Subscribe to Open Berea News
- Open Berea NewsFind out more about faculty development opportunities related to open education!
Open Educational Resources (OER) Librarian
Maria Taylor
she/her
Contact:
Office: Hutchins Library 221
CPO LIB
Hutchins Library
Berea College
Berea, KY 40404
CPO LIB
Hutchins Library
Berea College
Berea, KY 40404
859.985.3276
Website
Click on the topic below to access a list of OER.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Introductory Animal PhysiologyThis book is an introduction to the diversity of structure and function in animals at the tissue and organ system level. The focus of this book is on principles and mechanisms that sustain life and maintain homeostasis, including water balance, gas exchange, acquisition and transport of oxygen and nutrients, temperature regulation, electrical and chemical signal transmission, sensory processing, and locomotion.
- A Guide to the Principles of Animal NutritionBased on over 20 years of teaching experience in animal nutrition, this study guide will enhance learning basic food animal nutritional principles.
- History and Science of Cultivated PlantsHistory and Science of Cultivated Plants narrates how humans transitioned from foragers to farmers and have arrived at present-day industrial agriculture-based civilization.
- Inanimate LifeInanimate Life is an open textbook covering a very traditional biological topic, botany, in a non-traditional way. Rather than a phylogenetic approach, going group by group, the book considers what defines organisms and examines four general areas of their biology: structure, reproduction, energy needs, and interactions with other organisms.
- Plant Anatomy and Physiology: Images and diagrams to explain conceptsThis book was created to support teaching of an introductory unit on plant environmental physiology. It makes use of various images of cells and tissues to introduce and illustrate the range of plant organelles, cells, tissues and organs.
- Plant Breeding MethodsThis text has been compiled to provide an overview of how plant breeders develop cultivars of plant species. The methods that breeders use depend directly on the type of cultivar used to produce a commercial crop.
- Crop Wild Relatives and their Use in Plant BreedingThis text is being developed through a collaboration between Colorado State University and the United States Department of Agriculture.
- Genetics, Agriculture, and BiotechnologyThis textbook provides an introduction to plant genetics and biotechnology for the advancement of agriculture.
- Crop Adaptation and Improvement for Drought-Prone EnvironmentsThis books shares the latest developments relevant to concepts, methods, and technologies associated with dry cereals and legume crops’ production in the semiarid West Africa.
- Introduction to PermaculturePermaculture Design is a method of land planning that can be applied at scales from the home garden to city block to village to farm.
- Introduction to Soil ScienceThis textbook introduces readers to introductory soil science topics including the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils; soil formation, classification, and global distribution; soil health, soils and humanity, and sustainable land management.
- Soils Laboratory ManualThe manual highlights the multidisciplinary aspects of soil science with laboratories focused on soil formation, classification, and mapping; soil physics, soil biology; soil chemistry; and soil fertility and management.
- Properties and Behavior of Soil – Online Lab ManualThis project aims to provide a complete guide for the CE/AREN 3143 course (Properties and Behavior of Soil) at the University of Texas Arlington. Video demonstrations of lab processes accompany each chapter.
- Soil and Water Conservation: An Annotated BibliographyThe goals for this textbook are to create an up-to-date resource for soil and water conservation students and practitioners.
- Soil and Water Conservation Laboratory ManualThis laboratory manual was developed for graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in soil and water conservation classes who have previously taken a course on introductory soil science. It is designed with a “scaffolding” approach in which each laboratory builds on the previous ones on the way to developing a conservation plan for a single study site.
- Virtual Soil Science Learning ResourcesVirtual Soil Science Learning Resources (VSSLR) group is focused on developing innovative, OER for a variety of undergraduate and graduate natural resource courses and programs.
- Soil Formation and Parent MaterialGraphics, videos, and short descriptions of the soil formation process. The website includes information on landscape evolution, soil formation, parent materials, soil landscapes, and more.
PBEA Series
The following books, co-edited by Drs. Walter Suza and Kendall Lamkey, are adapted from Plant Breeding in E-Africa modules funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Horticulture & Forestry
- The Science of PlantsAn approachable guide to the fundamentals of plant science. Created for horticulture students, gardeners, science teachers, and anyone interested in understanding plants and how they grow. This is the required text for HORT 1001/6001 Plant Propagation at the University of Minnesota Department of Horticultural Science.
- Botany Lab ManualWith regard to organisms, this course begins with the Cyanobacteria, winds through several groups of unrelated organisms that were all once categorized as fungi, picks apart pieces of the "protista," and finally emerges into Kingdom Plantae.
- A Photographic Atlas for BotanyThis book provides images and descriptions for the organismal groups and anatomical features covered in general botany.
- Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist Identify Plants and Plant RequirementsThis is an editable, open access learning resource with interactive web-based experiences customized for horticulture students studying plant identification.
- Understudied Indigenous CropsThis eBook focuses on highlighting examples of understudied Indigenous crops, providing information on their origins, production, use, conservation, and breeding.
- From Growing to Biology: Plants 1eFrom Growing to Biology: Plants 1e brings the latest information for understanding of traditional and modern plant growing, form, and production. Topics covered in 30 chapters include concise and up-to-date ‘big picture’ infographics, student learning outcomes (SLOs), key vocabulary, assessment, as well as identification of 120 species, and more.
- Virginia Cooperative Extension Gardener HandbookThis text covers a variety of topics important for beginning and experienced gardeners, including soil health, native plants, and integrated pest management.
- National Academies Press - ForestryFree online texts on Forestry from the National Academies Press.
- Monitoring Animal Populations and Their Habitats: A Practitioner's GuideThis book is our attempt to provide a framework that managers of natural resources can use to design monitoring programs that will benefit future generations by providing the information needed to make informed decisions. In addition we offer tools and approaches that engage individuals in our society in monitoring programs. We firmly believe that people and communities who are empowered in the design and implementation of monitoring programs are more likely to use the information that results from the program, and support it over time.
- USDA Forest Service [video playlist]Youtube videos from the USDA Forest Service. Established in 1905, the Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service manages public lands in national forests and grasslands.
