Table of Contents

I. The Chemistry of Life

Picture Perfect

A museum conservator needs to remove food stains from a new acquisition.

Topics covered: macromolecules, enzymes, and starches.

 

II. The Cell

Bean Brew

A new transgenic fungus enhances the production of soy sauce.

Topics covered: fermentation, metabolic pathways, bioenergetics, and respiration.

 

III. Genetics

The Donor’s Dilemma

A blood donor may have been exposed to West Nile virus.

Topics covered: protein synthesis, viral genomes, genomics, and transmission pathways.

 

IV. Mechanisms of Evolution

Tree Thinking

When identifying unknown meat, alleged to be whale, students use biotechnology tools to find new ways to determine relationships between related organisms.

Topics covered: phylogeny, classification, and forensics using DNA analysis.

 

V. The Evolutionary History of Biological Diversity

Unveiling the Carboniferous

A biology consultant critiques the scientific accuracy of a proposed mural of the Carboniferous Period. Topics covered: geologic time, interpreting fossils, identifying period-appropriate organisms, and accurate visual depiction in science.

 

VI. Plant Form and Function

Corn Under Construction

Growers discuss the management of BT corn crops.

Topics covered: angiosperm anatomy and reproduction, biotechnology, and agriculture.

 

VII. Animal Form and Function

Galloper’s Gut

Horse owners train a new employee in the care and feeding of horses.

Topics covered: horse evolution, evolution of grass versus grain feeders, digestive processes, and anatomy of digestion.

 

VIII. Ecology

Back to the Bay

Taped gull distress calls are used at a Chesapeake Bay marina to control an annoying gull population.

Topics covered: animal behavior, population biology, characteristics of aquatic biomes, human population impacts, and conservation.

 

Multi-Unit

Pandemic Flu: Past and Possible

The oral history of a survivor of the 1918 flu epidemic contrasts with what we know today about pandemic flu.

Topics covered: immune response, viral structure, transmission and reproduction, informing the public, epidemiology modeling, and pandemic planning.

 

Multi-Unit

Shh: Silencing the Hedgehog Pathway

A diagnosis of skin cancer leads to the hedgehog signaling pathway.

Topics covered: cell signaling, antagonists, gene expression and development, stem cells, and monoclonal antibodies as research tools.

About the Author

Jane B. Reece
As Neil Campbell’s longtime collaborator, Jane Reece has participated in every edition of BIOLOGY. Earlier, Jane taught biology at Middlesex County College and Queensborough Community College. Her research as a doctoral student and postdoc focused on genetic recombination in bacteria. Besides her work on BIOLOGY, she has been a coauthor on Biology: Concepts & Connections, Essential Biology, and The World of the Cell.
 
Lisa A. Urry
Lisa Urry (Units 1-3) is a professor and developmental biologist, and recent Chair of the Biology Department, at Mills College. After graduating from Tufts University with a double major in Biology and French, Lisa completed her Ph.D. in molecular and developmental biology at MIT. She has published a number of research papers, most of them focused on gene expression during embryonic and larval development in sea urchins. Lisa is also deeply committed to promoting opportunities for women in science education and research.
 
Michael L. Cain
Michael Cain (Units 4 and 5) is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist who is now writing full time. Michael earned a joint degree in Biology and Math at Bowdoin College, an M.Sc. from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University. As a faculty member at New Mexico State University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, he taught a wide range of courses including introductory biology, ecology, evolution, botany, and conservation biology. . Michael is the author of dozens of scientific papers on topics that include foraging behavior in insects and plants, long-distance seed dispersal, and speciation in crickets. In addition to his work on Campbell BIOLOGY, Michael is also the lead author of an ecology textbook.
 
Steven A. Wasserman
Steve Wasserman (Unit 7) is a professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He earned his A.B. in Biology from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from MIT. Through his research on regulatory pathway mechanisms in the fruit fly Drosophila, Steve has contributed to the fields of developmental biology, reproduction, and immunity. As a faculty member at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and UCSD, he has taught genetics, development, and physiology to undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. He has also served as the research mentor for more than a dozen doctoral students and more than 50 aspiring scientists at the undergraduate and high school levels. Steve has been the recipient of distinguished scholar awards from both the Markey Charitable Trust and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. In 2007, he received UCSD’s Distinguished Teaching Award for undergraduate teaching.
 
Peter V. Minorsky
Peter Minorsky (Unit 6) is a professor at Mercy College in New York, where he teaches evolution, ecology, botany, and introductory biology. He received his B.A. in Biology from Vassar College and his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from Cornell University. He is also the science writer for the journal Plant Physiology. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Peter taught at Kenyon College, Union College, Western Connecticut State University, and Vassar College. He is an electrophysiologist who studies plant responses to stress. Peter received the 2008 Award for Teaching Excellence at Mercy College.

 

Robert B. Jackson
Rob Jackson (Unit 8) is a professor of biology and Nicholas Chair of Environmental Sciences at Duke University. Rob holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rice University, as well as M.S. degrees in Ecology and Statistics and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Utah State University. Rob directed Duke’s Program in Ecology for many years and just finished a term as the Vice President of Science for the Ecological Society of America. Rob has received numerous awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering from the National Science Foundation. He also enjoys popular writing, having published a trade book about the environment, The Earth Remains Forever, and two books of poetry for children, Animal Mischief and Weekend Mischief.