Open Educational Resources for Biology: OER Biology Textbooks

"Biology is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology includes rich features that engage students in scientific inquiry, highlight careers in the biological sciences, and offer everyday applications. The book also includes clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts." (Website)

"Our goal is to present the key observations and unifying concepts upon which modern biology is based; it is not a survey of all biology! " (OER Commons Website)

"Microbiology covers the scope and sequence requirements for a single-semester microbiology course for non-majors. The book presents the core concepts of microbiology with a focus on applications for careers in allied health. The pedagogical features of the text make the material interesting and accessible while maintaining the career-application focus and scientific rigor inherent in the subject matter."(Website)

MERLOT lists a broad range of different OER materials, and allows browsing to be filtered by Discipline, Material Type, Audience, and others.