Introduction
Dear Reader
About the Author
Acknowledgments
YOUR BEST PATHWAY TO UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD
1.1: What is science? What is biology?
1.2: Biological literacy is essential in the modern world.
1.3: Scientific thinking is a powerful approach to understanding the world.
1.4: Thinking like a scientist: how do you use the scientific method?
1.5: Step 1: Make observations.
1.6: Step 2: Formulate a hypothesis.
1.7: Step 3: Devise a testable prediction.
1.8: Step 4: Conduct a critical experiment.
1.9: Step 5: Draw conclusions, make revisions.
1.10: When do hypotheses become theories, and what are theories?
1.11: Controlling variables makes experiments more powerful.
1.12 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Is arthroscopic surgery for arthritis of the knee beneficial?
1.13: Repeatable experiments increase our confidence.
1.14: We’ve got to watch out for our biases.
1.15: Visual displays of data can help us understand and explain phenomena.
1.16: Statistics can help us in making decisions.
1.17: Pseudoscience and misleading anecdotal evidence can obscure the truth.
1.18: There are limits to what science can do.
1.19: What is life? Important themes unify and connect diverse topics in biology.
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Key Terms in Scientific Thinking
RAW MATERIALS AND FUEL FOR OUR BODIES
2.1: Everything is made of atoms.
2.2: An atom’s electrons determine whether (and how) the atom will bond with other atoms.
2.3: Atoms can bond together to form molecules or compounds.
2.4: Hydrogen bonds make water cohesive.
2.5: Water has unusual properties that make it critical to life.
2.6: Living systems are highly sensitive to acidic and basic conditions.
2.7 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Do anti-acid drugs impair digestion and increase the risk of food allergies?
2.8: Carbohydrates include macromolecules that function as fuel.
2.9: Glucose provides energy for the body’s cells.
2.10: Many complex carbohydrates are time-release packets of energy.
2.11: Not all carbohydrates are digestible.
2.12: Lipids are macromolecules with several functions, including energy storage.
2.13: Fats are tasty molecules too plentiful in our diets.
2.14: Cholesterol and phospholipids are used to build sex hormones and membranes.
2.15: Proteins are bodybuilding macromolecules.
2.16: Proteins are an essential dietary component.
2.17: A protein’s function is influenced by its three-dimensional shape.
2.18: Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions.
2.19: Enzymes regulate reactions in several ways (but malformed enzymes can cause problems).
2.20: Nucleic acids are macromolecules that store information.
2.21: DNA holds the genetic information to build an organism.
2.22: RNA is a universal translator, reading DNA and directing protein production.
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Key Terms in Chemistry
THE SMALLEST PART OF YOU
3.1: All organisms are made of cells.
3.2: Prokaryotic cells are structurally simple but extremely diverse.
3.3: Eukaryotic cells have compartments with specialized functions.
3.4: Every cell is bordered by a plasma membrane.
3.5: Molecules embedded in the plasma membrane help it perform its functions.
3.6: Faulty membranes can cause diseases.
3.7: Membrane surfaces have a “fingerprint” that identifies the cell.
3.8: Passive transport is the spontaneous diffusion of molecules across a membrane.
3.9: Osmosis is the passive diffusion of water across a membrane.
3.10: In active transport, cells use energy to move small molecules into and out of the cell.
3.11: Endocytosis and exocytosis are used for bulk transport of particles.
3.12: Connections between cells hold them in place and enable them to communicate with each other.
3.13: The nucleus is the cell’s genetic control center.
3.14: Cytoplasm and the cytoskeleton form the cell’s internal environment, provide its physical support, and can generate movement.
3.15: Mitochondria are the cell’s energy converters.
3.16 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Can cells change their composition to adapt to their environment?
3.17: Lysosomes are the cell’s garbage disposals.
3.18: In the endoplasmic reticulum, cells build proteins and lipids and disarm toxins.
3.19: The Golgi apparatus processes products for delivery throughout the body.
3.20: The cell wall provides additional protection and support for plant cells.
3.21: Vacuoles are multipurpose storage sacs for cells.
