Volume 4 - Plant Structure & Function (Biology the Unity & Diversity of Life)

Renowned for its writing style and trendsetting art, PLANT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION provides real-world applications and helps you think critically about them. The new edition offers a new Learning Roadmap in each chapter to help you gain a full understanding. You will be able to focus on key concepts, make connections to other concepts, and see where the material is leading. Helpful learning tools like the section-ending "Take-Home Messages" and the on-page running glossary ensure that you will grasp key points. Carefully balancing accessibility and the level of detail, the authors enable you to go beyond rote memorization and prepare you to make important decisions in life that require an understanding of biology and the process of science.

For two decades, Cecie Starr secured her place as one of the bestselling 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, but now, instead of building houses, she 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, is now the chair of Geological Sciences. Professor Taggart, known for his outstanding research in Paleobotany, has taught General Biology for over 20 years.

Christine Evers (B.S. in Biology, State University of New York at Stony Brook) has been creating multimedia and web-based materials to supplement Starr and other science texts for ten years. After working as a research assistant studying developmental biology of slime mold, she was awarded an N.S.F. fellowship to attend Yale, where she studied Evolutionary Biology and honeybee behavior. She has a strong interest in science education and serves as a member of her local school board.