Open Educational Resources and Biology

This collection was curated by an ASCCC OERI discipline lead. The curated list provided here is intended to facilitate faculty selection of an OER text in lieu of a commercial text. If you are aware of additional resources that should be included, please contact us via our general OER e-mail. Resources with a C-ID designation are listed numerically by C-ID number and followed by a collection of OER by course title when there is no C-ID to reference.

If you are interested in seeing how available OER might be used to develop a biology associate degree for transfer that is a zero textbook cost (“ZTC”) degree, please see OER and the Biology TMC.

Human Anatomy with Lab (C-ID BIOL 110B)

Lecture Materials

• General Human Anatomy (Lange et al.) (CC BY-NC-SA)

  This text is adapted from Human Anatomy (Menefee et al., 2021) – LibreTexts (CC-BY) with updated images.

  The purpose of this textbook is to serve as a resource for students who are taking a lower division human anatomy course. All efforts were made to ensure the material covered in this resource is consistent, accurate, and accessible. This material was also designed to be equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

  

• Human Anatomy (Menefee et al., 2021) – LibreTexts (CC-BY)

  A Human Anatomy textbook derived from OpenStax’s Anatomy and Physiology. PowerPoint slides are available by request from OERI.

  

Laboratory Materials

• Human Anatomy Lab Manual (Wilk-Blasczak, 2018) – Mavs Open Press  (CC BY 4.0 International)

  A laboratory manual aimed specifically at Human Anatomy. Each exercise has a pre and post lab, and contains quiz-style labs that are helpful for retention of information. While there are some images, there are very few images for labeling in the manual; the feasibility of adopting this manual is dependent on what anatomical models you have available.

  

• Human Anatomy Laboratory Manual (Librande, 2022) – OERCommons (CC-BY-SA)

  A diagram-based lab manual for 1-semester Human Anatomy courses. Included are over 100 openly-licensed images that students will be able to label and learn from.

  

Human Anatomy and Physiology with Lab (C-ID BIOL 115S)

This descriptor is a sequence composed of at least two courses. OER for this course may be applicable to BIOL 110B and/or BIOL 120B, or vice versa.

Lecture Materials

• Anatomy and Physiology 2nd edition (Betts et al., 2018) – OpenStax (CC BY 4.0)

  A text replacement designed for 2-semester Anatomy and Physiology courses for health science students. The second edition includes text and images that are more diverse and inclusive.

  

Laboratory Materials

• UGA Anatomy and Physiology 1 (Massey et al., 2019) – Galileo  (CC BY 4.0)

  UGA Anatomy and Physiology 2 (Massey et al., 2019) – Galileo (CC BY 4.0)

  A lab manual that incorporates images mainly from OpenStax’s Anatomy and Physiology.

  

Human Physiology with Lab (C-ID BIOL 120B)

Lecture Materials

• Human Physiology (Young et al., n.d.) – WikiBooks  (CC BY-SA)

  A wiki-style textbook that contains many common topics in Physiology. The text was created as a class project by undergraduate students, and it is not clear if the text has been reviewed by physiology educators. PDF and printable versions are available for instructors who want stability in the material as the Wiki aspect means that anyone can edit the original material.

  

Laboratory Materials

• A Mixed Course-Based Research Approach to Human Physiology (Karri Haen Whitmer, 2021) – PressBooks (CC-BY-SA)

  A lab manual aimed at instructors who wish to teach physiology labs in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) format. The lab manual is broad enough to be applicable to health science majors. iWorx is the data collection platform used.

  

Organismal Biology, Ecology, and Evolution (C-ID BIOL 130S)

See “Biology Sequence for Majors”

Biology Sequence for Majors (C-ID BIOL 135S)

This descriptor is a sequence composed of at least two courses. OER provided below are applicable to the sequence as a whole, and may be usable in individual courses (e.g., BIOL 190, BIOL 155, etc.). OER related only to a specific course is also provided in a separate section of this page, and those materials may, in turn, be applicable to this C-ID.

Lecture Materials

• OpenStax Biology 2e (Clark et al., 2018) (CC BY 4.0)

  Perhaps one of the closest examples to a “turnkey” open education solution for the major’s biology sequence. This text is in a similar vein to mainstream publisher offerings such as Campbell Biology and Mader’s Biology. The organization is consistent with those texts, and can easily replace them. Likewise, instructor materials such as lecture slides, end-of-chapter answer keys, etc., are available. With many contributing authors though, the level of content varies depending on section. For example, biological diversity of invertebrates is fairly shallow with the text organizing groups by superphylum rather than discussing each phylum individually and in detail. Instructors may benefit from remixing the book with chapters from OpenStax’s non-major’s biology textbook Concepts of Biology. This will allow for fine-tuning of the course content depending on the course prerequisites (i.e., whether students have taken chemistry).