3.22: Chloroplasts are the plant cell’s solar power plant.
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Key Terms in Cells
FROM THE SUN TO YOU IN JUST TWO STEPS
4.1: Cars that run on french fry oil? Organisms and machines need energy to work.
4.2: Energy has two forms: kinetic and potential.
4.3: As energy is captured and converted, the amount of energy available to do work decreases.
4.4: ATP molecules are like free-floating rechargeable batteries in all living cells.
4.5: Where does plant matter come from? Photosynthesis: the big picture.
4.6: Photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts.
4.7: Light energy travels in waves: plant pigments absorb specific wavelengths.
4.8: Photons cause electrons in chlorophyll to enter an excited state.
4.9: Photosynthesis in detail: the energy of sunlight is captured as chemical energy.
4.10: Photosynthesis in detail: the captured energy of sunlight is used to make food.
4.11: The battle against world hunger can use plants adapted to water scarcity.
4.12: How do living organisms fuel their actions? Cellular respiration: the big picture.
4.13: The first step of cellular respiration: glycolysis is the universal energy-releasing pathway.
4.14: The second step of cellular respiration: the Krebs cycle extracts energy from sugar.
4.15: The third step of cellular respiration: ATP is built in the electron transport chain.
4.16 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Can we combat the fatigue and reduced cognitive functioning of jet lag with NADH pills?
4.17: Beer, wine, and spirits are by-products of cellular metabolism in the absence of oxygen.
4.18: Eating a complete diet: cells can run on protein and fat as well as on glucose.
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Key Terms in Energy
WHAT IS THE GENETIC CODE, AND HOW IS IT HARNESSED?
5.1: Knowledge about DNA is increasing justice in the world.
5.2: The DNA molecule contains instructions for the development and functioning of all living organisms.
5.3: Genes are sections of DNA that contain instructions for making proteins.
5.4: Not all DNA contains instructions for making proteins.
5.5: How do genes work? An overview.
5.6: In transcription, the information coded in DNA is copied into mRNA.
5.7: In translation, the mRNA copy of the information from DNA is used to build functional molecules.
5.8: Genes are regulated in several ways.
5.9: What causes a mutation, and what are its effects?
5.10 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Does sunscreen use reduce skin cancer risk?
5.11: Faulty genes, coding for faulty enzymes, can lead to sickness.
5.12: What is biotechnology?
5.13: Biotechnology can improve food nutrition and make farming more efficient and eco-friendly.
5.14: Fears and risks: are genetically modified foods safe?
5.15: The treatment of diseases and the production of medicines are improved with biotechnology.
5.16: Gene therapy: biotechnology can help diagnose and prevent genetic diseases, but has had limited success in curing them.
5.17: Cloning—ranging from genes to organs to individuals—offers both promise and perils.
5.18: DNA is an individual identifier: the uses and abuses of DNA fingerprinting.
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Key Terms in DNA, Gene Expression, and Biotechnology
CONTINUITY AND VARIETY
6.1: Immortal cells can spell trouble: cell division in sickness and in health.
6.2: Some chromosomes are circular, others are linear.
6.3: There is a time for everything in the eukaryotic cell cycle.
6.4: Cell division is preceded by chromosome replication.
6.5: Most cells are not immortal: mitosis generates replacements.
6.6: Overview: mitosis leads to duplicate cells.
6.7: The details: mitosis is a four-step process.
6.8: Cell division out of control may result in cancer.
6.9: Overview: sexual reproduction requires special cells made by meiosis.
6.10: Sperm and egg are produced by meiosis: the details, step by step.
6.11: Male and female gametes are produced in slightly different ways.
6.12: Crossing over and meiosis are important sources of variation.
6.13: What are the costs and benefits of sexual reproduction?
6.14: How is sex determined in humans?
6.15: The sex of offspring is determined in a variety of ways in non-human species.
6.16 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Can the environment determine the sex of a turtle's offspring?
6.17: Down syndrome can be detected before birth: karyotypes reveal an individual’s entire chromosome set.
6.18: Life is possible with too many or too few sex chromosomes.
