Living Systems as Energy Converters documents the proceedings of the European Conference on Living Systems as Energy Converters held in Pont-a-Mousson, France on October 18-22, 1976. This book is organized into three main topics—energy in biological molecules; biological membranes as energy transducers; and energy in cells, organisms, and populations. In these topics, this compilation specifically discusses the energetic evolution of complex networks of reactions; protein ß-structure and the molecular evolution of biological energy conversion; and structure and function of ATP synthase. The calcium transport in biological membranes; conversion of solar energy into energy-rich phosphate compounds; and energy conservation in photosynthetic electron transport of chloroplasts are also deliberated. This text likewise covers the direct conversion of radiant into electrical energy using plant systems; energy budgets in natural and agricultural ecosystems; and recycling of excess carbon dioxide from fossil energy conversion by plants. This publication is intended for biologists and physical-chemists, including students concerned with the study of living systems as energy converters.

Biology for AP® courses covers the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester Advanced Placement® biology course. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology for AP® Courses was designed to meet and exceed the requirements of the College Board’s AP® Biology framework while allowing significant flexibility for instructors. Each section of the book includes an introduction based on the AP® curriculum and includes rich features that engage students in scientific practice and AP® test preparation; it also highlights careers and research opportunities in biological sciences.

The informational nature of biological organization, at levels from the genetic and epigenetic to the cognitive and linguistic. Information shapes biological organization in fundamental ways and at every organizational level. Because organisms use information--including DNA codes, gene expression, and chemical signaling--to construct, maintain, repair, and replicate themselves, it would seem only natural to use information-related ideas in our attempts to understand the general nature of living systems, the causality by which they operate, the difference between living and inanimate matter, and the emergence, in some biological species, of cognition, emotion, and language. And yet philosophers and scientists have been slow to do so. This volume fills that gap. Information and Living Systems offers a collection of original chapters in which scientists and philosophers discuss the informational nature of biological organization at levels ranging from the genetic to the cognitive and linguistic. The chapters examine not only familiar information-related ideas intrinsic to the biological sciences but also broader information-theoretic perspectives used to interpret their significance. The contributors represent a range of disciplines, including anthropology, biology, chemistry, cognitive science, information theory, philosophy, psychology, and systems theory, thus demonstrating the deeply interdisciplinary nature of the volume's bioinformational theme.