Research Guides: Biology S27 -Ecology is Everywhere: Getting Started with Research

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Ecology is Everywhere Library Resources

Potentially Useful Organizations and Web Sites Related to Ecology:

iNaturalist
iNaturalist is an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature
It's also a crowd sourced species identification system and an organism occurrence recording tool. [Description from publisher.]
Animal Diversity Web
An online database of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology at the University of Michigan.
Animal Diversity Web has thousands of species accounts about individual animal species. These may include text, pictures of living animals, photographs and movies of specimens, and/or recordings of sounds. Students write the text of these accounts and we cannot guarantee their accuracy.
Descriptions of taxa above the species level, especially phyla, classes, orders and families. Hundreds of hyperlinked pages and images illustrate the traits and general biology of these groups. Professional biologists prepare these pieces, for the most part.
Birds of the World
Scholarly content from four major works of ornithology [Birds of North America, The Handbook of Birds of the World, Neotropical Birds, and Bird Families of the World], millions of bird observations from eBird, and multimedia content from the Macaulay Library into a single platform where biologists and birders can explore comprehensive life history information on birds. [Description from Publisher.]
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
Invasive and Exotic Species of North America: any species, including its seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that is not native to that ecosystem; and whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. [Description from publisher.]
NatureServe
[NatureServe and its network of member programs are a leading source for reliable scientific information about species and ecosystems of the Western Hemisphere. This site serves as a portal for accessing several types of publicly available biodiversity data. The Explorer lists 70,000 plants, animals, and ecological communities of the United States and Canada. [Description from publisher.]
UCONN Plant Database
Site containing text and photographs describing important characteristics of plants that grow in USDA hardiness zone 6 or colder. [Description from the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources.]
Native Plant Trust
Conserving and promoting New England's native plants,
Formerly (2019) named "The New England Wild Flower Society".
Forest Trees of Maine Handbook
A link to the online version of the the Centennial Edition (1908-2008) of the Forest Trees of Maine handbook prepared and published by the Maine State Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry.

Set up a free iNaturalist account

What is iNaturalist? How does it "work"?

iNaturalist is a crowd sourced biodiversity database created and maintained by professional and citizen scientists. The two primary goals for iNaturalist are:

1) to connect people to nature, and

2) to "generate scientifically valuable biodiversity data from personal encounters".

iNaturalist "works" by people (i.e. you!) posting "observations" that include who they are, what they saw, where they saw it, and evidence of what they saw. Site curators then review these recorded observations and add additional taxonomic information.

The iNaturalist website makes it very easy to explore these crowd sourced data in many interesting ways. For example, you can explore observations by geographic location, organism, species, the people who made the observation, the people who identified the organism in an observation.

Web Tutorials for using iNaturalist

Video Tutorials for using iNaturalist

iNaturalist Do's and Don'ts

Do post your own photos -- the whole point is to record YOUR observations.
Do take multiple photos of the same observation -- you don't want to get back home to find that your image of that once in a lifetime find is unusable.
Do focus on wild organisms -- your cat is a handsome beast, but not really iNaturalist material.
Do fill the image frame with the subject of your observation -- for others to comment and help I.D. your subject, they need to see it!
Do try to use a geotagging feature on your camera (and Do make a note of where you took the picture as backup).

A VERY Small Sample of Periodicals Accessible From Ladd Library:

Nature's Microworlds: The Deep Sea
Steve Backsall examines what is by far the largest ecosystem on our planet - the deep sea. From jellyfish with 40 meter long tentacles, fish with headlights and terrifying looking 'vampire squid' it contains some of the most extraordinary and bizarre life forms on the planet. There is even life on the deep sea bed, where armies of sea urchins, giant woodlouse and deep sea crabs feed from a thick layer of sediment. The most surprising discovery Steve makes is the existence of large communities of animals around volcanic vents. The Deep Sea is apart of the intriguing BBC natural world series Natures's Microworlds which looks at some of the most extraordinary ecosystems on the planet. [Description from publisher]
Nature's Microworlds: Australia's Red Centre
Australia Red Centre is one of the most inhospitable environments on Earth yet it teems with an extraordinary array of wildlife most of which is found nowhere else. Steve Backsall shows how the secret to Australia's diversity and peculiarity is its rainforest past, long isolation and the influence of El Nino. A small pocket of palm trees found right in the very heart of the continent are testimony to a time when Australia Red Centre was completely covered in a vast rainforest. As the continent drifted and dried out, the rainforest disappeared and the animals have slowly adapted and radiated to fill every niche in the desert. An array of desert birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians have evolved as a result. Australia Red Centre is party of the BBC documentary series Nature's Microworlds which explores the way that animals and plants have evolved to enable them to inhabit even the harshest environments. [Description from publisher.]
Nature's Microworlds: Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef on the planet. Steve Backshallnarrates an investigation into not only how it got so big, but also, howthe reef survives on the Australian coast at all. The Great Barrier Reef'simmense size is revealed as a mosaic of environments not just the hugecoral reef but sea grass meadows and island habitats as well. However,scale isn't the only success of this Microworld. The reef exists in nutrientpoor waters, on the face of it too poor to support all this life so how has this amazing Microworld come about in the first place? Steve reveals the unique relationship between the coral and an alga, which is the key to this entire ecosystem. [Description from publisher.]
Nature's Microworlds: Namib Desert
Explore the Microworld of the Namib Desert. Discover its key characters and the ingenious adaptations that allow them to cope with the harshenvironment. The secret to life in this unique ecosystem is revealed as sea fogs and detritus, blown in across the desert by the winds. These airborne water and food sources are the key to life in Africa's oldest desert. [Description from publisher.]

Wikimedia Commons Images
For specific information about reuse of Wikimedia images, see: Reusing content outside Wikimedia.
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Be sure to select the "usage rights" (e.g. free to use or share, even commercially) before performing your search.
FigShare
Figshare is a web-based interface designed for academic research data management and research data dissemination. It accepts all file types (with in-browser viewing) and includes many images.