and Prokaryotes
14. The Eukaryotic Genome and Its Expression
15. Cell Signaling and Communication
16. Recombinant DNA and Biotechnology
17. Molecular Biology and Medicine
18. Natural Defenses against Disease
PART THREE DEVELOPMENT
19. Differential Gene Expression in Development
20. Animal Development: From Genes to Organism
NEW 21. Development and Evolutionary Change
PART FOUR EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES
22. The History of Life on Earth
23. The Mechanisms of Evolution
24. Species and Their Formation
25. Reconstructing and Using Phylogenies
26. Molecular and Genomic Evolution
PART FIVE THE EVOLUTION OF DIVERSITY
27. Bacteria and Archaea: The Prokaryotic Domains
28. Protists and the Dawn of the Eukarya
29. Plants without Seeds: From Sea to Land
30. The Evolution of Seed Plants
31. Fungi: Recyclers, Pathogens, Parasites, and Plant Partners
32. Animal Origins and the Evolution of Body Plans
33. Ecdysozoans: The Molting Animals
34. Deuterostomate Animals
PART SIX THE BIOLOGY OF FLOWERING PLANTS
35. The Plant Body
36. Transport in Plants
37. Plant Nutrition
38. Regulation of Plant Growth
39. Reproduction in Flowering Plants
40. Plant Responses to Environmental Challenges
PART SEVEN THE BIOLOGY OF ANIMALS
41. Physiology, Homeostasis, and Temperature Regulation
42. Animal Hormones
43. Animal Reproduction
44. Neurons and Nervous Systems
45. Sensory Systems
46. The Mammalian Nervous System: Structure and Higher Functions
47. Effectors: Making Animals Move
48. Gas Exchange in Animals
49. Circulatory Systems
50. Nutrition, Digestion, and Absorption
51. Salt and Water Balance and Nitrogen Excretion
52. Animal Behavior
PART EIGHT ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
53. Behavioral Ecology
54. Population Ecology
55. Community Ecology
56. Biogeography
57. Conservation Biology
58. Earth System Science