Kratz René Fester - Biology For Dummies

Biology For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010926846

ISBN: 978-0-470-59875-7

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Rene Fester Kratz, PhD, teaches cellular biology and microbiology. She is a member of the North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership, where she helped create inquiry-based science courses for future teachers. Kratz is also the author of Molecular and Cell Biology For Dummies and Microbiology The Easy Way.

Donna Rae Siegfried has written about pharmaceutical and medical topics for 15 years in publications including Prevention, Runners World, Mens Health, and Organic Gardening. She has taught anatomy and physiology at the college level. She is also the author of Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies.

Dedication

To the memory of Cindy Fuller Kratz Berdan, RN. Thanks for all of your encouragement over the years. Rene Kratz

Authors Acknowledgments

Thanks to Matt Wagner, of Fresh Books, Inc., for helping me (Rene) find the opportunity to work on the second edition of this book. And thanks to all the great people at Wiley who made it happen: editors Tim Gallan and Jennifer Tebbe, acquisitions editor Erin Calligan Mooney, art coordinator Alicia South, and technical reviewers Michael Pratt and Medhane Cumbay. Thanks also to Sheree Montgomery, the project coordinator in Composition, and Kathryn Born, who worked on the art. On the home front, thanks to my husband, Dan, and my sons, Hueston and Dashiel, for all of their love and support. Rene Kratz

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Introduction

L ife is all around you, from invisible microbes and green plants to the other animals with whom you share the Earth. Whats more, these other living things arent just around you theyre intimately interconnected with your life. Plants make your food and provide you with oxygen, microbes break down dead matter and recycle materials that all living things need, and insects pollinate the plants you rely on for food. Ultimately, all living beings rely on other living beings for their survival.

What makes biology so great is that it allows you to explore the interconnectedness of the worlds organisms and really understand that living beings are works of art and machines rolled into one. Organisms can be as delicate as a mountain wildflower or as awe-inspiring as a majestic lion. And regardless of whether theyre plants, animals, or microbes, all living things have numerous working parts that contribute to the function of the whole being. They move, obtain energy, use raw materials, and make waste, whether theyre as simple as a single-celled organism or as complex as a human being.