Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe advantages and disadvantages of asexual and sexual reproductionDiscuss asexual reproduction methodsDiscuss sexual reproduction methods

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain that meiosis and sexual reproduction are evolved traitsIdentify variation among offspring as a potential evolutionary advantage to sexual reproductionDescribe the three different life-cycle types among sexual multicellular organisms and their commonalities

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the behavior of chromosomes during meiosisDescribe cellular events during meiosisExplain the differences between meiosis and mitosisExplain the mechanisms within meiosis that generate genetic variation among the products of meiosis

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

Students work in pairs to compare five aspects of an organism that reproduces sexually, asexually, or both sexually and asexually. The activity comes with a chart for the students to fill out and with information sheets on twelve organisms. As a class, students share their comparisons and generate a list of general characteristics for each mode of reproduction and then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both. Included in the discussion are reproductive mechanisms and genetic variation.

In this activity, the learner explores various ways in which organisms reproduce. The learner discusses the role that reproduction plays in the cycle of life. By watching short videos and participating in follow-up discussion: 1. They observe that no individual organism lives forever and in order to continue species, organisms must pass their genetic instructions on to the next generation. 2. They learn that organisms reproduce asexually, by dividing and producing two identical copies of themselves. 3. They learn that many plants reproduce sexually, often using complex strategies that have evolved over millions of years. 4. They explore the pros and cons of asexual and sexual reproduction and the reasons both strategies persist.