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Key Terms in Chromosomes and Cell Division
FAMILY RESEMBLANCE: HOW TRAITS ARE INHERITED
7.1: Family resemblance: your father and mother each contribute to your genetic makeup.
7.2: Some traits are controlled by a single gene.
7.3: Mendel learned about heredity by conducting experiments.
7.4: Segregation: you’ve got two copies of each gene but put only one copy in each sperm or egg.
7.5: Observing an individual’s phenotype is not sufficient for determining its genotype.
7.6: Chance is important in genetics.
7.7: A test-cross enables us to figure out which alleles an individual carries.
7.8: We use pedigrees to decipher and predict the inheritance patterns of genes.
7.9: Incomplete dominance and codominance: the effects of both alleles in a genotype can show up in the phenotype.
7.10: What’s your blood type? Some genes have more than two alleles.
7.11: Multigene traits: how are continuously varying traits such as height influenced by genes?
7.12: Sometimes one gene influences multiple traits.
7.13: Why are more men than women color-blind? Sex-linked traits differ in their patterns of expression in males and females.
7.14: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: What is the cause of male-pattern baldness?
7.15: Environmental effects: identical twins are not identical.
7.16: Most traits are passed on as independent features: Mendel’s law of independent assortment.
7.17: Red hair and freckles: genes on the same chromosome are sometimes inherited together.
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Key Terms in Genes and Inheritance
DARWIN’S DANGEROUS IDEA
8.1: We can see evolution occurring right before our eyes.
8.2: Before Darwin, many people believed that all species had been created separately and were unchanging.
8.3: A job on a ’round-the-world survey ship allowed Darwin to indulge his love of nature and make observations that enabled him to develop a theory of evolution.
8.4: Observing geographic similarities and differences among fossils and living plants and animals, Darwin developed a theory of evolution.
8.5: Evolution occurs when the allele frequencies in a population change.
8.6: Mutation—a direct change in the DNA of an individual—is the ultimate source of all genetic variation.
8.7: Genetic drift is a random change in allele frequencies in a population.
8.8: Migration into or out of a population may change allele frequencies.
8.9: When three simple conditions are satisfied, evolution by natural selection is occurring.
8.10: A trait does not decrease in frequency simply because it is recessive.
8.11: Traits causing some individuals to have more offspring than others become more prevalent in the population.
8.12: Organisms in a population can become better matched to their environment through natural selection.
8.13: Natural selection does not lead to perfect organisms.
8.14: Artificial selection is a special case of natural selection.
8.15: Natural selection can change the traits in a population in several ways.
8.16: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: By picking taller plants, do humans unconsciously drive the evolution of smaller plants?
8.17: Natural selection can cause the evolution of complex traits and behaviors.
8.18: The fossil record documents the process of natural selection.
8.19: Geographic patterns of species distributions reflect species’ evolutionary histories.
8.20: Comparative anatomy and embryology reveal common evolutionary origins.
8.21: Molecular biology reveals that common genetic sequences link all life forms.
8.22: Laboratory and field experiments enable us to watch evolution in progress.
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Key Terms in Evolution and Natural Selection
COMMUNICATION, COOPERATION, AND CONFLICT IN THE ANIMAL WORLD
9.1: Behavior has adaptive value, just like other traits.
9.2: Some behaviors are innate.
9.3: Some behaviors must be learned (and some are learned more easily than others).
9.4: Complex-appearing behaviors don’t require complex thought in order to evolve.
9.5: “Kindness” can be explained.
9.6: Apparent altruism toward relatives can evolve through kin selection.
9.7: Apparent altruism toward unrelated individuals can evolve through reciprocal altruism.
9.8: In an “alien” environment, behaviors produced by natural selection may no longer be adaptive.
9.9: Selfish genes win out over group selection.
9.10: There are big differences in how much males and females must invest in reproduction.
9.11: Males and females are vulnerable at different stages of the reproductive exchange.
9.12: Tactics for getting a mate: competition and courtship can help males and females secure reproductive success.
9.13: Tactics for keeping a mate: mate guarding can protect a male’s reproductive investment.
