Life: The Science of Biology Eleventh Edition

Book Preface

A Note from the Authors

Biology inspires wonder. The image of the flock of starlings on our cover shows an astonishing behavior known as murmuration—mesmerizing patterns that emerge out of thousands of birds flying in unison. This fascinating behavior is an example of what motivates biologists to study the complexities of life. Biology is dynamic. It is constantly changing as new insights lead to new ideas and new tools to test those ideas. Think of the use of drones and satellites to photograph penguin populations in Antarctica. Think of the developments in biological imaging and computation. Think of genome sequencing and its effect on our understanding of everything from human diseases to the tree of life. Think of the use of ice cores to understand past global climate. Biology is a system. Biological systems are made up of different levels of organization—from molecules to ecosystems—that are interconnected and complex. Biologists are beginning to use integrated approaches to understand the complex properties of biological systems.

Biology is life.

We face many challenges as humans including emerging diseases, feeding people in a sustainable way, population growth, degradation of natural systems, and climate change. We understand that humans are integrally connected to and dependent on all life on Earth. Our goal—and challenge—in writing Life is to engage students in all these aspects of biology by motivating learning through active discovery. We focus on key concepts and contemporary examples that provide a foundation for further study. We have consulted and collaborated with faculty, students, and experts in the fields of biology and education. As you will see in the next several pages, in this, our Eleventh Edition, we engage students by explaining how biology affects their daily lives and how new knowledge is discovered. To help students master the concepts and principles, we introduce a number of new active learning activities.

With roots 10 editions deep, the Eleventh Edition blends carefully reviewed content and an emphasis on experiments with a contemporary approach to active learning. Throughout, we focus on three driving themes:

Life is ENGAGING We want students to come away from the introductory biology course with a sense of wonder and an ability to pursue biological questions. To that end, we keep the writing lively, the examples modern and exciting, and the emphasis on how we know what we know. To help students engage with the course, an Investigating Life thread weaves through each chapter. Each individual part of the thread appeals to students, inspires them to ask questions, and keeps them wanting to know, “What next?” The beauty of the thread is that it gives students an authentic scientific experience beyond just reading about someone’s research results.

Life is ACTIVE With the help of the Advisory Board, we’ve developed a series of pedagogical features that integrate tools for instructors with those for student independent study. Students work their way toward real understanding of biological principles. We don’t just ask them to memorize information—we invite them to actively participate in the process of discovery. For instructors wanting to make active learning a part of their classroom, we’ve created an Active Learning Guide, with start-up material, ideas, and a complete guide to all the Life activities that are ready to add to your in-class repertoire.

Life is FOCUSED ON SKILLS We want students to feel comfortable as they learn to manipulate and interpret data. The various types of problem-solving exercises in Life help them develop practical, analytical, and quantitative skills—skills that will benefit them whether they continue in biology or not. Exercises vary in skill level, type, and approach, with answers in the back of the book. The response to our Work with the Data boxes has been so consistently positive that we now include at least one in every chapter. This feature asks students to analyze data from original scientific experiments, and includes questions in the text plus, now, a corresponding set of alternative exercises online in LaunchPad. We also provide an appendix, Making Sense of Data: A Statistics Primer, to help students prepare for the quantitative work they’ll be doing.

Experience Life through LAUNCHPAD With this edition’s LaunchPad, Life is more than ever a truly integrated text/media resource. LaunchPad gives students everything they need to prepare for class and exams, while giving instructors everything they need to set up a course, customize the content, craft presentations, assign homework, assess students, and guide the progress of individuals and the class as a whole.

Contents in BRIEF
PART ONE The Science of Life and Its Chemical Basis 1 Studying Life 2 Small Molecules and the Chemistry of Life 3 Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Lipids 4 Nucleic Acids and the Origin of Life
PART TWO Cells 5 Cells: The Working Units of Life 6 Cell Membranes 7 Cell Communication and Multicellularity
PART THREE Cells and Energy 8 Energy, Enzymes, and Metabolism 9 Pathways that Harvest Chemical Energy 10 Photosynthesis: Energy from Sunlight
PART FOUR Genes and Heredity 11 The Cell Cycle and Cell Division 12 Inheritance, Genes, and Chromosomes 13 DNA and Its Role in Heredity 14 From DNA to Protein: Gene Expression 15 Gene Mutation and Molecular Medicine 16 Regulation of Gene Expression
PART FIVE Genomes 17 Genomes 18 Recombinant DNA and Biotechnology 19 Genes, Development, and Evolution
PART SIX The Processes and Patterns of Evolution
20 Processes of Evolution 21 Reconstructing and Using Phylogenies 22 Speciation 23 Evolution of Genes and Genomes 24 The History of Life on Earth
PART SEVEN The Evolution of Diversity 25 Bacteria, Archaea, and Viruses 26 The Origin and Diversification of Eukaryotes 27 Plants without Seeds: From Water to Land 28 The Evolution of Seed Plants 29 The Evolution and Diversity of Fungi 30 Animal Origins and the Evolution of Body Plans 31 Protostome Animals 32 Deuterostome Animals
PART EIGHT Flowering Plants: Form and Function 33 The Plant Body 34 Transport in Plants 35 Plant Nutrition 36 Regulation of Plant Growth 37 Reproduction in Flowering Plants 38 Plant Responses to Environmental Challenges
PART NINE Animals: Form and Function 39 Physiology, Homeostasis, and Temperature Regulation 40 Animal Hormones 41 Immunology: Animal Defense Systems 42 Animal Reproduction 43 Animal Development 44 Neurons, Glia, and Nervous Systems 45 Sensory Systems 46 The Mammalian Nervous System 47 Musculoskeletal Systems 48 Gas Exchange 49 Circulatory Systems 50 Nutrition, Digestion, and Absorption 51 Salt and Water Balance and Nitrogen Excretion 52 Animal Behavior
PART TEN Ecology 53 The Physical Environment and Biogeography of Life 54 Populations 55 Species Interactions 56 Communities 57 Ecosystems 58 A Changing Biosphere