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 the effects of abiotic factors on the composition of plant and animal communities in aquatic biomes
Compare and contrast the characteristics of the ocean zones
Summarize the characteristics of standing water and flowing water freshwater biomes

Discover the hidden treasures in the different habitats on the earth! The earth is filled with many biomes. Examples of different biomes are listed and include hyperlinks to additional information such as the animals found there.

Students explore various habitats (forest, desert, water, rainforest, and wetland), investigating how plants and animals survive within them, and compare and contrast the information that they gather.

What is a lake? Discover the answer to this question when you explore this informative resource. This site provides information on how temperature and seasonal changes effects lakes, how lakes are formed, how lakes compare in numbers to each other and more.

Explore landforms and water bodies in this animated video [8:49] from PEEP and the Big Wide World. Three adventurous friends -- Peep, Chirp, and Quack -- have a firsthand encounter with a very big rock stuck on the steep slope of a hill. Students can use the video to observe, identify, and describe characteristics of a landform (hill) and two bodies of water (pond, stream). An Activity, Background Essay, and Teaching Tips are available for this video.

Prior to reaching households, water is exposed to a variety of treatments designed to render it fit for human consumption and use. One of the first treatment steps is the removal of suspended solids using chemical additives called flocculants. In this activity, students learn about two commonly used flocculants and clean water collected from a local pond or river. They experiment with flocculant, stirring and pH variables.