9.14 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: When paternity uncertainty seems greater, is paternal care reduced?
9.15: Monogamy versus polygamy: mating behaviors can vary across human and animal cultures.
9.16: Sexual dimorphism is an indicator of a population’s mating behavior.
9.17: Animal communication and language abilities evolve.
9.18: Honest signals reduce deception.
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Key Terms in Evolution and Behavior
UNDERSTANDING BIODIVERSITY
10.1: Complex organic molecules arise in non-living environments.
10.2: Cells and self-replicating systems evolved together to create the first life.
10.3 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Could life have originated in ice, rather than in a “warm little pond”?
10.4: What is a species?
10.5: How do we name species?
10.6: Species are not always easily defined.
10.7: How do new species arise?
10.8: The history of life can be imagined as a tree.
10.9: Evolutionary trees show ancestor-descendant relationships.
10.10: Similar structures don’t always reveal common ancestry.
10.11: Macroevolution is evolution above the species level.
10.12: The pace of evolution is not constant.
10.13: Adaptive radiations are times of extreme diversification.
10.14: There have been several mass extinctions on earth.
10.15: All living organisms are classified into one of three groups.
10.16: The bacteria domain has tremendous biological diversity.
10.17: The archaea domain includes many species living in extreme environments.
10.18: The eukarya domain consists of four kingdoms: plants, animals, fungi, and protists.
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Key Terms in The Origin and Diversification of Life on Earth
VISIBILITY IN MOTION
11.1: What is an animal?
11.2: There are no “higher” or “lower” species.
11.3: Four key distinctions divide the animals.
11.4: Sponges are animals that lack tissues and organs.
11.5: Jellyfishes and other cnidarians are among the most poisonous animals in the world.
11.6: Flatworms, roundworms, and segmented worms come in all shapes and sizes.
11.7: Most mollusks live in shells.
11.8: Are some animals smarter than others?
11.9: Arthropods are the most diverse group of all animals.
11.10 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: How many species are there on earth?
11.11: Flight and metamorphosis produced the greatest adaptive radiation ever.
11.12: Echinoderms are vertebrates’ closest invertebrate relatives and include sea stars, sea urchins, and sand dollars.
11.13: All vertebrates are members of the phylum Chordata.
11.14: The evolution of jaws and fins gave rise to the vast diversity of vertebrate species.
11.15: The movement onto land required lungs, a rigid backbone, four legs, and eggs that resist drying.
11.16: Amphibians live a double life.
11.17: Birds are reptiles in which feathers evolved.
11.18: Mammals are animals that have hair and produce milk.
11.19: Humans tried out different lifestyles.
11.20: How did we get here? The past 200,000 years of human evolution.
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Key Terms in Animal Diversification
WHERE DID ALL THE PLANTS AND FUNGI COME FROM?
12.1: What makes a plant?
12.2: Colonizing land brings new opportunities and new challenges.
12.3: Mosses and other non-vascular plants lack vessels for transporting nutrients and water.
12.4: The evolution of vascular tissue made large plants possible.
12.5: What is a seed?
12.6: With the evolution of the seed, gymnosperms became the dominant plants on earth.
12.7: Conifers include the tallest and longest-living trees.
12.8: Angiosperms are the dominant plants today.
12.9: A flower is nothing without a pollinator.
12.10: Angiosperms improve seeds with double fertilization.
12.11: Fleshy fruits are bribes that flowering plants pay animals to disperse their seeds.
12.12: Unable to escape, plants must resist predation in other ways.
12.13: Fungi are closer to animals than they are to plants.
12.14: Fungi have some structures in common, but exploit an enormous diversity of habitats.
12.15: Most plants have fungal symbionts.
12.16: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Can beneficial fungi save our chocolate?
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Key Terms in Plant and Fungi Diversification
BACTERIA, ARCHAEA, PROTISTS, AND VIRUSES: THE UNSEEN WORLD
13.1: Not all microbes are closely related evolutionarily.
13.2: Microbes are the simplest but most successful organisms on earth.
13.3: What are bacteria?
