Biological Sciences Gateways and Resources

 

The Biological Sciences Gateways and Resources collection is comprised of web portals, web sites, and individual digital resources identified by National Science Digital Library staff as appropriate for inclusion in the Library. Many of the materials to be found here were suggested by NSDL users. The collection includes portals, sites, and resources in many areas of the biological and life sciences, including agriculture, botany, ecology, genetics, marine biology (biological oceanography), microbiology, natural history, zoology, and others. Here may be found materials for biological and life-science educators and learners (early childhood through graduate school), resources intended for the general public, and materials aimed at research communities devoted to the biological sciences.

Details about NSDL selection critera are provided in the NSDL Collection Development Policy. To recommend an addition or additions to this collection, please complete NSDL's Recommend a Resource form.

The collection provides access to third-party resources; individual items must be consulted for terms of use.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A.D.A.M. Educational Products
http://www.adam.com/Our_Products/School_and_Instruction/index.html
A.D.A.M. is a commercial supplier of educational products for teaching and learning about the human body. These products use multimedia resources, such as animation, video, sound, virtual-reality models, and software tools, in com... Full description

Actin Myosin Crossbridge 3D Animation
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/movies/actin_myosin.html
This animation shows the roles of actin and myosin, proteins found in eukaryotic tissues, in facilitating muscle contraction. The proteins can be seen to interlock and overlap in a way that produces length change and tension devel... Full description

Agripedia
http://www.ca.uky.edu/agripedia/
Agripedia is a interactive, multimedia instructional resource about agriculture developed by the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture. Its features include a general encyclopedia of agricultural information with a gloss... Full description

All About Snails
http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Snails/
This website introduces younger students to snails. Topics include their physical characteristics and living habits, diet, reproduction, locomotion, life history, predators, and many others. There are also links to additional mate... Full description

American Academy of Forensic Science: Choosing a Career
http://aafs.org/default.asp?section_id=resources&page_id=choosing_a_career
This guide provides information on careers in forensic science. Topics include what forensic science is and what forensic scientists do, educational requirements, and what graduates in this field might expect in terms of work loca... Full description

American Museum of Natural History Digital Research Library
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/
This digital library provides access to publications of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). These publications--American Museum Novitates (short papers in zoology, paleontology, and geology published 1921-present), Anth... Full description

Andean Botanical Information System
http://www.sacha.org/
The Andean Botanical Information System (ABIS) provides information about the flowering plants (phanerogams) of Andean South America. Materials include information on the environments of the Andes Mountains and a gallery of images... Full description

Angiosperm Phylogeny Website
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/
This site presents information on the phylogeny--the history of organismal lineages as they change through time--of angiosperms, or flowering plants. The information is searchable by keyword, arranged alphabetically by family, and... Full description

AntWeb
http://www.antweb.org/index.jsp
AntWeb provides tools and information for exploring the diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by providing information and high-quality color images of many of the approximately 10,000 known species of ants. AntWeb currently... Full description

Apple Snails (Ampullariidae)
http://www.applesnail.net/
This web site provides information on apple snails (family Ampullariidae), the largest living freshwater snails on earth, often kept as aquarium pets because of their attractive appearance and size. Topics include the care of appl... Full description

Arachnology Home Page
http://www.arachnology.be/Arachnology.html
This clearinghouse page provides links to thousands of web sites from around the world devoted to arachnids (spiders and their relatives). The links are organized into categories: researchers and societies, subjects (kids' pages, ... Full description

ARKive Education
http://www.arkiveeducation.org/navigation/sitemap.jsp?g11n.enc=UTF-8
This site features multimedia resources for teaching about natural history and wildlife to a wide range of age groups. It offers downloadable modules containing zipped files with Powerpoint presentations, video clips, and document... Full description

ARKive: Images of Life on Earth
http://www.arkive.org/
ARKive is a collection of photographs, videos, and fact-files illustrating thousands of species of animals, with emphasis on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of endangered sp... Full description

arXiv.org
http://arxiv.org/
ArXiv.org provides open access to close to 500,000 e-prints in physics, quantitative biology, mathematics, statistics, nonlinear sciences, and computer science. It provides search within subject areas and by author, title, abstrac... Full description

ASCB Image and Video Library
http://cellimages.ascb.org/
This collection of high-quality, peer-reviewed still images and videos from the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) provides comprehensive coverage of the field of cell biology. The items are organized by topic: cell contact ... Full description

ASPCA Animaland
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=kids_home
This site, maintained by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), is designed for students in grades K through 5 and intended to create a cybercommunity of kids who love animals, while educating them ... Full description

Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants: Photo Gallery
http://asgap.org.au/gallery.html
This image gallery contains hundreds of photos of a wide range of Australian native plants. Each picture is accompanied by a written description and a distribution map, botanical features, and cultivation/propagation notes. There ... Full description

Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/default.asp
This online atlas provides information on the occurrence and distribution of plants in the State of Florida. Records are based on collections in the four major Florida institutional herbaria: the University of Florida, Florida Sta... Full description

Australian Museum Online: Insects
http://www.amonline.net.au/insects/index.cfm?id=6
This online exhibit provides information about insects and the scientists who study them. Topics include an introduction to the insect group (phylum Arthropoda), the process of metamorphosis, and biting and stinging insects. There... Full description

Biodiversity and Biological Collections
http://www.biocollections.org/
This site provides links to sources of information about biodiversity, biological collections, and morphometrics, including software for analysis and taxonomic description. It features pages of links organized by topic (museums, c... Full description

Biodiversity of the Hengduan Mountains
http://hengduan.huh.harvard.edu/fieldnotes
This site provides data on plants and fungi from the Hengduan Mountains and adjacent areas of south-central China, including the Gaoligong Mountains and Tibetan Himalaya. The data were derived from georeferenced collections made o... Full description

Biology Online
http://www.biology-online.org/
Biology Online is a community-run web site that provides access to resources on many aspects of biological and life sciences. The site includes a discussion board with forums on cell biology, molecular biology, evolution, bioinfor... Full description

BioMedia Associates: Learning Programs for Biology Education
http://www.ebiomedia.com/
BioMedia Associates is a commercial provider of learning programs for biology. Their materials, created by biologists, teachers, educational designers, and filmmakers, include videos and animations, posters, and other multimedia p... Full description

Biota of North America Program
http://www.bonap.org/
The goal of the Biota of North America Program (BONAP) is to develop a unified digital system for assessing the North American biota. BONAP's database now includes assessment for all vascular plants and vertebrate animals (native,... Full description

BioTrek: Biotechnology Outreach
http://www.biotech.wisc.edu/outreach/index.html
BioTrek is the science outreach program of the Biotechnology Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin Extension. Biotrek is dedicated to bioscience education, with emphasis on the State of Wisconsi... Full description

Boletín Electrónico Rothschildia
http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr/rothschildia/
Esta revista es un esfuerzo del area para dar a conocer los diferentes trabajos, actividades e investigaciones que en ella se realizan. La misma es elaborada por funcionarios del Area de Conservación Guanacaste. El revista se nom... Full description

Borealforest.org
http://www.borealforest.org/
This site provides information on boreal forests (or taiga) of the world, with a focus on forests and the forest industry of Northwestern Ontario. A general discussion of boreal forests covers their geographic distribution, climat... Full description

Botanical Image Database
http://pages.unibas.ch/botimage/
This database, published by the University of Basel, Switzerland, archives thousands of images (photos and woodcuts) of plants. The collection is arranged alphabetically by species, genus, family, or order, and can be searched by ... Full description

CalPhotos
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/
Thousands of photographs of plants, animals, fossils, landscapes (fieldsites, habitats), and people (anthropological, historical) are offered by this images database. The collection is searchable by photo type, scientific name, co... Full description

CalPhotos: Plants
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/flora/
The Plants section of the CalPhotos image database includes 92,787 images of plants (as of May 2008). The photographs have been contributed by a variety of organizations and individuals. You may browse by common name or scientific... Full description

Carnivorous Plants and Their Habitats
http://www.joachim-nerz.de/
This image gallery provides photos of carnivorous plants shown in their natural habitats. The photos are arranged by genus and by geographic region. Each image is accompanied by a brief caption including genus, species, and locati... Full description

Census of Marine Life
http://www.coml.org/coml.htm
The Census of Marine Life is an initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life in the oceans in the past, present, and future. Materials available at the census site include news article... Full description

CogNet: The Brain Sciences Connection
http://cognet.mit.edu/
This site, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), provides a location for the archiving and exchange of materials on the cognitive sciences and brain sciences. The CogNet library is a searchable collection of r... Full description

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
http://www.cshl.org/
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a private, non-profit research and educational institution focusing on cancer, neuroscience, plant genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. Its educational initiatives include the recently establish... Full description

Connecticut Botanical Society: Connecticut Ferns Photo Gallery
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/ferns/index.html
This image gallery provides photos and information on ferns found in the State of Connecticut. The photos are arranged alphabetically by common name and by genus and species. Each image is accompanied by a brief description, taxon... Full description

Connecticut Botanical Society: Connecticut Wildflowers Photo Gallery
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/galleryindex.html
This image gallery provides photos and information on wildflowers found in the State of Connecticut. The photos are arranged alphabetically by common name and by genus and species. Each image is accompanied by a brief description ... Full description

