Open Educational Resources: Biology

Biology 2e 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 various types of practice and homework questions that help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

Concepts of Biology is designed for the typical introductory biology course for nonmajors, covering standard scope and sequence requirements. The text includes interesting applications and conveys the major themes of biology, with content that is meaningful and easy to understand. The book is designed to demonstrate biology concepts and to promote scientific literacy.

A one- (evolving into two) semester introductory course on the evolutionary, molecular, genetic, genomic & systems foundations of modern biology

Focuses on experimental support for what we know about cell and molecular biology. Written to serve as the introductory biology course for biology majors with high school chemistry and biology prerequisites as well as for “gateway” cell and molecular biology courses for students with a college-level general biology and general chemistry course background.

We are happy to welcome you to our second Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook, Biochemistry Free For All. Biochemistry is a relatively young science, but its rate of growth has been truly impressive. The rapid pace of discoveries, which shows no sign of slowing, is reflected in the steady increase in the size of biochemistry textbooks. Growing faster than the size of biochemistry books have been the skyrocketing costs of higher education and the even faster rising costs of college textbooks. These unfortunate realities have created a situation where the costs of going to college are beyond the means of increasing numbers of students.

This book is designed as a succinct and focused resource, specifically aimed to help students grasp key threshold concepts in Biochemistry. Due to their troublesome nature, understanding threshold concepts is a cognitively demanding task. By using a series of thematically linked case studies that accompany theory, the cognitive load will be reduced. This will free up students to focus on learning concepts rather than distracting them with unnecessary specifics.

Welcome to the wonderful world of microbiology! Yay! So. What is microbiology? If we break the word down it translates to “the study of small life,” where the small life refers to microorganisms or microbes. But who are the microbes? And how small are they? Generally microbes can be divided in to two categories: the cellular microbes (or organisms) and the acellular microbes (or agents). In the cellular camp we have the bacteria, the archaea, the fungi, and the protists (a bit of a grab bag composed of algae, protozoa, slime molds, and water molds). Cellular microbes can be either unicellular, where one cell is the entire organism, or multicellular, where hundreds, thousands or even billions of cells can make up the entire organism. In the acellular camp we have the viruses and other infectious agents, such as prions and viroids. In this textbook the focus will be on the bacteria and archaea (traditionally known as the “prokaryotes,”) and the viruses and other acellular agents.

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. Microbiology’s art program enhances students’ understanding of concepts through clear and effective illustrations, diagrams, and photographs.

Genetics, otherwise known as the Science of Heredity, is the study of biological information, and how this information is stored, replicated, transmitted and used by subsequent generations. The study of genetics can be sub-divided into three main areas: Transmission Genetics, Molecular Genetics, and Population Genetics. In this Introductory text, the focus is on Transmission or Classical Genetics, which deals with the basic principles of heredity and the mechanisms by which traits are passed from one generation to the next. The work of Gregor Mendel is central to Transmission Genetics; as such, there is a discussion about the pioneering work performed by him along with Mendel’s Laws, as they pertain to inheritance. Other aspects of Classical Genetics are covered, including the relationship between chromosomes and heredity, the arrangement of genes on chromosomes, and the physical mapping of genes.

This textbook is ideal for an introductory-level human biology course. It is aligned with the British Columbia Adult Basic Education learning outcomes for Provincial Level Biology, which is the equivalent of Grade 12 Anatomy and Physiology. This textbook begins with an introduction to sciences and the scientific method, and then addresses the human body in increasing scale: from biological molecules, to cells and tissues, to organs and all eleven organ systems, all with an overarching focus on health.

This textbook is focused specifically on the principles and concepts of a foundational Cell Biology course. The book takes a more conceptual approach that highlights how scientists study cells, and how to analyze and interpret experimental results. Rather than focusing primarily on historical experiments that were key to our understanding of cells, the book explores a range of more modern experimental techniques so that students can begin to understand how cells are studied now, in the 21st century. The book includes over 200 newly created illustrations and animations, that were specifically designed for this book, as well as review questions at the end of each chapter, to help students explore and understand the material.

Anatomy and Physiology is a dynamic textbook for the two-semester human anatomy and physiology course for life science and allied health majors. The book is organized by body system and covers standard scope and sequence requirements. Its lucid text, strategically constructed art, career features, and links to external learning tools address the critical teaching and learning challenges in the course. The web-based version of Anatomy and Physiology also features links to surgical videos, histology, and interactive diagrams.

This text tries to emulate some of the overall philosophy of Reed’s Chest Radiology – Patterns and Differential Diagnoses. It presents common, recurring problems in musculoskeletal radiology and how one can approach them.

This open access textbook focuses on the various aspects of radiobiology. The goal of radiobiological research is to better understand the effects of radiation exposure at the cellular and molecular levels in order to determine the impact on health. This book offers a unique perspective, by covering not only radiation biology but also radiation physics, radiation oncology, radiotherapy, radiochemistry, radiopharmacy, nuclear medicine, space radiation biology & physics, environmental and human radiation protection, nuclear emergency planning, molecular biology and bioinformatics, as well as the ethical, legal and social considerations related to radiobiology. This range of disciplines contributes to making radiobiology a broad and rather complex topic. This textbook is intended to provide a solid foundation to those interested in the basics and practice of radiobiological science. It is a learning resource, meeting the needs of students, scientists and medical staff with an interest in this rapidly evolving discipline, as well as a teaching tool, with accompanying teaching material to help educators.