Biology 2e is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology includes rich features that engage students in scientific inquiry, highlight careers in the biological sciences, and offer everyday applications. The book also includes various types of practice and homework questions that help students understand—and apply—key concepts. The 2nd edition has been revised to incorporate clearer, more current, and more dynamic explanations, while maintaining the same organization as the first edition. Art and illustrations have been substantially improved, and the textbook features additional assessments and related resources.

By the end of this section, you will be able to do the following:

Describe how red and blue light affect plant growth and metabolic activities
Discuss gravitropism
Understand how hormones affect plant growth and development
Describe thigmotropism, thigmonastism, and thigmogenesis
Explain how plants defend themselves from predators and respond to wounds

Plants grow and change on a time scale that is too slow for us to observe in real time. Time-lapse photography is a simple technique that allows us to see the movements of plants and clearly demonstrates that plants are living and capable of some extraordinary things. This site is full of Quick-time movies that show various aspects of plant growth with textual explanations accompanying each movie and topic. Movie topics include Germination, Photomorphogenesis, Tropisms, Circadian Responses, General Growth, and more. Within each topic are more choices.