Conspectus of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Madagasc/welcome.html
This conspectus is an international, multi-institutional effort to collect and disseminate information on all vascular plants occurring in Madagascar. The Madagascar Conspectus database provides images of plants accompanied by tax... Full description

Coral Reef Ecology
http://www.uvi.edu/coral.reefer/
This site provides an accessible introduction to the ecology of coral reefs. Among the most diverse and productive communities on Earth, coral reefs are found in the warm, clear, shallow waters of tropical oceans worldwide. Reefs ... Full description

Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/
This site provides information for the nonprofessional about birds and birding. There is information on how to identify birds and report results, an online guide for identification, a guide to equipment for birding, and essays on ... Full description

Cornell Plantations
http://www.plantations.cornell.edu/
Cornell Plantations include Cornell University's botanical collections, arboretum, botanical garden, and natural areas. The web site features information on these physical assets, links to publications, and information for members... Full description

Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
http://www.cals.cornell.edu/
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell University focuses on such priorities as applied agriculture and food production; business, communication, education, and information technology; natural resources and... Full description

Cornell University Plant Pathology Herbarium
http://www.plantpath.cornell.edu/CUPpages/CUP.html
The Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP) is a mycological herbarium, a large research collection of preserved fungi and other organisms that cause plant diseases. Materials available on the CUP website include a database that i... Full description

Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution
http://entomology.si.edu/
The Smithsonian Institution's Department of Entomology web site was designed primarily for researchers in the field of entomology (the study of insects). The research page features an overview of the department's research efforts ... Full description

Digital Library of International Environmental and Ecosystem Policy Documents
http://nsdl.tierit.com/
This digital collection of international environmental and ecosystem treaties, conventions, and policy documents derives from the book Marine Mammal Commission Compendium of Selected Treaties, International Agreements, and Other R... Full description

Dino Directory
http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/dino/
This site, from London's Natural History Museum, features images and descriptions of 325 of the most well-described dinosaurs. For each genus, there is a selection of images and information on taxonomy, size and diet, geologic tim... Full description

Discover Life
http://www.discoverlife.org/
Discover Life provides information on the taxonomy, natural history, distribution, abundance, and ecology of the world's flora and fauna. Site materials include a database of all known plants and animals, featuring photos, maps, i... Full description

DNA Interactive
http://www.dnai.org/index.html
DNA Interactive is an educational site celebrating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick. The web site features interactive modules about the history of DNA ... Full description

DNA Mutation
http://wiki.ctl.sri.com/display/bioinfo/DNA+Mutation
Tutorial that teaches novices about DNA mutation using visualizations of DNA copying and mutation. The tutorial was created during a high-school bioinformatics workhop, run by the Science Discovery program at the University of Col... Full description

eNature.com
http://www.enature.com/
eNature.com provides a series of field guides with photos and information on thousands of plants, animals, and insects in the United States. These guides employ the same dataset used to create the printed Audubon Field Guides, whi... Full description

Environmental Inquiry: Authentic Scientific Research for High School Students
http://ei.cornell.edu/
Environmental Inquiry (EI) features curriculum materials and online resources developed to help students conduct environmental science research and participate in communities of fellow student scientists. EI includes two levels of... Full description

ESA EcoEdNet
http://www.ecoed.net/
This digital library, supported by the Ecological Society of America (ESA), provides educators with a forum to locate, and contribute, peer-reviewed resources for ecology education that are scientifically sound and pedagogically u... Full description

eSkeletons Project
http://www.eskeletons.org/
The eSkeletons web site feature a unique set of digitized versions of skeletons in 2D and 3D, animations, and supplemental information. It allows users to see and compare bones from the skeleta of humans, gorillas, chimpanzees, an... Full description

Evolution Outreach Projects
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/evolk12/evoops.htm
This collection of materials and suggestions is intended to support teachers who are teaching evolution. These materials, some humorous or satirical in nature, are intended to appeal to younger students who are seldom, if ever, ex... Full description

Field Techniques Used by the Missouri Botanical Garden
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/molib/fieldtechbook/welcome.shtml
This handbook was compiled to aid people in collecting and preparing high-quality botanical specimens. It covers such basics as choice of field books and writing instruments, pertinent field data, how to locate specimens, and tech... Full description

Flora of North America
http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/FNA/
This reference provides information on the names, taxonomic relationships, continent-wide distributions, and morphological characteristics of all native and naturalized plants found in North America north of Mexico. When completed... Full description

FloraBase: The Western Australian Flora
http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au
This reference provides information on the flora of Western Australia. Site materials include a database of names that is searchable by taxonomic group, genus and species, common name, conservation status, author, and several othe... Full description

Food Timeline
http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html
The Food Timeline was created as an independent research project on food history and period recipes. The timeline begins before 17,000 B.C. with gatherable foods (shellfish, eggs, mushrooms) and chronicles the appearance of cultiv... Full description

