Biodiversity Heritage Library: consortium of the world's largest natural history libraries, includes digitized content.
BiologyBrowser: free biological databases, identification keys, and more.
project of University of California Museum of Paleontology and the National Center for Science Education.
Biodiversity and Taxonomic Tools
Animal Diversity Web:
species accounts and taxonomic data for wide array of animal species. Higher taxa have overview entries. Maintained by University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology.
Consortium of California Herbaria:
Search for locating specimens housed in herbaria throughout the state. Specimen records are linked, where applicable, to species accounts, California range maps, and other resources.
Encyclopedia of Life:
serves as database for 1.8 million species named and known on this planet. Species accounts include images, taxonomic data, life history, distribution, ecology, and references.
ePIC, Electronic Plant Information Centre (Kew): search Kew Royal Botanical Gardens’. Particularly useful for taxonomic queries: search the International Plant Names Index and checklists.
FishBase: relational database contains information about ecology, life history, distribution, and more of fish species around the globe. Use tool to create lists of fish species by country.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility: portal to biodiversity datasets. Data accessed by species, country, or by dataset.
Hawaii Biological Survey: databases and publications by the Hawaii Biological Survey, includes checklists of fauna and flora, catalogs of museum specimens, and technical reports of the Bishop Museum.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System: “authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world”
Mammal Species of the World: mammalian taxonomy based on Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Mammalian Species:Taxonomic information about mammals, plus numbers 1-761 of the American Society of Mammalogists’ Mammalian Species accounts.
NatureServe Explorer: "information on 65,000+ plants, animals, and ecosystems of the United States and Canada".
Nomenclator Zoologicus: names and bibliographic origins of the genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus 1758 to the end of 2004.
People, Biodiversity and Ecology: access to publications from UNESCO programs on international biodiversity issues.
Regional Species Lists, Molluscs: by Conchological Society of America, directory of regional checklists and species accounts of mollusks around the world.
Species 2000: annual checklist compiling taxonomic information contained in 52 taxonomic databases. Records contain taxonomic data and links to original database records.
Tree of Life: Taxon pages in development, most contain images, references, and taxonomic information.
Treebase: database of trees derived from phylogenetic analyses. Search by taxon, author, citation, and more. Results include bibliographic information and phylogenetic trees pulled from the studies.
UC Museum of Paleontology- History of Life Through Time: click on taxa of interest for evolutionary history. Articles have references.
Virus Taxonomy Online: taxonomic information and genus/species accounts of viruses; maintained by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.
World List of Marine, Freshwater & Terrestrial Crustacea Isopoda: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History maintains site, featuring a taxonomic database of isopod species and a bibliography of species descriptions.
Zoological Record Taxonomic Hierarchy: taxonomic data and references for species descriptions for all animal, plant, and virus taxa found within Thomson databases including BIOSIS and ZooRecord.
Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource: continually updated nomenclature and species descriptions for birds.
Physiology & Anatomy
Anatomy Atlases: series of online human anatomy atlases, including a microanatomy atlas and a first aid atlas.
Anatomy of the Human Body: online edition of Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body, via Bartleby.com.
eSkeletons Project: contains images of human and primate bones from varying angles and animations of joint actions.
Mouse Brain Library: high-resolution images and databases of brains from genetically characterized strains of mice.
Muscle Tutorial: review major superficial muscles with this handy tutorial.
Skeletal Muscles of the Human Body: Hosford Muscle Tables supply the origin, insertion, action, and blood and nerve supply for every muscle in the body.
Skeleton Tutorial: detailed review of skeletal structures from Gateway Community College in Phoenix, AZ.
The Virtual Body: illustrated online atlas of human anatomy.
Visible Human Project: National Library of Medicine, images of transverse sections of male and female human cadavers.
Whole Brain Atlas: atlas with images of brains both in normal and diseased states.
Botanicus Digital Library: free, Web-based encyclopedia of historic botanical literature from Missouri Botanical Garden Library.
CalFlora Database: native and introduced wild plants in California. Species accounts include CA distribution, habitat, specimen information, and links to the Jepson Manual entries.
