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Biodiversity

Biodiversity Glossaries

Biodiversity Websites

  • Animal Diversity Web
    An online database of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation.
  • Biodiversity and Biological Collections
    Another comprehensive WWW Gateway for biodiversity resources
  • Biodiversity Assessment Programme
    The United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP's) World Conservation Monitoring Centre provides information services on conservation and sustainable use of the world's living resources, and helps others to develop information systems of their own. The Biodiversity Assessment Programme provides and facilitates access to information on species of conservation concern. The goal is to support policy and action for the conservation and sustainable management of biological diversity by providing integrated information on status, trends, distribution and use. The Threatened Plants Database (see below) is one such project.
  • Biodiversity Hotspots There are critical areas around the world, where biodiversity is threatened. This site examines some of the most endangered regions of the world. There are also many useful links from this site.
  • Biodiversity Informatics: Glossary of Terms
    This glossary is part of an NBII-sponsored information gateway on biodiversity. It would be more appropriately be called a directory of internation biodiversity programs and projects. It is maintained by the Natural Science Collections Alliance.
  • Biodiversity Informatics Facility
    This site is at the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation. The new "Geospatial Resources for Freshwater Conservation" section provides links to a range of information, software, and data that are available on the Internet, as well as guides and case studies contributed by colleagues.
  • Biodiversity in the Great Lakes Region
    The Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN), a partnership providing information relating to the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region of North America.
  • Biodiversity Project "Biodiversity Project works to make people aware of the importance of biodiversity and to build their commitment to saving it." They challenge individuals "to act by making the connection between biodiversity and people's daily lives and basic values."
  • Flora Maps and Herbaria Databases
    This site provides a variety of map and other botanical resources for measuring biodiversity in the plant kingdom.
  • Global Biodiversity Information Facility This is a major gateway site for information resources and data on a variety of topics related to biodiversity.
  • Global Environment Outlook: Environment for Development is a robust international inventory of resources (maps, species information, atlases, indicators, policies, etc.) related to biodiversity. Also has a Glossary of Biodiversity Terms.
  • Google: Biodiversity
    Google's inventory of resources on biodiversity and related topics.
  • Great Lakes Biological Diversity
    A gateway to biodiversity reports from the Great Lakes region.
  • Great Lakes Science Center
    The USGS gateway for their science programs and publications on the Great Lakes .
  • Invasive Species in the Great Lakes Region
    Invasive species are a major ecological problem and biodiversity issue in the Great Lakes. This is a good starting point.
  • National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)
    NBII is a component of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics NBII serves as "an electronic gateway to biological data and information maintained by federal, state, and local government agencies; private-sector organizations; and other partners around the nation and the world. The NBII is dedicated to the development of an electronic "federation" of biological data and information sources. Its success rests on a growing network of partners who share and use this information." The GAP Analysis Program is one component of the NBII>.
  • New York GAP Analysis Project
    New York has joined other states providing inventories of their natural resources. These surveys are part of a National Gap Analysis Program (GAP). They provide information on the geographic distribution of native animal species, their habitats, status of land-use activities, and conservation practices. The wildlife data are analyzed with geographic information systems (GIS) to examine the biodiversity of regions to determine where there are "gaps" in patterns of species' distribution.
    The New York Gap Analysis Project (NYGAP) consists of two program areas. The NY Terrestrial GAP examines land use and species distribution. Samples of the final data products are found at http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/gap/finishedproduct.html
    The NY Aquatic GAP identifies and quantifies the distribution of the state's fish and aquatic invertebrates, which are linked to data on water quality, habitat, land use and development. Research in the NY Aquatic GAP is part of the hydroecology and fish biology program at Cornell. The New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in the Department of Natural Resources coordinates the NYGAP at Cornell University.
  • New York Natural Heritage Program
    The New York Natural Heritage Program enables and enhances conservation of New York's rare animals, rare plants, and significant ecosystems. We combine thorough field inventories, scientific analyses, expert interpretation, and the most comprehensive database on New York's distinctive biodiversity.
  • New York State Biodiversity Research Institute
    Gateway site to biodiversity resources and services provided by the NYS Museum. Includes a link to the NYS Biodiversity Clearinghouse, which is part of the NYS Biodiversity Project.
  • North American Bird WatchList
    Amateur and volunteer naturalists make significant contributions to measuring species distributions. Bird watchers are the largest and most active in assisting researchers worldwide track the distribution and abundance of birds.
  • Species 2000: Indexing the World's Known Species
    Biodiversity from a United Kingdom (UK) perspective.
  • Threatened Plants of the World Database
    The WCMC Threatened Plants Database has been developed over a period of many years. Currently it contains data on more than 140,000 plant names, linked to over 190,000 distribution areas. This information originates from and is linked to over 19,000 data sources. These include national red lists, input from members of IUCN Species Survival Commission plant groups and a wide range of published and unpublished literature.
  • Tree of Life Web Project
    The Tree of Life is a collaborative Internet project containing information about phylogeny and biodiversity. This is one of the portals for access to its resources.
  • TreeBASE
    TreeBASE is a relational database designed to manage and explore information on phylogenetic relationships. The purpose of TreeBASE combines the biological data from the disciplines of systematics, evolution, and bioinformtics, eventually, to create a molecular "tree of life."
  • World Data Center for Biodiversity and Terrestrial Ecology
    The World Data Centers were created in 1956 to serve as the data repositories and archives of the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year. This in the newest of the World Data Centers, added to the complex in the summer of 2002. This WDC is managed and operated by the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) in the USGS Center for Biological Informatics . The newsletter, NBII Access , provides a detailed announcement about this newest addition to the World Data Center complex.