  

• Biofundamentals (Klymkowsky and Cooper, 2021) – LibreTexts (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

  Diverging from traditional biology texts, Biofundamentals fills in many of the “gaps” that these texts leave. Perennially misunderstood concepts such as the Scientific Method and nature of science, and Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium are addressed with careful consideration for comprehension. The text is also organized in an engaging manner that starts with fundamental questions of biology (e.g., How did life arise? How did life diversify, etc.) rather than the abstractness of chemistry and macromolecules. Instructors following Vision and Change guidelines may appreciate the structure of this text. However, the text as a whole suffers from a distinct lack of media. Occasional images and videos are provided, but these are far and few between. Visual processes such as membrane transport are described almost exclusively in text. The text content also does not fulfill the course descriptor due to missing content mainly related to biodiversity, anatomy, and physiology. Despite this, the text might serve as a good starting point for remixing, or as a supplement to another one.

  

• Boundless Biology (Boundless, n.d.) – LumenLearning (Licenses vary.)

  Incorporates many elements from Biology published by OpenStax. It augments that with other resources such as Wikimedia and its subsidiaries (e.g., Wikipedia, Wiktionary, etc.). The organization of this text might be more palatable for students. For example, LumenLearning provides the text split by semester (e.g., Biology I and Biology II). Content in Boundless Biology is collected from various sources with their own licensing type, which may not be open; care needs to be exercised when remixing content to ensure that only OER content is being used in the newly created content.

  

Laboratory Materials

• Biology I Laboratory Manual (Faculty of College of the Redwoods and Tidewater Community College, n.d.) – LumenLearning

  Biology II Laboratory Manual (Faculty of College of the Redwoods and Tidewater Community College, n.d.) – LumenLearning (CC License Varies)

  Includes 31 laboratory exercises with numerous additional, optional ones. This collection fits very nicely into a 2-semester Major’s Biology sequence. Ancillaries such as preparatory sheets, safety guidelines, and lab report rubrics are included to make this lab manual easy to adopt. A non-accessible PDF is also included for instructors who want students to have physical copies of the lab.

  

• Principles of Biology I Lab Manual (Burran and DesRochers, 2015) – GALILEO) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  Principles of Biology II Lab Manual (Burran and DesRochers, 2015) – GALILEO (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  A comprehensive collection of laboratory exercises for students. Accessible PDFs and Word versions are available for ease of use. Each exercise is prefaced by an introduction which allows for the lab manual to stand on its own independent of a textbook. However, there are no pre/post-labs, or preparation sheets for laboratory technicians. While the laboratory manuals are licensed under Creative Commons, there appears to be use of copyrighted images. In addition, attributions and licenses for individual images is not clear. Caution is advised when remixing the content or utilizing its laboratory exercises.

  

Organismal Biology (C-ID BIOL 140).

See “Biology Sequence for Majors”

Zoology/Animal Diversity and Evolution (C-ID BIOL 150)

Lecture Materials

No resources identified.

Laboratory Materials

• General Zoology Laboratory Manual (Subacz and Christian, 2019) – Galileo (CC BY)

  A brief, but well-written series of laboratory exercises related to Zoology. With only 6 laboratory exercises, it does not seem long enough to sustain a semester long course, but a word document version of the text is available to allow for remixing and addition of content.

  

Botany/Plant Diversity and Ecology (C-ID BIOL 155)

Lecture Materials

• A Photographic Atlas for Botany (Morrow, 2020) – ASCCC OERI (CC-BY-NC)

  This book provides images and descriptions for the organismal groups and anatomical features covered in general botany. Cover image of moss capsules glowing red under UV light by Alan Rockefeller, CC-BY-NC.

  

• Inanimate Life (Briggs, 2021) – Milne Open Textbooks (CC BY-SA)

  A well put together overview of botany. The text is not ordered in the more “traditional” phylogenetic manner. However, this enables the text to show cross-cutting concepts more clearly as a result. The text includes organisms outside of plant phyla such as fungi and algae.

  

• Botany (Ha et al., 2021) – LibreTexts  (CC BY-NC) 

  This text takes a more phylogenetic approach to the field of botany. After a chapter covering an introduction to the field, 7 chapters discussing plant (and other organismal groups) is provided. After, plant structure and function are covered, with ecology and conservation being the last section of the book.

  

Laboratory Materials

• Botany Lab Manual (Morrow, 2020) – ASCCC OERI (CC BY-NC) 

  A collection of 21 labs relevant to a botany course. Google docs are provided, so editing of material can be done easily. Illustrations by Nikki Harris are excellent, and help to maintain a cohesiveness to the visual presentation. All visuals are in black and white, and many are intended to be colored in by the student.

  

Cell and Molecular Biology (C-ID BIOL 190)

Lecture Materials

• Principles of Biology (Bartee et al., n.d.) – Open Oregon  (CC BY 4.0 International)

  While intended for a 3 quarter (2 semester) major’s biology sequence, this text focuses much more heavily on cellular and molecular biology. In turn, it makes for a good text for BIOL 190. The inclusion of some chapters on evolution ensure that the text meets the C-ID descriptor’s content requirements.