Free Animal Health Resources Web Sites
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/library/freeresources.htm
This clearinghouse page, created by the Veterinary Library at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, provides links to quality online resources related to animal health. The links are organized by topic: behavior ... Full description

Genomics and Its Impact on Science and Society: The Human Genome Project and Beyond
http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/publicat/primer/index.html
This primer provides an introduction to the Human Genome Project (HGP). Topics include the project's goals, a discussion of genomes and their importance, and a discussion of some of the practical benefits of learning about DNA. Th... Full description

Genomics.energy.gov Image Gallery
http://genomics.energy.gov/gallery/
This image gallery, published by the genome programs of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, features graphic media and photographs from informational presentations made by the various programs. The images are organize... Full description

Global Biodiversity Information Facility
http://data.gbif.org
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) provides open access to worldwide biodiversity data. The GBIF Data Portal enables users to find information in three ways: 1) by individual species or other group of organisms, i... Full description

Google Video: National Archives Videos
http://video.google.com/nara.html
This web site features selections from three National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) film-video collections: NASA History, United Newsreel, and Department of the Interior. The NASA films (1962-1981) include the "Headqu... Full description

Harvey Project
http://opencourse.org/Collaboratories/harveyproject
The Harvey Project offers an online collection of interactive, dynamic human physiology course materials. These materials, developed by an international collaboration of educators, researchers, physicians, and other participants, ... Full description

Hawk Migration Association of North America
http://www.hmana.org/
The Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) is a membership-based organization committed to the conservation of raptors, particularly the study of raptor migration patterns. The HMANA site features photographs and migr... Full description

Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
http://www.hiltonpond.org/
The Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to the study of the plants, animals, and environments of the Piedmont physiographic province, in particular the banding of birds. S... Full description

Human Genetics: Is the Dominant Trait Most Prevalent?
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/genproj/index.html
This web-based collaborative project introduces middle-school and high-school students to the concept of genetic inheritance. The project involves them in collecting data on basic, easily identifiable human characteristics, formul... Full description

INBioparque
http://www.inbio.ac.cr/inbioparque/es/index_eng.html
INBioparque is an ecotourism park created by the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio). It is dedicated to promoting awareness of the importance of biodiversity and conservation of the ecosystems of Costa Rica. The guided to... Full description

Index Herbariorum: A Global Directory of Public Herbaria and Associated Staff
http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp
This directory provides detailed information about thousands of herbaria and their staff members. It may be searched by institution, city, state, acronym, staff member, correspondent, research specialty, and important collections.... Full description

Index Nominum Genericorum (ING)
http://ravenel.si.edu/botany/ing/
The Index Nominum Genericorum (ING) is a compilation of generic names published for all organisms covered by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. It brings all generic names of plants together in a single list to reve... Full description

Index Nominum Genericorum (ING)
http://ravenel.si.edu/botany/ing/ingForm.cfm
The Index Nominum Genericorum (ING) is a compilation of generic names published for all organisms covered by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). It is intended to bring all generic names of plants together in ... Full description

Indices Nominum Supragenericorum Plantarum Vascularium: Alphabetical Listing by Family of Validly Published Suprageneric Names
http://www.plantsystematics.org/reveal/pbio/fam/sgindex.html
This is an alphabetical listing by family of validly published suprageneric names for vascular plants. The names reported here conform with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature adopted in Vienna in 2005. The listing is... Full description

Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
http://www.itis.gov/
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is a database containing species names for flora and fauna (aquatic and terrestrial) and their hierarchical classifications. The data, which is reviewed periodically to ensure val... Full description

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (St. Louis Code)
http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0001ICSLContents.htm
The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) is a set of procedures and rules for the assignment of formal botanical names to plants to ensure that each taxonomic group of plants has only one correct name, accepted worl... Full description

International Plant Names Index
http://www.ipni.org/index.html
The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) is a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of all seed plants, ferns, and fern allies. IPNI records are derived from three sources: the Index Kewensis, the Gr... Full description

Internet Resources for Physical Anthropology
http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/anth/phys/internet.htm
This web site, developed by the University of Delaware Library, is a guide to online resources in physical anthropology. The links it suggests are organized by type: starting points (general information), archives and databases, m... Full description

Iowa State Entomology Index of Internet Resources
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/list/
This is a directory and search engine for web-based resources related to entomology (the study of insects). The resources are browseable by content type (bibliographies, blogs, collections, and others), by taxonomic group, or by s... Full description

Jungle Photos: Inspiration, Education, Conservation
http://www.junglephotos.com/
This gallery provides photographs and information on natural history, ecology, and conservation; its mission is to inspire people to support wilderness conversation and education. The gallery emphasizes the Amazon region of South ... Full description

