Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the cell structure characteristics of protistsDescribe the metabolic diversity of protistsDescribe the life cycle diversity of protists

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Diazotrophs, microorganisms that “fix” atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that plants can use, are important members of mangrove ecosystems. Diazotrophic community structure and nitrogen fixation rates are strongly regulated by the environment, but how they change with sediment depth remains unclear. To find out, a new study investigated biological nitrogen fixation in sediment cores taken from a mangrove ecosystem in China. The results showed that diazotroph diversity decreased with depth, and salinity was the main factor that influenced the diazotrophic community structure. Communities above vs. below 50 cm were markedly different. In sediments shallower than 50 cm, Anaeromyxobacter, Rubrivivax, Methylocystis, Dickeya and Methylomonas dominated, while Agrobacterium and Azotobacter dominated from 50 to 100 cm. The nitrogen fixation rate and the abundance of nitrogen fixation genes increased with depth, while the abundance of genes related to nitrification and denitrification decreased..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are extreme environments that typically form along mid-ocean ridges. Although hundreds of vent systems have been identified, those south of 14°S on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge remain relatively unexplored. To learn more, a recent study investigated the microbes inhabiting the newly discovered Deyin-1 vent in this area. Analysis of 219 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) revealed a highly diverse and variable community. Most of the dominant microbes appeared capable of using reduced sulfur and hydrogen as primary energy sources, and many of the microbes seemed to use multiple energy pathways, indicating adaptability to fluctuating conditions. Multiple types of bacteria were also predicted to participate in the same metabolic pathways, suggesting functional redundancy within the community. Furthermore, the genome sequences suggested that a large proportion of microbes could both make their own food and consume other organisms..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.