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 the important difference between the life cycle of amphibians and the life cycles of other vertebratesDistinguish between the characteristics of Urodela, Anura, and ApodaDescribe the evolutionary history of amphibians

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the evolutionary history of birdsDescribe the derived characteristics in birds that facilitate flight

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the distinguishing characteristics of chordatesIdentify the derived character of craniates that sets them apart from other chordatesDescribe the developmental fate of the notochord in vertebrates

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the difference between jawless and jawed fishesDiscuss the distinguishing features of sharks and rays compared to other modern fishes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Name and describe the distinguishing features of the three main groups of mammalsDescribe the proposed line of descent that produced mammalsList some derived features that may have arisen in response to mammals’ need for constant, high-level metabolism

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the main characteristics of amniotesExplain the difference between anapsids, synapsids, and diapsids, and give an example of eachIdentify the characteristics of reptilesDiscuss the evolution of reptiles

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the derived features that distinguish primates from other animalsExplain why scientists are having difficulty determining the true lines of descent in hominids

In this activity, students design an innovative human shelter that is inspired and informed by an animal structure. Each group is assigned an animal class, and they gather information about shelters used by the animals in that class. After researching the topic and brainstorming ideas, students build small prototypes (models) of the structures. Finally, they present their products, explaining what attribute of the animal structure influenced their design.