Kudzu: Misunderstood Weed
http://www.science-house.org/kudzu/index.html
In this guided inquiry unit, learn more about kudzu as an invasive species and misunderstood weed, analyze photos of the plant, and make a plan to remove it from an infested area. The unit was developed and tested by The Science H... Full description

Kurt Stüber's Online Library: A Collection of Historic and Modern Biology Books
http://www.biolib.de/
This collection of European biology books (German, Dutch, French, English, and other languages) includes titles published as early as 1543 and as recent as 2006. Many are out of print or difficult to obtain from public libraries o... Full description

Leaf Pack Network
http://www.stroudcenter.org/lpn/
The Leaf Pack Network (LPN) is a network of teachers and students investigating their local stream ecosystems by participating in the leaf pack experiment, which involves creating an artificial leaf pack (dry leaves in a mesh bag)... Full description

Lesson Plans Inc: Biology
http://www.lessonplansinc.com/biology_lesson_plans.php
Lesson Plans Inc. is a science curriculum resource for teachers of high-school science, currently offering lesson plans and software for biology. "Lesson plans" include experiments, labs, and other activities; syllabi; projects; w... Full description

Life Science Informatics Center, Bellevue Community College
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/informatics/lsicresources.htm
This website offers full-text resources for creating community college and technical college programs in medical informatics and bioinformatics, as well as instructional support materials (case studies and podcasts). The goal of t... Full description

Live Animal Kits from Nature Gift Store
http://www.nature-gifts.com/live-animal-kits.html
The Nature Gift Store is a commercial provider of live kits that allow children to grow and observe a variety of animals, insects, plants, and other organisms. Customers may choose from butterflies, exotic plants, frogs, hermit cr... Full description

Mammal Species of the World (MSW)
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw
Mammal Species of the World (MSW) is a database of mammalian taxonomy intended for use as an online reference for identifying or verifying recognized scientific names, and for taxonomic research. The online list was compiled under... Full description

MBGnet: What's It Like Where You Live?
http://mbgnet.mobot.org/
A set of interactive presentations for upper-elementary and middle-school students on the world's biomes, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, developed by the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG). Each presentation covers the plants and... Full description

MCG Type Database at Harvard Entomology
http://mcz-28168.oeb.harvard.edu/mcztypedb.htm
This online database contains records for primary type specimens in the entomology collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ). The data include genus and species, current name (where available), MCZ type number, type s... Full description

MicrobeLibrary
http://www.microbelibrary.org/
The MicrobeLibrary is an online collection of peer-reviewed resources for teaching undergraduate microbiology. The resources include images, animations, and videos; activities and laboratory exercises developed by faculty; and art... Full description

Microbes.info: The Microbiology Information Portal
http://www.microbes.info/
Microbes.info helps users filter through the vast array of internet resources to find accurate and specific information on large areas of the discipline (general, environmental, food, industrial, medical, and veterinary microbiolo... Full description

Missouri Botanical Garden (MGB)
http://www.mobot.org/
The Missouri Botanical Garden (MGB), the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation, sponsors botanical research, horticultural displays, and educational programs. Materials offered on their site include an overview ... Full description

Mycology.Net
http://www.mycology.net/
Mycology.Net is a portal for information on the biodiversity of fungi, including lichens, created by scientists and for scientists. The site provides links to information on taxonomy, distribution, and phylogeny; descriptive chara... Full description

Nanobiotechnology Center
http://www.nbtc.cornell.edu/
The Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) at Cornell University, a Science and Technology funded by the NSF, features close collaboration between life scientists, physical scientists, and engineers, and is committed to education and out... Full description

National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)
http://www.nbii.gov/index.html
The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is a program to provide access to data and information on the biological resources of the United States. The NBII web site highlights resources such as a digital image libr... Full description

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Established in 1988 as a national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI creates public databases, conducts research in computational biology, develops software tools for analyzing genome data, and disseminates biomedica... Full description

National FFA Organization: Agricultural Education
http://www.ffa.org/index.html
The National FFA Organization (formerly known as the Future Farmers of America) is dedicated to developing leadership, personal growth, and career success for middle-school to college-level students through an agricultural educati... Full description

Neuroscience for Kids
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html
This site provides information for students and teachers who are interested in learning more about the human nervous system, brain, neurons, and senses. Materials include general information, lessons, demonstrations, experiments, ... Full description

New York Botanical Garden Index to American Botanical Literature
http://library.nybg.org/IndexToAmericanBotanicalLiterature.php
This index provides bibliographic data on books and periodicals, dating back as far as 1886, that deal with living and fossil American plants and fungi. The information includes systematics and floristics, morphology, and ecology,... Full description

New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/
The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network (NZPCN) provides information about native plants and their conservation, focusing primarily on nationally threatened plants and plant communities that require conservation management for ... Full description

