Understanding Biology

A concise and engaging biology text for biology majors, Understanding Biology partnered with Connect emphasizes fundamentals concepts to help students better understand biology and focus on developing scientific skills.  This approach utilizes the Vision and Change guidelines of Core Concepts and Core Skills while helping students begin the process of becoming a scientist.

Condensed chapters are centered on a learning path that serves to connect concepts within a chapter. The learning path begins with learning outcomes, which help students understand the core skills and concepts they should develop. Inquiry and Analysis cases help students build scientific skills, while scaffold end of chapter assessment ensures they not only grasp core concepts, but can also critically analyze and apply what they've learned. "Connecting the Concepts," a synthesis feature that ends every part, helps students understand the connections between biological concepts, thus helping them "see" the big picture.

Kenneth A. Mason received his undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Washington, worked at UC Berkeley, then pursued his PhD in Genetics at UC Davis. He has taught Gentics, Microbial Genetics, Microbiology, Advanced Molecular Genetics, Introductory Biology, and a Genetics Laboratory that he designed.

Jonathan Losos is a Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Herpetology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Losos's research has focused on studying patterns of adaptive ratiation and evolutionary diversification in lizards. The recipient of several awards including hte prestigious Theodosius Dobzhansky and David Starr Jordan Prizes for outstanding young evolutionary biologists, Losos has published more than 100 scientific articles.