Features

New to This Edition

MAJOR CHANGES AND UPDATES TO THE BOOK
In developing the third edition of Biology: How Life Works, we focused particularly on the form and function and ecology chapters.

New introductions set the scene for the plant and animal form and function chapters and highlight key themes in structure/function relationships.
• A new chapter, “Animal Form, Function, and Evolutionary History” (Chapter 33), leads off the animal physiology chapters. This chapter provides a whole-body view of structure and function that provides context for the specific systems discussed in the chapters that follow. It focuses on animal body plans and tissue types and introduces homeostasis as the major regulatory theme of the animal physiology chapters.
• The first section of “Plant Form, Function, and Evolutionary History” (Chapter 27) is a completely reconceived introduction to the plant form and function chapters. This section highlights major structure/function differences distinguishing bryophytes and vascular plants. It focuses on how the two groups maintain hydration, specifically on how the reliance on diffusion by bryophytes and bulk flow by vascular plants is reflected in overall structure and
cell properties.

Structure/function relationships are placed in a broader evolutionary framework.
• The new “Animal Form, Function, and Evolutionary History” chapter (Chapter 33) concludes with an overview of the history of animal evolution, placing major anatomical and physiological innovations in an evolutionary context.
• “Plant Diversity” (Chapter 31) is now organized around four major structure/function transitions in the evolution of plant life, highlighted in a new Section 31.1.

The relationship between structure and function has been further strengthened in the plant chapters.
We have recrafted several discussions of vascular structure and root structure to further clarify these structures and their effect on the resilience and efficiency of plant systems. In particular, the third edition provides a more thorough and insightful understanding of the mechanism of xylem transport.

The animal physiology chapters begin with a new introductory case that highlights structure/function relationships.
A new and engaging case on Biology-Inspired Design explores how scientists have mimicked nature to solve all kinds of practical problems of real-life interest to students, from Velcro to dialysis machines. Most animal physiology chapters contain a section discussing an example of biology-inspired design.

Ecology coverage has been enriched and reorganized for a more seamless flow.
A new chapter on Ecosystem Ecology, Chapter 46, combines ecosystem concepts such as food webs and trophic pyramids with the material on biogeochemical cycles formerly in separate chapters to present a more cohesive view of the flow of matter and energy in ecosystems. This new arrangement allows us to move seamlessly from organisms
to populations to species interactions to interactions with the physical environment to global ecology, ending with a discussion of the impact of human activities on the biosphere.

We continue to expand our treatment of ecological systems, one of our six grand themes. Chapters 44 and 45 (“Population Ecology” and “Species Interactions and Communities”) have been enriched by the addition of new concepts and examples to deepen the discussions of life histories and tradeoffs, island biogeography, the niche, biodiversity, and succession, among other topics.