North American Mammals
http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/
This database provides information on all living mammals of North America. The search creates a taxonomy (order, family, genus, and species) and accesses information on conservation status, distribution, other names for the animal... Full description

Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS )
http://www.iobis.org/
The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) provides an interface to marine species data from all over the world, as part of the Census of Marine Life. The data are searchable by species, by region, or by taxonomic group. Th... Full description

OceanLink
http://www.oceanlink.island.net/index.html
OceanLink is a top-rated marine biology web site for youth, part of the public education program of the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre of Bamfield, British Columbia. The organization's homepage features news articles, information... Full description

OceanLink: OceanInfo Page
http://www.oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/oinfo.html
This page of the OceanLink site offers learning resources prepared by OceanLink (a youth outreach program of the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre) on a variety of marine science topics, including marine life (seals, fish, invertebr... Full description

Office of Science Education, National Institutes of Health
http://science.education.nih.gov/
The Office of Science Education (OSE) of the National Institutes of Health provides an extensive selection of educational resources for teachers and students at the elementary, middle-school, and high-school levels. These material... Full description

Pacific Biodiversity Information Forum
http://www.pbif.org/
A scientifically sound, electronically accessible biological knowledge base for the Pacific region. The geographic scope of the Forum includes the countries of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, plus the Australasian countries ... Full description

Paleontological Research Institution
http://www.priweb.org/
The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) of Ithaca, New York supports the Museum of the Earth, which houses extensive collections of fossil vertebrates and invertebrates, particularly type and figured specimens. The web site... Full description

PBS Online NewsHour: Adult Stem Cells
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/stem-cells/
In-depth coverage of the potential health effects of adult stem cell therapies, together with instructional materials. Includes a lesson plan on the debate over using stem cells, Q-and-A with researchers, stories on stem cell use,... Full description

PBS Online NewsHour: Chimeras: Animal-Human Hybrids
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/chimeras/
In-depth coverage of the implanting of human cells into animals in order to make more human-like models for medical research, accompanied by instructional materials. Includes lesson plan on the ethics of chimeric research, Q-and-A... Full description

PBS Online NewsHour: Search for Ancestors
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/science/dna/
In-depth coverage of how researchers are using DNA to learn about the origins of humans and human diversity, together with instructional materials. Includes lesson plan on how to use DNA, interactive map of human migration, and Q-... Full description

Penguin WebQuest for Grade One
http://www.mhcbe.ab.ca/st_francis/gr1/Webquests/penguin%20webquest.htm
This WebQuest introduces first-grade students to penguins. They will use written and online resources to research several species of penguins, complete a chart with the facts they have discovered, prepare a bulletin board or multi... Full description

Perfectly Penguins: A WebQuest for Kindergarten
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/encanto/penguins/
This WebQuest introduces kindergarten students to penguins. They will read about five types of penguins using online resources, draw pictures, write a song or poem, and present their information to the class. The lesson is interdi... Full description

Photobiological Sciences Online
http://www.stanford.edu/~kendric/TSPP/
Photobiological Sciences Online is a digital textbook-in-progress (2008), and the successor to the Digital Photobiology Compendium (old modules have been revised, new modules have been added, and more modules will be added as they... Full description

Pioneer Middle School Virtual Zoo
http://pioneerunion.ca.schoolwebpages.com/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=146
The Virtual Zoo showcases middle-school students' research and reports on the animal kingdom and animal classification. A broad outline of animal taxonomy organizes the student reports into the overarching animal kingdoms: Animali... Full description

Plant and Insect Parasitic Nematodes
http://nematode.unl.edu/
This site provides reference information on parasitic nematodes, or roundworms--simple worms that are the most numerous multicellular animals on Earth. Materials include a brief overview of the group (phylum Nemata), a species lis... Full description

Plant and Soil Sciences eLibrary
http://plantandsoil.unl.edu/croptechnology2005/pages/index.jsp
The Plant and Soil Sciences eLibrary provides access to educational materials, at beginning or advanced levels, for crop production and natural resource management, crop technology, genetics, horticulture, soil science, and severa... Full description

PlantGDB: Plant Genome Database
http://www.plantgdb.org/
This database provides plant genome sequence data gathered from whole genome sequencing and assembly (Arabidopsis thaliana, rice, Medicago truncatula), genome survey sequencing (maize), and expressed sequence tags (ESTs). It enabl... Full description

Poulsbo Marine Science Center
http://www.poulsbomsc.org/
The Poulsbo Marine Science Center of Keyport, Washington, is an educational facility dedicated to the preservation of the marine environment of northwest Washington, particularly the waters of Puget Sound. The organization's home ... Full description