13.4: Bacterial growth and reproduction is fast and efficient.
13.5: Metabolic diversity among the bacteria is extreme.
13.6: Many bacteria are beneficial to humans.
13.7: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Are bacteria thriving in our offices, on our desks?
13.8: Bacteria cause many human diseases.
13.9: Sexually transmitted diseases reveal battles between microbes and humans.
13.10: Bacteria’s resistance to drugs can evolve quickly.
13.11: Archaea are profoundly different from bacteria.
13.12: Archaea thrive in habitats too extreme for most other organisms.
13.13: The first eukaryotes were protists.
13.14: There are animal-like protists, fungus-like protists, and plant-like protists.
13.15: Some protists can make you very sick.
13.16: Viruses are not exactly living organisms.
13.17: Viruses are responsible for many health problems.
13.18: Viruses infect a wide range of organisms.
13.19: HIV illustrates the difficulty of controlling infectious viruses.
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Key Terms in Evolution and Diversity Among the Microbes
PLANET AT CAPACITY: PATTERNS OF POPULATION GROWTH
14.1: What is ecology?
14.2: A population perspective is necessary in ecology.
14.3: Populations can grow quickly for a while, but not forever.
14.4: A population’s growth is limited by its environment.
14.5: Some populations cycle between large and small.
14.6: “Maximum sustainable yield” is useful but nearly impossible to implement.
14.7: Life histories are shaped by natural selection.
14.8: There are trade-offs between growth, reproduction, and longevity.
14.9 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Life history trade-offs: rapid growth comes at a cost.
14.10: Populations can be described quantitatively in life tables and survivorship curves.
14.11: Things fall apart: what is aging and why does it occur?
14.12: What determines the average longevity in different species?
14.13: Can we slow down the process of aging?
14.14: Age pyramids reveal much about a population.
14.15: As less-developed countries become more developed, a demographic transition often occurs.
14.16: Human population growth: how high can it go?
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Key Terms in Population Ecology
ORGANISMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS
15.1: What are ecosystems?
15.2: Biomes are large ecosystems that occur around the world, each determined by temperature and rainfall.
15.3: Global air circulation patterns create deserts and rain forests.
15.4: Local topography influences the weather.
15.5: Ocean currents affect the weather.
15.6: Energy flows from producers to consumers.
15.7: Energy pyramids reveal the inefficiency of food chains.
15.8: Essential chemicals cycle through ecosystems.
15.9: Each species’ role in a community is defined as its niche.
15.10: Interacting species evolve together.
15.11: Competition can be hard to see, yet it influences community structure.
15.12: Predation produces adaptation in both predators and their prey.
15.13: Parasitism is a form of predation.
15.14: Not all species interactions are negative: mutualism and commensalism.
15.15: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Investigating ants, plants, and the unintended consequences of environmental intervention.
15.16: Many communities change over time.
15.17: Some species are more important than others within a community.
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Key Terms in Ecosystems and Communities
HUMAN INFLUENCES ON THE ENVIRONMENT
16.1: Biodiversity can have many types of value.
16.2 THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: When 200,000 tons of methane disappears, how do you find it?
16.3: Biodiversity occurs at multiple levels.
16.4: Where is most biodiversity?
16.5: There are multiple causes of extinction.
16.6: We are in the midst of a mass extinction.
16.7: Some ecosystem disturbances are reversible, others are not.
16.8: Human activities can damage the environment: 1. Introduced non-native species may wipe out native organisms.
16.9: Human activities can damage the environment: 2. Acid rain harms forests and aquatic ecosystems.
16.10: Human activities can damage the environment: 3. The release of greenhouse gases can influence the global climate.
16.11: Human activities can damage the environment: 4. Deforestation of rain forests causes loss of species and the release of carbon.
16.12: Reversing ozone layer depletion illustrates the power of good science, effective policymaking, and international cooperation.
16.13: With limited conservation resources, we must prioritize which species should be preserved.
16.14: There are multiple effective strategies for preserving biodiversity.
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Key Terms in Conservation and Biodiversity
Periodic Table
Index