Biology 9th Edition

Book Preface

This edition continues the evolution of the new Raven & Johnson’s Biology. The author team is committed to continually improving the text, keeping the student and learning foremost. We have an improved design and updated pedagogical features to complement the new art program and completely revised content of the transformative eighth edition of Biology. This latest edition of the text maintains the clear, accessible, and engaging writing style of past editions while maintaining the clear emphasis on evolution and scientific inquiry that made this a leading textbook for students majoring in biology. This emphasis on the organizing power of evolution is combined with a modern integration of the importance of cellular and molecular biology and genomics to offer our readers a text that is student-friendly while containing current content discussed from the most modern perspective.

We are committed to producing the best possible text for both student and faculty. Lead author, Kenneth Mason (University of Iowa) has taught majors biology at three different major public universities for more than 15 years. Jonathan Losos (Harvard University) is at the cutting edge of evolutionary biology research and has taught evolutionary biology to both biology majors and nonmajors students. Susan Rundell Singer (Carleton College) has been deeply involved in science education policy issues on a national level.

The extensive nature of the revision for the eighth edition allowed the incorporation of the most current possible content throughout. This has been continued in the ninth edition. Here we provide a more consistent approach to concepts so that the reader is not buried in detail in one chapter and left wondering how something works in another. In all chapters, we provide a modern perspective emphasizing the structure and function of macromolecules and the evolutionary process that has led to this structure and function.

This modern approach is illustrated with two examples. First, genomics are not given one chapter and otherwise ignored. Instead, results from the analysis of genomes are presented in context across the text. It is important that these results are provided in the context of our traditional approaches and not just lumped into a single chapter. We do not ignore the unique features of this approach and therefore provide two chapters devoted to genomics and to genome evolution.

A second example is expanded coverage of noncoding RNA. It is hard to believe how rapidly miRNA have moved from a mere curiosity to a major topic in gene expression. We have included both new text and graphics on this important topic. The results from complete genome sequencing have highlighted this important category of RNA that was largely ignored in past texts.

The revised physiology unit has been further updated to strengthen the evolutionary basis for understanding this section. The single chapter on circulation and respiration has been broken into two to provide a more reasonable amount of material for the student in each chapter. The coverage of temperature regulation has also been moved to the introductory chapter 43: The Animal Body and Principles of Regulation to provide a concrete example of regulation. All of this should enhance readability for the student as well as integrate this material even closer with the rest of the text.

The entire approach throughout the text is to emphasize important biological concepts. This conceptual approach is supported by an evolutionary perspective and an emphasis on scientific inquiry. Rather than present only dry facts, our conceptual view combines an emphasis on scientific inquiry.