Prentice-Hall Textbook Companion Websites: Biology
http://www.prenhall.com/pubguide/esm/biology.html
This page provides links to companion web sites for college biology textbooks published by Prentice-Hall. The sites feature a variety of resources for students and professors, including study hints, quizzes, activities, supplement... Full description

Pseudomonas-Plant Interaction High School Connect
http://www.pseudomonas-syringae.org/Outreach/HSC-newhome.htm
PPI High School Connect is a web site intended for high-school biology classes, focusing on plant-microbe interactions and illustrating the importance of genomics in modern biology. It offers four modules exploring how plant patho... Full description

Public Library of Science
http://www.plos.org/
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. Materials available at the PLoS si... Full description

Rice Blast Genomics: K12 Outreach
http://www.science-house.org/fungal/learn/index.html
This outreach component of the Rice Blast Project provides online genomics activities for high-school students. A lab manual is also offered free of charge to teachers of high-school biology in North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Ari... Full description

Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History
http://www.rtpi.org/
The Roger Tory Peterson Institute (RTPI) is a nature-education organization dedicated to the legacy of artist and naturalist Roger Tory Peterson. The Institute offers exhibitions, programs, and special events designed to encourage... Full description

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Vascular Plant Families and Genera
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/web.dbs/genlist.html
This database provides information on vascular plant families and genera. It is searchable by genus name, and allows "fuzzy searching," which will find all generic names that include the string typed in by a user types; fuzzy sear... Full description

SciCentral: Biosciences News
http://www.scicentral.com/B-02bios.html
This site provides links to biosciences-related news articles from a variety of outlets and journals. Sources featured on the site must be freely accessible to online readers and are ranked by the editors based on reliability, tim... Full description

Science of Sports
http://www.science-house.org/student/bw/sports/index.html
A collection of lab activities using computers and/or calculator-based probeware to investigate the basic physics and physiology behind most sports. The activities were developed for and used during a summer camp for high-school s... Full description

Science Signaling: The Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment
http://www.stke.org/
This publication enables scientists, researchers, students, and educators to find, organize, and utilize information relevant to processes of cellular regulation. Materials include original articles, teaching resources, and commun... Full description

SeaWorld/Busch Gardens ANIMALS
http://www.seaworld.org/
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens ANIMALS is the virtual representative of Busch Entertainment Corporation's zoological and educational resources. The site provides access to online educational materials as well as program information for th... Full description

Share the Adventure! Tracking Habitat Change
http://www.blm.gov/education/LearningLandscapes/teachers/fieldtrip_04/index.html
This web site, companion to a 2004 satellite television broadcast from the Bureau of Land Management, explores wildlife habitat and ways scientists use technology to help them understand habitat change. Students "travel" to Nevada... Full description

Sleep, Sleep Disorders, and Biological Rhythms
http://science.education.nih.gov/Customers.nsf/HSSleep?OpenForm
This module, presented by the National Institutes of Health, is intended to help high-school students understand the importance of sleep to personal health, to use the issue of sleep to help students sharpen their inquiry-based sk... Full description

Smithsonian National Zoological Park
http://natzoo.si.edu/default.cfm
This is the home page of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Site materials include an overview of the institution, its mission, and information on its facilities and field stations around the world. There are also virtual t... Full description

Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Conservation Central
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Education/ConservationCentral/
Conservation Central is an online a habitat education program sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park. It explores the temperate forest, home of the giant panda and black bear. Site materials include on... Full description

Snakes of North America
http://www.pitt.edu/~mcs2/herp/SoNA.html
This site provides a general introduction to the snakes of North America. The information is organized by family and features a brief description of family characteristics and a listing of individual species with common names and ... Full description

Society for Neuroscience
http://www.sfn.org/
Web site of nonprofit membership organization for scientists and physicians who study the brain and nervous system. The site offers educators free "Neuroscience Resources for the Classroom," including background articles, classroo... Full description

Southwest Environmental Information Network
http://seinet.asu.edu/seinet/index.jsp
The Southwest Environmental Information Network (SEINet) is a series of linked databases and accompanying web software helpful in using those databases, which will be of interest to the environmental research community in Arizona,... Full description

Southwest Environmental Information Network: Image Library
http://seinet.asu.edu/seinet/imageLibrary/index.php
This library of images of plants from the Arizona State University Vascular Plant Herbarium and lichens from the Arizona State University Lichen Herbarium is searchable by family, genus, or species name and is browseable by family... Full description

Spiders and Other Arachnids at UC Riverside
http://spiders.ucr.edu/index.html
This page provides information on venomous spiders and other stinging or biting arthropods, especially the brown recluse spider. Topics include the distribution and misidentification of the brown recluse, misdiagnoses of brown rec... Full description

Tardigrades
http://tardigrades.bio.unc.edu/
Dedicated to the study of the phylum Tardigrada (water bears), this dynamic multimedia website features short films, comprehensive lab protocols, and a range of scientific literature. The contributors posit the tardigrade as a pro... Full description