Descriptions of fungi and bacteria: CABI Bioscience (includes former International Mycological Institute (IMI) the pre-eminent global taxonomy / information provider on fungi.
efloras.org: search selection of online floras with detailed botanical descriptions from around the world!
ePIC, Electronic Plant Information Centre (Kew): search Kew Royal Botanical Gardens’ checklists, databases, bibliographies, and publications. Particularly useful for taxonomic queries: search the International Plant Names Index and checklists.
ABRS Flora Online: Australian Biological Resources Study – botanical descriptions of the flora of Australia.
Flora Zambesiaca: Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, searchable database of floras from south central Africa.
Internet Directory for Botany (IDB): extensive directory of botanical web resources.
Jepson Flora Project: includes the Jepson Manual Online - the Flora Project site links to numerous databases and manuals. The Jepson Manual online has species accounts including distribution maps and botanical descriptions of California plants.
JSTOR Global Plants: online archive of plant specimens, photographs, drawings, prints, paintings, articles, correspondance, reference works, and other materials.
Kew Bibliographic Databases (KBD) - access to:
The PLANTS Database: species accounts, classification, distribution, and links to resources for plants occurring in the United States. Maintained by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Tropicos.org: Search names, specimens, references, images, and other resources from the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Vegetation and Plant Distribution Maps Checklist: Directory of online plant distribution maps, UC Berkeley’s Earth Sciences and Map Library.
AmphibiaWeb: inspired by worldwide amphibian declines, clearinghouse about amphibian conservation and biology. Part of Digital Library Project at UC Berkeley.
Animal Info: extensive accounts of present and historical conservation status of rare and endangered mammal species.
CITES: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, contains Convention text, official documents, species lists and member countries.
Conservation Commons: search engine for the websites of Conservation Common’s partner organizations; use to locate and access conservation-related publications from a wide range of organizations.
Conservation Databases: UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre; includes species, protected areas, national bioversity profiles.
Coral Reef Conservation Program: search coral datasets and publications from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Endangered Species Bulletin: US Fish and Wildlife Service, provides updates on endangered species news. Current and archived issues available in PDF format.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: see list of online publications, workshop series, research publication series.
IUCN Red List: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources maintains the Red List, which summarizes the conservation status of threatened and endangered species worldwide.
NatureServe Explorer: information on 65,000+ plants, animals, and ecosystems of the United States and Canada, coverage for rare and endangered species.
NOAA Habitat Conservation: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration site on protection and restoration efforts for coastal, marine, and riverine habitats.
ReefBase: features global coral reef database of 25,000+ coral reef – related publications, an interactive mapping tool.
Special Status Species: CERES (California Environmental Resources Evaluation System) portal to state and federal government information about special status species.
US Fish & Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program: Endangered Species Act species information, laws and polices, and procedural information.
Ecology WWW: directory of hundreds of ecology web sites.
Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity: repository of ecological datasets and documentation available for download.
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis: research center associated with UC Santa Barbara, features publications and a repository of datasets collected as part of NCEAS-funded activities.
Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: USGS database of non-native aquatic biota, including range maps and fact sheets for each species.
Software and Statistics for Ecologists: directory of online resources related to ecological statistics
Animal Diversity Web:
Maintained by University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology, site contains species accounts and taxonomic data for a wide array of animal species. Higher taxa have overview entries.
AmphibiaWeb: inspired by worldwide amphibian declines, this site serves as a clearinghouse for online information about amphibian conservation and biology. Part of the Digital Library Project at UC Berkeley.
Birds of North America: database available to UC Berkeley community, features detailed species accounts of every bird species in North America, prepared by experts on the species.
FishBase: database on the ecology, life history, distribution, and more of fish species around the globe. see tool to create lists of fish species by country.
Herplit Database: database of literature related to amphibians and reptiles.
HerpNET: portal for herpetological specimens from a network of museum collections.
Mammalian species: Taxonomic information about mammals, plus numbers 1-761 of the American Society of Mammalogists’ Mammalian Species accounts.
PrimateLit: database of primate-related books and literature, funded by an NIH grant to support primate research.