With its distinctive investigative approach to learning, this best-selling laboratory manual encourages students to participate in the process of science and develop creative and critical reasoning skills. Students are invited to pose hypotheses, make predictions, conduct open-ended experiments, collect data, and apply the results to new problems. The Seventh Edition emphasizes connections to recurring themes in biology, including structure and function, unity and diversity, and the overarching theme of evolution. Select tables from the lab manual are provided in Excel® format in the Study Area at www.masteringbiology.com, allowing students to record data directly on their computer, process data using statistical tests, create graphs, and be prepared to communicate their results in class discussions or reports.