A Winner's Circle of Best Science Web Sites - Taxonomy, evolution and ecology
Jonathan Nabe
Biology/Chemistry Librarian
SUNY at Stony Brook

Taxonomy and Systematics Resources

ITIS
From a partnership of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agencies. Database of valid names for the plants and animals of North America (and some beyond), compiled from numerous sources. Search by common or scientific name.

Mammal Species of the World
Contains the names of the 4,629 currently recognized species of mammals, in a taxonomic hierarchy that includes Order, Family, Subfamily, and Genus. Search by common or scientific name, or browse the hierarchical tree. Not all common names have been added. Includes some photos and maps.

Plants National Database
Sponsored by the National Plant Data Center. Searchable checklist of North American plants, with impressive supporting material, including photos, distribution maps, and references. Contributes information to ITIS, described above.

Species2000
Still in the early stages, this resource hopes to create a systematic database for all the organisms of the world, as completely as possible. The idea is to merge the various databases in existence, and to support the creation of more databases. Established in 1996 by the International Union of Biological Sciences.

Taxonomic Resources and Expertise Directory (TRED)
Part of the National Biological Information Infrastructure, a directory of taxonomic specialists for the biota of North America, and currently contains information submitted by 925 taxonomic specialists. Data accessible via specialists' names or by taxon. The same partnership produces the Directory of Research Systematics Collections (/drsc/), a searchable database of 525 research collections.

The Tree of Life
a collection of over 1630 World Wide Web pages containing information about the diversity of life. Powerful display of the phylogenetic relationships between organisms, with a rich collection of photographs and references. Still under construction.

TreeBASE
sponsored by Harvard University Herbaria, Leiden University EEW, and the University of California, Davis. Access to published datasets and descriptions from phylogenetic studies. This resource is useful for support of advanced research.

Zoonomen
Database of valid names for birds. The lists of references are especially useful.

Evolution

Biology Links: Evolution
Links to journals, software, academic departments, organizations, museums and collections, molecular evolution, and phylogenetics. Maintained by the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard.

Evolution Wing, UCMP
Includes numerous biographies of important players, the fulltext of the Origin of Species, and an introduction to systematics, from the University of California's Museum of Paleontology.

The Talk.Origins Archive:Evolution FAQs
Talk Origins is a Usenet group focused on the debates around evolution vs. creationism. This section of the web site includes explanations of evolution, the modern synthesis, macroevolution, selection, punctuated equilibria, etc. It also houses the fulltext of Darwin's Origin of Species, a 15,044 keyword indexed bibliography assembled and maintained by Martin R. Leipzig, and links to other sites.

Ecology

Conservation Ecology electronic, peer-reviewed, scientific journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research on the conservation and restoration of ecosystems and the management of resources.

Biodiversity and Conservation
Hypertext book by P. Bryant, University of California, Irvine. Includes tables, charts, links to other resources.

Ecology Society of America: Links
Probably the best directory of ecology related links.

Ecology WWW Page
An extensive directory of resources, arranged alphabetically. It's not annotated, so you're pretty much on your own, though there is a search engine.

The Nature Conservancy's Library of Conservation Science
Fulltext of 15 books, including Practical Handbook for Population Viability Analysis, Terrestrial Vegetation of the United States, America's Least Wanted: Alien Species Invasions of U.S. Ecosystems, etc.

Regional Climate Centers
Six regional climate centers provide "convenient and timely access to accurate and reliable climate information." Here you will find easy access to temperature and precipitation trends in the U.S.

Theoretical Ecology Preprint Database (Ecology Preprint Registry)
Founded by the Theoretical Ecology section of the Ecological Society of America and developed and hosted at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Though not exactly prolific, something to be aware of. Fulltext for only some articles.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Has the best overview of U.S. ecosystems, endangered species, invasive species, wetlands, etc.