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 how the present-day theory of evolution was developedDefine adaptationExplain convergent and divergent evolutionDescribe homologous and vestigial structuresDiscuss misconceptions about the theory of evolution

Students experience the excitement of watching live-streaming video of wild bears on Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska, in order to explore science concepts in the real world. These three lessons, designed for grades 3–5, offer students the opportunity to engage in activities that focus in particular on the inheritance and variation of brown bear traits.

In this online activity, learners discover how random variation influences biological evolution. Biological evolution is often thought of as a process by which adaptation is generated through selection.Œć While it is recognized that random variation underlies the process, emphasis is usually placed on selection and resulting adaptation, leaving a sense that it is selection that drives evolution.Œć This simulation highlights the creative role of random variation, offering a somewhat different perspective: that of evolution as open-ended exploration driven by randomness and constrained by selection, with adaptation as a dynamic, transient consequence rather than an objective.

This resource is a phenomenon-based adaption to the Smithsonian's STCMS Genes and Molecular Machines kit. The anchoring phenomenon event features four families (apple, hydra, human and sea star). Students will investigate and explore the genetic causes of why some families look similar and others look different. Students will use models to explain their thinking throughout the intentional sequence of lessons.

Students explore different ways to change a simple sentence and melody to understand the concept of theme and variation.

Abstract: This video explores individual variation found among Weddell seals, and what those differences might mean for the future of this southernmost mammal on Earth, living in the most pristine marine environment remaining on our planet. The video features interviews on location in the Erebus Bay area of Antarctica's Ross Sea with ecologists Jay Rotella, Bob Garrott, Thierry Chambert, and Jesse DeVoe of the Weddell seal population project research team. Also featured is some truly spectacular underwater footage by Henry Kaiser, courtesy of Jo-Ann Mellish and Project B-470 (NMFS Permit No. 15478 and ACA 2003-12), and lots of Weddell puppies and moms filmed by Mary Lynn Price and other members of the B-009 Weddell research team. The video was edited and produced by Mary Lynn Price. This project video is made possible with funding and support from the National Science Foundation, and the assistance of the United States Antarctic Program. Produced in association with Montana State University.