LibGuides: Biology: Background

Background & Context Sources

Animal Diversity Web
Animal natural history, distribution, classification and conservation biology database, from Univ Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Improves research methodology by collaboratively making biodiversity literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.
Birds of North America
The most comprehensive reference for the life histories of over 760 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Species accounts are written by ornithologists and other experts and are an essential reference for anyone with an advanced interest in birds.
Darwin Correspondence Project
Read and search the full texts of more than 15,000 of Charles Darwin’s letters. Discover complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received.
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Hosted at the University of Cambridge.
Darwin Online
The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online. John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-
Dolphin Embryo Microscope Slides
Scanned images of histological sections, with many sections per single embryo.
Encyclopedia of Life
Scientifically accurate information on living organisms, drawing on multiple sources for taxonomic and systematic data.
Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative
Seeking to promote expert knowledge on soil biodiversity in environmental policy and sustainable land management to protect and enhance ecosystem services, with contributions from over 100 scientists worldwide.
Great Lakes Information Network
A multimedia digital collection with information about the Great Lakes through St. Lawrence region of North America.
Kew Tree of Life Explorer
Kew, the Royal Botanic Gardens, is building a comprehensive evolutionary tree of life for flowering plants and sharing results and data.
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Data release 2.0 (January 2022): 9,823 angiosperm specimens from 412 families, 7,514 genera and 9,404 species
Mammal Species of the World
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History hosts this database of mammalian taxonomy. Verify recognized scientific names and conduct taxonomic research.
NCBI Taxonomy Browser
A curated classification and nomenclature for all of the organisms in the public sequence databases.
Plants of the World Online
"An international collaborative programme that has as a primary aim to make available digitized data of the world’s flora gathered from the past 250 years of botanical exploration and research."
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Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew England
Tree of Life
A collaborative web project that provides information about biodiversity as well as the characteristics and evolutionary history of different groups of organisms.
Twineline: Ohio Sea Grant Magazine
Focus on, but not limited to, Lake Erie. Research articles, education news, outreach opportunities, events.
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Stone Laboratory, Ohio Sea Grant’s education and outreach facility on Lake Erie, serves scientists from across the Great Lakes region, offering lab facilities, field work equipment, research vessels and housing for researchers studying Lake Erie.
USGS Ecosystems
Environmental information about the U.S.
World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)
Provides an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms, including taxa.

Dictionaries, Directories, and Biography

American Men and Women of Science
Profiles living persons in the physical and biological fields, as well as public health scientists, engineers, mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientists.
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Access through OBIS.
ExPASy
Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) Resource Portal. Databases and software tools for proteomics, genomics, phylogeny, population genetics, transcriptomics, etc.
Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Very brief definitions. 2nd edition, 2006. Oxford University Press.
Oxford Reference: Science and Technology
Dictionaries and Encylopedias on Science and Technology from Oxford University Press

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Aquatic Ecotoxicology
Ecological and toxicological effects of chemical pollutants on populations and ecosystems, and the fate of pollutants in the environment.
note: Oberlin College users only.

Encyclopedia of Ecology by Brian D. Fath
ISBN: 9780444641304
Publication Date: 2018-08-23
Covers all scales of biological organization, from organisms, to populations, to communities and ecosystems. Laboratory, field, simulation modelling, and theoretical approaches are presented to show how living systems sustain structure and function in space and time.

Forest Encyclopedia Network
Provides encyclopedias covering different fields of forest science.
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
Information on 4,000+ species; includes Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Insects, Invertebrates, Mammals and Reptiles; covers evolution, habitat, behavior, and range.

The Senses: a Comprehensive Reference by Bernd Fritzsch (Editor-In-Chief)
ISBN: 9780128054093
Publication Date: 2020-09-30
Second edition. Online comprehensive reference work In 264 chapters from a distinguished team of international experts. The Senses lays out current knowledge on the anatomy, physiology, and molecular biology of sensory organs; topics covered include the perception, psychophysics, and higher order processing of sensory information, as well as disorders and new diagnostic and treatment methods.

Handbook of the Birds of the World - Alive
All content of the 17-volume print reference work, continuously updated for online access. OC affiliated users only. Print volumes location & call number: Science Library Reference, QL673 .H265 1992.

Handbooks

FishWatch: U.S. Seafood Facts
Easy-to-understand science-based facts to help consumers make smart sustainable seafood choice, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife
Guides for Ohio wildlife: mammals, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, stream fishes, amphibians, reptiles, owls, raptors, spiders, waterbirds, warblers and more.
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ODNR Division of Wildlife
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Soil Biology Primer; an introduction to the living component of soil and how it contributes to agricultural productivity and air and water quality.
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The online Primer includes all of the text of the printed original, but not all of the images of the soil organisms. The full story of the soil food web is more easily understood with the help of the illustrations in the printed version, which is accessible in the Biodiversity Heritage Library https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/101743