General

Natural History

The Phylogeny of Life. University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley. This site is probably the most complete and inclusive on the World Wide Web for information on the various groups of life alive today and in the past. Although it is strongest in fossil groups, it often has extensive information on ecology, life histories, morphology, and systematics. In the editors' opinion, one of the primier sites on the Web.

Animal Diversity Web. Natural History Museum, University of Michigan. This site has a great deal of good information on the various groups of animals, although it is incomplete and fragmentary. It is strongest in the vertebrate groups. The site specializes in short introductions to the various groups and photographs and information about specific species.

The Tree of Life. David R. and Wayne P. Maddison with many contributors. "The Tree of Life" is a project designed to contain information about the phylogentic relationships and characteristics of all organisms, to illustrate the diversity and unity of living organisms, and to link biological information available on the Internet in the form of a phylogenetic navigator. This site is in various stages of completion. A few groups are handled comprehensively, but most groups have limited information beyond the basic phylogeny of the group.

CalPhotos: Animals. California Academy of Sciences and University of California at Berkeley. A tremendous collection of photographs with some information on vertebrates and some invertebrates, mostly from California. The collection does include, however, some photographs from elsewhere in North America and the rest of the World. Highly recommended.

Zoology Internet Resources Guide. BIOSIS. BIOSIS, which produces Zoological Record, has created this great resource of links to sites with information about all of the various groups of animals.

Plant and Animal Phylogeny Exercise. Biology 120. Rebecca Irwin. This site is an excellent introduction to the phylogeny of plants and animals with information on basic principles of taxonomy and phylogeny as well as phylogenies of the plants and animals.

Georgia Wildlife Web. Georgia Museum of Natural History. The Georgia Museum of Natural History presents a site dedicated to the natural history of Georgia including segments on the amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals of the state. There is also a segment on the ecological regions of the state as well as general information on natural history in general.

Centex Naturalist. Selected Topics of Natural History for Bell County Texas. Jerry Evans. Although at first look this may look like a very specific site. However, you'll find a marvelous collection of photographs of a wide variety of natural history items here ranging from mushrooms, marine diatoms, rotifers, crystals, fossils, to geological sites. A great place just to play around looking at pictures.

Canada's Aquatic Environments. University of Guelph. An extremely impressive and informative web site on all aspects of Canada's aquatic habitats. Among the many topics covered are the plants and animals, the different types of aquatic habitats, and the impact of humans on the aquatic environment. The site is very attractive and easy to navigate. Highly recommended.

Canada's Aquatic Environments, Animals. University of Guelph. An extremely impressive and informative web site on all aspects of Canada's aquatic habitats. The "Animals" section of the site includes information on the species of animals found in aquatic Canadian habitats including descriptions, photographs, distribution information, biology, behavior, ecology, and reproduction. Groups covered are invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Highly recommended.

 Marine and Costal Species Information System. Virginia Tech. Species accounts for a large number of marine animals. No pictures, but extensive information.

Endangered Species Information System. Virginia Tech. Extensive information on the endangered species of the United States. No pictures, but lots of specialized information on each species.

Hinterland Who's Who. Environment Canada. This site has a very large collection of individual fact sheets on birds and mammals in Canada. Each species is figured and detailed information its biology and distribution is given.

  Marine Resources Center. Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. This site has an extensive database of photographs and information about the marine invertebrates found in the Woods Hole region of Massachusetts.

Biology 101: The World of Animals. Joe Newsome, San Diego State University. This site consists of synoptic lecture notes for an introductory course in organismal biology. You'll find a number of topics discussed here including a survey of the major animal groups, ecology, evolution, and genetics.

Electron Microscope Gallery. Dennis Kunkel. Electron microscope images of various types of organisms.

Great Lakes Ecosystem Atlas. Paul Herbert. This is a site devoted to the aquatic ecology of the Great Lakes. It is still in its infancy and the biodiversity part is so far limited to the Crustaceans. However there are plans to extend it to all freshwater aquatic groups.

British Columbia Creature Page. Kerry West. A gallery of photographs of the various marine animals found in coastal British Columbia waters.

A Natural History of North Central Texas. Douglas G. Pierson. A collection of links to web sites related to the natural history of northern Texas, particularly the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Wildlife Neighbors of the Williamsburg Area. Bay Link. Pictures and short descriptive notes on the plants and animals of the Williamsburg, Virginia region. Birds, mammals, trees, and wildflowers.

American Scientist. A collection of articles from the journal "American Scientist" about ecology, natural history, and the environment.

Centex Naturalist. Jerry Evans. Photographs and some informtion on plants and animals of central Texas including diatoms, algae, protists, mosses, fossils, copepods, and others.

The Origin of Animal Body Plans. D. Erwin, J. Valentine, and J. Jablonski. This is an article from the magazine "American Scientist" and discusses the early eovlution of the various basic animal body plans and structures. An excellent and informative paper, but somewhat technical.

Animal Bytes. Sea World. A series of fact sheets about a variety of animals. Each sheet contains a photograph and information about the animal. Not all animals are from North America.

From A to Z. Oakland Zoo. Photographs and information about animals at the Oakland Zoo in California. Only some of the species are from North America.

The Cyber Zoomobile. Jim Rang. A virtual zoo with pictures and information about a variety of animal species although the author of the site is obviously very fond of the cat species. Only some of the species are found in North America. You'll also find links to other animals sites and a series of brain teasers.

Quillo's Online Zoo. A virtual zoo with photographs and information about a number of animal species.

Ecological Characterization of Otter Island, South Carolina. NOAA. This web site has all sorts of information about the animals, plants, and ecology of an island off the coast of South Carolina. There are individual pages on a wide variety of plants and animals.

Ranger 146's Home Page. James Henderson. Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a wildlife biologist. Then go to this site and read about one person's experiences in the field. You'll also find a series of links to other web sites related directly or indirectly to wild biology and conservation.


HYDROTHERMAL VENTS

Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents. University of Washington. An introduction to the fascinating life found near deep sea hydrothermal vents.

United States Geological Survey. An excellent introduction to the life found near deep sea hydrothermal vents.