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 features that characterized the earliest animals and when they appeared on earthExplain the significance of the Cambrian period for animal evolution and the changes in animal diversity that took place during that timeDescribe some of the unresolved questions surrounding the Cambrian explosionDiscuss the implications of mass animal extinctions that have occurred in evolutionary history

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Define biodiversityDescribe biodiversity as the equilibrium of naturally fluctuating rates of extinction and speciationIdentify historical causes of high extinction rates in Earth’s history

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:

"A team of researchers from the US and the UK has launched a mathematical assault on our planet. Using energy calculations, they’ve tasked themselves with determining the ability for life as we know it to make it through a catastrophe of cosmic proportions. It’s the end of the world as we know it. And the verdict is that life will be fine. Just what kind of calamity would it take to wipe out all life? The simplest answer is that, since life as we know it depends on water, the entire ocean would have to boil. Earth’s toughest creature, the tardigrade, can withstand temperatures well above boiling. But it can do so for only a few minutes. So the question now becomes, what cosmic events are cataclysmic enough to vaporize our oceans? Mathematically, it’s an energy problem—to which there are three possible answers. The first is an asteroid impact. Many space objects have struck Earth throughout history. And many still might..."

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