Table of Contents

1. Life: Chemical, Cellular, and Evolutionary Foundations.- 2. The Molecules of Life.- 3. Nucleic Acids and Transcription.- 4. Translation and Protein Structure.- 5. Organizing Principles: Lipids, Membranes, and Cell Compartments.- 6. Making Life Work: Capturing and Using Energy.- 7. Cellular Respiration: Harvesting Energy from Carbohydrates and Other Fuel Molecules.- 8. Photosynthesis: Using Sunlight to Build Carbohydrates.- 9. Cell Signaling.- 10. Cell and Tissue Architecture: Cytoskeleton, Cell Junctions, and Extracellular Matrix.- 11. Cell Division: Variations, Regulation, and Cancer.- 12. DNA Replication and Manipulation.- 13. Genomes.- 14. Mutation and DNA Repair.- 15. Genetic Variation.- 16. Mendelian Inheritance.- 17. Inheritance of Sex Chromosomes, Linked Genes, and Organelles.- 18. The Genetic and Environmental Basis of Complex Traits.- 19. Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation.- 20. Genes and Development.- 21. Evolution: How Genotypes and Phenotypes Change Over Time.- 22. Species and Speciation.- 23. Evolutionary Patterns: Phylogeny and Fossils.- 24. Human Origins and Evolution.- 25. Cycling Carbon.- 26. Bacteria and Archaea.- 27. Eukaryotic Cells: Origins and Diversity.- 28. Being Multicellular.- 29. Plant Structure and Function: Moving Photosynthesis onto Land.- 30. Plant Reproduction: Finding Mates and Dispersing Young.- 31. Plant Growth and Development.- 32. Plant Defense: Keeping the World Green.- 33. Plant Diversity.- 34. Fungi: Structure, Function, and Diversity.- 35. Animal Nervous Systems.- 36. Animal Sensory Systems and Brain Function.- 37. Animal Movement: Muscles and Skeletons.- 38. Animal Endocrine Systems.- 39. Animal Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems.- 40. Animal Metabolism, Nutrition, and Digestion.- 41. Animal Renal Systems: Water and Waste.- 42. Animal Reproduction and Development.- 43. Animal Immune Systems.- 44. Animal Diversity.- 45. Animal Behavior.- 46. Population Ecology.- 47. Species Interactions, Communities, and Ecosystems.- 48. Biomes and Global Ecology.- 49. The Anthropocene: Humans as a Planetary Force

About the Author

James R. Morris is Professor of Biology at Brandeis University. He teaches a wide variety of courses for majors and non-majors, including introductory biology, evolution, genetics and genomics, epigenetics, comparative vertebrate anatomy, and a first-year seminar on Darwin's On the Origin of Species. He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards from Brandeis and Harvard. Dr. Morris received a PhD in genetics from Harvard University and an MD from Harvard Medical School. He was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, and a National Academies Education Fellow and Mentor in the Life Sciences.

Daniel L. Hartl is Higgins Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. His lab studies molecular evolutionary genetics and population genetics and genomics. Dr. Hartl is the recipient of the Samuel Weiner Outstanding Scholar Award as well as the Gold Medal of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples. He has served as President of the Genetics Society of America and President of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Dr. Hartl's PhD is from the University of Wisconsin, and he did postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Andrew H. Knoll is Fisher Professor of Natural History in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is also Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Dr. Knoll teaches introductory courses in both departments. His research focuses on the early evolution of life, Precambrian environmental history, and the interconnections between the two. He has also worked extensively on the early evolution of animals, mass extinction, and plant evolution.
Robert Lue is Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University and the Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. He has coauthored undergraduate biology textbooks and chaired education conferences on college biology for the National Academies and the National Science Foundation and on diversity in science for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health.
Melissa Michael is Director for Core Curriculum and Assistant Director for Undergraduate Instruction for the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Andrew Berry is Lecturer in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and an undergraduate advisor in the Life Sciences at Harvard University. With research interests in evolutionary biology and history of science, he teaches courses that either focus on one of the areas or combine the two.
Andrew Biewener is Charles P. Lyman Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and Director of the Concord Field Station. He teaches both introductory and advanced courses in anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics.

Brian D. Farrell is Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Curator in Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He is an authority on coevolution between insects and plants and a specialist on the biology of beetles.

N. Michele Holbrook is Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She teaches an introductory course on biodiversity as well as advanced courses in plant biology.