Introduction to Biology: A Generative Approach

Introduction to Biology: A Generative Approach is an open biology textbook with forty-four chapters, ranging from systems science and chemical foundations through cells, metabolism, genetics, microbiology, physiology, evolution, and ecology. Organized as Unit 0 plus Units I–X, the text presents biology as an evidence-grounded discipline in which mechanisms, measurements, and simple models are developed together, so readers can move between narrative explanation and the quantitative constraints that shape biological claims. Five recurring themes—evolution, information, structure and function, systems and emergence, and the cell—provide orientation across scales and align with mainstream undergraduate biology competencies; Unit 0 adds an optional systems, historical, and philosophical lens without replacing the traditional molecular-to-ecological sequence. Where the curriculum is quantitat