Showing posts with label Encyclopedia of Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Encyclopedia of Life. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 26, 2008


EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY:
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE PORTAL NOW OPEN:
After over a year in development the Encyclopedia of Life portal is now open for your enjoyment. What is it ? It is the beginning of a journey to document all species of life on Earth in a single accessible website. Its goals are...
* To create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike.
*To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating virtually all known data about every living species.
*To engage a wide audience of schoolchildren, educators, citizen scientists, academics and those who are just curious about Earth's species.
*To increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.
In the first edition of the portal you will find:
*About 25 exemplar species pages. These pages show the kind of rich environment, with extensive information, to which all the species pages will eventually grow. These pages have been authenticated by practicing scientists.
*Tens of thousands of additional species pages. These pages are authenticated but do not contain the rich array of information found on the exemplar pages.
*About one million minimal species pages contain the scientific and common names for a species and often have a distribution map, but lack other authenticated information.
A fascinating and growing resource. Drop on over to the Encyclopedia of Life and watch it grow. Sign up for their quarterly newsletter. take the online questionnaire. View videos and participate in the blogs. There is also an online forum, and profiles of the research institutions and scientists participating.

Sunday, May 20, 2007


THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE PROJECT:
The Encyclopedia of Life is a collaborative project of the Field Museum, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Holem, Mass.,the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Natural History Museum of London, the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Talks are underway with other institutions to secure collaboration. The goal of this project is to have an online documentation of the 1.8 million species so far named, with pages for each of the species giving written information, photographs, video, sound and location maps. The site will be available in all major languages. The first pages of the encyclopedia will be uploaded in the second quarter of 2008, beginning with vertebrates. Unlike The Tree of Life previously discussed on Molly's Blog the Encyclopedia will feature species diversity rather than evolutionary relationships.
To sign up for updates and notices on the Encyclopedia as it develops go to the above bookmarked site.