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

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the role that protists play in the ecosystemDescribe important pathogenic species of protists

By the end of this section, you will be able to:List the unifying characteristics of eukaryotesDescribe what scientists know about the origins of eukaryotes based on the last common ancestorExplain endosymbiotic theory

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe representative protist organisms from each of the six presently recognized supergroups of eukaryotesIdentify the evolutionary relationships of plants, animals, and fungi within the six presently recognized supergroups of eukaryotes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe representative protist organisms from each of the six presently recognized supergroups of eukaryotesIdentify the evolutionary relationships of plants, animals, and fungi within the six presently recognized supergroups of eukaryotes

This lesson plan helps students understand the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that allow for different animals and plants to survive. Students will look at the effects of water quality on various water-related activities and describe water as an environmental, economic and social resource. The students will also learn how engineers use water quality information to make decisions about stream modifications.

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:

"Plants evolved in a world dominated by prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes. Underneath the surface, plant roots interact with microbes in the soil – the rhizosphere microbiome. But although bacteria and fungi are well-studied in the rhizosphere, other components, including viruses and protists, are less well understood. To better understand the extent to which biological and environmental factors shape protist communities, researchers analyzed protist communities associated with the rhizosphere and bulk soil of switchgrass plants in different developmental stages. They found that the diversity of protists was lower in the rhizosphere than in the bulk soil and that the composition of protist communities changed through the different phenological stages of the plant..."

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

BCC Bioscience Image Library is a media file repository of images and video clips made available to educators and students in the biological sciences. The resources are created by faculty, staff and students of Berkshire Community College and are licensed under Creative Commons 0. This means all content is free, with no restrictions on how the material may be used, reused, adapted or modified for any purposes, without restriction under copyright or database law.

This project was partially funded by a $20,000,000 grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Grant # TC-26450-14-60-A-25. The product was created by the grantee and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The U.S. Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership.

If you have any questions contact Professor Faye Reynolds at: freynold@berkshirecc.edu

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:

"The gut microbiota is a diverse ecosystem. While bacteria are present in the greatest numbers, other microorganisms such as fungi and protists are also present, influencing many physiological functions. Analyses of the gut microbiome in livestock species have increased recently with improvements in technology and decreased cost. However, little is known about host genetic control over gut microbial communities. A recent study examined this relationship using healthy Duroc pigs. Using genome-wide association studies, researchers identified a gene regulatory network comprising 3,561 genes and 738,913 connections. Within this complex and polygenic network, five main regulators stood out. The proteins were associated with immune cell development, cell signaling in immune cells, and the vaccine response and a large number of predicted targets were genes associated with microbiota in pigs, mice, and humans. Host genetic variants associated with microbial functions were also identified..."

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