  

• Basic Cell and Molecular Biology 4th edition (Bergtrom, 2020) – University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (CC BY 4.0 International)

  While billed as a “basic” overview of the topic, the text is quite advanced and covers the content of BIOL 190 thoroughly. The updated text means that newer topics such as CRISPR are included. However, the advanced nature of the text means that there are topics that may go beyond the scope of BIOL 190 (e.g., mechanisms of retrotransposon copying, enzyme kinetics, etc.). Curation of the text content may be necessary. One critical feature of the text is its focus on experimental history in cellular and molecular biology; this might make it well-suited for instructors who focus heavily on scientific thinking.

  

General Biology

Lecture Materials

• Concepts of Biology (Fowler et al., 2013) – OpenStax (CC BY) 

  The non-major’s equivalent to OpenStax’s Biology 2^nd edition. An easy-to-use textbook that is similar to mainstream publisher efforts. Of note is a comprehensive “instructor resources” section that contains helpful tools for adopting the text (e.g., syllabus language, lecture slides, etc.).

  

Laboratory Materials

• General Biology BioSci 100 Laboratory Manual 4th Edition (Sanver-Wang, n.d.) – College of the Canyons (CC BY 4.0)

  A detailed lab-manual that includes 13 laboratory experiments. Each exercise is bookmarked by a pre-lab and post-lab, making it an easily used resource regardless of the adopter’s teaching practices. Laboratory preparation instructions do not appear to be available, so preparation time may be increased.

  

Human Biology

Lecture Materials

• Human Biology (Wakim and Grewal, 2021) – LibreTexts (CC BY) 

  Canvas ancillaries (CC BY) A Human Biology textbook that incorporates equity and inclusion into its content. Canvas ancillaries are available for instructors. This contains pages, quizzes, assignments, and other online learning resources for ease of adoption in an online setting.

  

Microbiology

Lecture Materials

• Microbiology ADAPT Ancillaries (Liu et al, 2024) – LibreTexts (CC BY)

  LibreTexts ADAPT course that contains unique questions that microbiology instructors created to accompany the OpenStax Microbiology textbook. Questions in 13 out of 26 chapters also contain feedback for students choosing the right or the wrong answers. Created by Ying Liu (City College of San Francisco), CCSF microbiology students and 8 other college and university microbiology instructors.

  

• Microbiology Canvas Ancillaries (Liu, 2022) (CC BY 4.0) 

  A Canvas course shared via Canvas Commons. Contains pages, quizzes, assignments, and other online learning resources.

  

• Microbiology for Earth Scientists (Kirk) – LibreTexts (CC BY)

  This book provides earth scientists with an introduction to microbiology and a look at the ways microorganisms are important to their area of expertise.

  

• Microbiology (Kaiser) – LibreTexts (CC BY)

  A microbiology textbook applicable for non-major and allied health microbiology. Created by Gary Kaiser from Community College of Baltimore County (Cantonsville).

  

• Microbiology (Parker et al., 2016) – OpenStax  (CC BY) 

  A text replacement that is applicable mainly to non-major’s or allied health microbiology. Two remixed versions, Allied Health Microbiology and Microbiology for Allied Health Students, is also available.

  

Laboratory Materials

• Microbiology Laboratory Manual (Hartline, 2023) – LibreTexts (CC BY-NC-SA)

  A microbiology lab manual that contains a comprehensive list of labs and instructor setup sheet.

  

• Microbiology: A Laboratory Experience (Ahern, 2018) – Open SUNY Textbooks  (CC BY-NC-SA)

  Contains many common laboratory experiments for a Microbiology course. The brevity of the lab manual makes it more applicable to a 1 lab/week course. Some BSL-2 generating protocols are also employed, namely the culturing of environmental samples.

  

Additional Resources

• Microbiology Case Studies (Liu, et al, 2024) – LibreTexts (CC BY 4.0)
  A collection of case studies inspired by the “Clinical Focus” feature from the OpenStax Microbiology textbook. These case studies are created using LibreStudio/H5P.

Introduction to Environmental Science (C-ID ENVS 100)

Lecture Materials

• Environmental Science (Ha and Schleiger) (ASCCC OERI) – LibreTexts (CC BY-NC)

  

Additional Resources

• Plug & Play Science: Engaging Lecture Vignettes For Flipped & Digital Biology and Environmental Science/Studies Courses (Poffenroth, ASCCC OERI) (CC BY)
  A series of 12 original high-quality videos for digital biology and environmental science courses. A transcript and a set of multiple- choice questions accompanies each captioned OER video.

Genetics

General Resources for Biology

• Scientist Spotlights Homework Assignments (Schinske, Tanner, Instructors and Students) (CC BY-NC-ND)
  Scientist Spotlights feature counter stereotypical examples of scientists. The examples contain scientists from different gender and ethnicity. Introducing these diverse images and stories of scientists may encourage STEM students to form a science identity.

Using an OER resource that is missing from the list above? If so, please let us know.

This page last updated on February 5, 2025.