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
http://darwin-online.org.uk/
This archive features all the known work of Charles Darwin, including his publications, private papers, supplementary works, and specimen descriptions. It contains first editions of "Voyage of the Beagle," "Zoology", and "Descent ... Full description

The Living Environment Core Curriculum
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/pub/livingen.pdf
This guide is intended to assist high-school teachers and supervisors as they prepare curriculum, instruction, and assessment for the Living Environment component of Standard 4 of the New York State Learning Standards for Mathemat... Full description

The Scientist: Magazine of the Life Sciences
http://www.the-scientist.com/
The Scientist is an international news magazine, published in both print and online versions, that reports on and analyzes the issues and events that impact the world of life scientists. Its mission is to provide compelling covera... Full description

The Splice of Life: Genetic Engineering Research Model
http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/splice/index.htm
In this module, high-school students play the roles of genetic engineers who are competing on television for award money to fund their research. They will work in teams, each with a specialty: criminal investigation, cloning, food... Full description

Tree of Life Web Project
http://tolweb.org
The Tree of Life Web Project is an online database that compiles information about biodiversity and the evolutionary relationships of all organisms. Content for the project is compiled collaboratively by hundreds of biologists and... Full description

Tropicos
http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/vast.html
This site provides access to the Missouri Botanical Garden's VAST (VAScular Tropicos) nomenclatural database and associated authority files for vascular plants. Users enter a scientific name (Genus, species) to obtain information ... Full description

uBio: University Biological Indexer and Organizer
http://www.ubio.org/
uBio is a set of databases providing information on millions of biological name. It is part of an initiative in the science-library community to create a comprehensive catalog of the known names of all living and once-living organ... Full description

UCSD-Nature Signaling Gateway
http://www.signaling-gateway.org/
The Signaling Gateway features information and links to significant published qualitative and quantitative information on cell-signaling proteins and signal transduction. Its primary resource is the "Molecule Pages", a relational ... Full description

UK Moths
http://ukmoths.org.uk/
Comprehensive guide to the moths of Great Britain and Ireland, with photographs of live specimens, common and scientific names, and notes on biology. The aim of the site is to illustrate as many species of British moths as possibl... Full description

Understanding Evolution
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/home.php
This site provides access to basic and advanced online resources for teaching the science and history of evolutionary biology. The resources are organized by topic: the mechanisms of evolution; the relevance of evolutionary theory... Full description

USGS Videos and Animations
http://education.usgs.gov/common/video_animation.htm
This collection of visual media produced by the U.S. Geological Survey provides a broad overview of research and activities carried out by the organization. The collection of recorded lectures, movies, animations, flyovers, Powerp... Full description

VADLO: Life Sciences Search Engine
http://www.vadlo.com/
Vadlo is a rapidly growing search engine--currently a beta offering--for all branches of the life sciences. It allows users to search within five categories: Protocols (research methods, techniques, assays, procedures, reagent rec... Full description

Venture Deep Ocean
http://www.venturedeepocean.org/
Venture Deep Ocean highlights recent discoveries about seafloor volcanoes and hydrothermal vents, and the uniquely specialized organisms that inhabit these extreme environments. Site materials include feature stories that are upda... Full description

Virginia Institute of Marine Science
http://www.vims.edu/
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) conducts research in coastal ocean and estuarine science, provides educational materials and opportunities, and provides advisory service to policy makers, industry, and the public. ... Full description

Virtual Field Herbarium: The Tropical Plant Field Guide
http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/vfh/
This web site provides information on the identification of living plants, focusing mainly on tropical regions of Africa and the equatorial Americas, and information and resources to help users produce their own field guides for t... Full description

VIVO: Virtual Life Sciences Library
http://vivo.library.cornell.edu/index.jsp?home=1&primary=23
The Virtual Life Sciences Library (VIVO) provides an index and search tool for life sciences research and related activities at Cornell University. The keyword search provides access to information on people, activities, events, o... Full description

WhaleNet
http://whale.wheelock.edu/
The WhaleNet web site focuses on whales and marine research, particularly satellite tracking of whales and data and maps on right whales. The satellite tracking page lets users access data, maps, and information about tagged marin... Full description

Whales: A Thematic Web Unit
http://www.richmond.edu/~kjoyce/Whales/
This curriculum unit makes use of online resources to create an integrated curriculum on whales for younger students. The teacher's section includes a bibliography, book reviews, and suggestions for homework assignments. There is ... Full description

Worm Systematic Resource Network
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/fitch/WSRN/index.html
This database is designed to help researchers find strains and their unique strain designations (and other previously used, synonymous designations). A network of researchers and educators with laboratories that maintain living st... Full description