Plant Structure and Function (10th Edition) (Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life)

This brief and specialized book is designed for general, non-majors biology courses, and includes a brief history of vascular plant tissues, growth patterns, plant nutrition and transport, plant hormones, reproduction, and development. PLANT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION covers Unit V from BIOLOGY: THE UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF LIFE. Research has given us a better understanding of the interconnectedness of molecular biology, structure, function, and evolution. In this tenth Edition, Starr and Taggart take that important connection out of the research realm and actually interweave these insights into the text. These unifying biological concepts encourage student understanding instead of memorization. With this background, students are better prepared to understand the power of comparative molecular studies in clarifying the relationhip between plant structure and function The accompanying improvements in the media package meet the high standards instructors and students have come to expect from the Starr and Taggart media package. Students automatically receive a new version of the complimentary Interactive Concepts in Biology CD-ROM (featuring nearly 800 interactions to clarify and reinforce text concepts), and four months free access to InfoTrac College Edition (featuring full text articles from 4,000 periodicals). Also available is Engage Online, which provides a rich online version of the text, plus animations and learning resources for every chapter. The instructor package includes a Multimedia Manager presentation tool with art and graphics from the text, as well as CNN Today video clips (294 in all)--now available digitally as well as on video.

For the past two decades, Cecie Starr has been known as one of the best-selling biology textbook authors. Her texts, appreciated for their clarity in both the written word and the visual representation of biological concepts, include multiple editions of BIOLOGY: THE UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF LIFE, BIOLOGY: CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS, and BIOLOGY TODAY AND TOMORROW. Her original dream was to become an architect. Instead of building houses, she now builds, with care and attention to detail, incredible texts based on this philosophy: "I invite students into a chapter through an intriguing story. Once inside, they get the great windows that biologists construct on the world of life. Biology is not just another house. It is a conceptual mansion. I hope to do it justice."

Ralph Taggart, Former Chair of Biological Sciences at Michigan State University, Ralph Taggert is now the chair of Geological Sciences. Professor Taggart, known for his outstanding research in Paleobotany, has taught the general biology course for over 20 years.