Biology Research Guide

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of natural history and botanical libraries that cooperate to digitize the legacy literature of biodiversity held in their collections and to make that literature available for open access.

Faculty and staff at the University of Arizona have developed an interactive online resource for learning biology based on an entry-level biology course for use by high school and college-level students. The sites are divided into seven subject areas: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Human Biology, Mendelian Genetics, Immunology, and Molecular Biology. Within each section there are problem sets, tutorials, activities, and links to related Internet resources. Some modules are available in Spanish.

High resolution electron microscopy and animations demonstrate the mechanics of HIV infection, allergy and mite interactions, bacteriophages, how antibodies are made, bacterial motility, ulcer-causing bacteria, how lymphocytes kill infected or tumor cells, etc. Video clips require QuickTime.

Here you will find authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.

A biweekly series of short reports on recent biomedical discoveries, presented by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The articles are approximately 400 words and usually based on a discovery reported in one or more articles from the recently published peer-reviewed literature.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information provides this quick and easy tool for finding the complete lineage for any species. The database allows searches by common name as well as scientific name.

A list of the names of the genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus 1758 to the end of 2004

The Tree of Life Web Project is a collection of information about biodiversity compiled collaboratively by hundreds of expert and amateur contributors. Its goal is to contain a page with pictures, text, and other information for every species and for each group of organisms, living or extinct.

The Index Herbariorum (IH) entry for an herbarium includes its physical location, Web address, contents (e.g., number and type of specimens), history, and names, contact information and areas of expertise of associated staff.

The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) is a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes. Its goal is to eliminate the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names.

The USDA Agricultural Research Service hosts this collection of searchable databases. "Medicinal Plants of Native America" has thousands of records documenting medicinal uses of botanical species used by over 100 Native American tribes. It is searchable by plant name, tribe, and the Phytochemical Database includes pharmacological, toxic activity and assay information on plants. The Foodplant Database provides information on Native American food plants. There are links to sites concerned with medicinal and poisonous plants, nutrition, and an ethnobotanical dictionary.

Search more than 7,000 species of plants by name (botanical or common). You can also retrieve data based upon the edible, medicinal, or other uses of each plant, as well as by growing conditions. The entry includes range, habitat, any uses, any known hazards, special characteristics, cultivation, and propagation.

This site from the United States Dept. of Agriculture provides standardized plant names, symbols, and other plant attribute information. PND can be searched by common or scientific name, family or genus and limited by state. In addition, there is a browsable and searchable image gallery of over 1,000 plants and a sister site," PMP Fact Sheets", which provides more detailed information on more than 130 species of plants.

Britain's leading gardening society offers a wealth of gardening and botanical information, which includes scientific and research articles, plant catalogues, photographs, and the plant forum (in "RHS News") which includes new plant varieties. Gives information on genetic research, pests and diseases, and the plant registration authority. Information on gardening shows throughout Britain is provided. The "RHS Trials" describes over 200 years of horticulture plant scientific trials.

Advanced research and scholarship. Theses and dissertations, free to find, free to use.

Provides highly technical molecular biology information and tools. The site includes molecular databases, nucleotide and protein sequences, and genome databases, as well as links to the PubMed database and PubMed Central. The center is part of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

This resource organizes information on genomes including sequences, maps, chromosomes, assemblies, and annotations.

The Resource Identification Portal supports guidelines for rigor and transparency in biomedical publications as a database for new and existing Research Resource Identifiers (RRID) of key biological resources: Antibodies, Model Organisms, and Tools (software, databases, services).

ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world.

A guide to understanding genetic conditions - more than 450 of them. Can be searched by genetic conditions, genes, or chromosomes with the explanation for each topic clearly explained and with hyperlinks to other topics inserted.

A science education tool for teachers, students, parents, and families. The core section of this site covers the background and role of genetics in disease, DNA and proteins. Includes science activities and projects.

Funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the National Institutes of Health, this site provides information and history for the Human Genome Project- which will identify all of the estimated 80,000 genes in human DNA. Also addresses related issues including: cloning; genetic testing; medical applications; and ethical, legal and social issues.

Data generated through the Human Genome Project and smaller projects.

Maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and Johns Hopkins University, this is an excellent site for information on the inheritance of human characteristics. This database can be searched for information on any human characteristic that is, or may be, genetically influenced. Such a search will lead to a summary of what is known about the inheritance of that characteristic, and will also give references. Some of these references are in abstract format, and some have links to the MEDLINE database, which gives more background information. Entries on various human characteristics are updated as information becomes available, and the dates of update are given.

This Web site is based at the Pacific Biomedical Research Center at the University of Hawaii (Manoa). It consists of an image gallery with light and electron micrographs, a primer on microscopy, scanning electron micrographs of "wanted bugs" (insect pests) and a variety of other features related to microscopy.

The Recent Mammals Collection, together with the remarkable collection of books, journals, and manuscripts of the Department's Library and Archives provides scholars with outstanding resources for research in mammalian systematics, biodiversity, and evolutionary biology.

Pictures and information about animals. There is a wealth of data about thousands of creatures with links to mammals, birds, arthropods, amphibians, reptiles, sharks, and bony fishes. The site was originally created by students at the University of Michigan for a biology course.

BNA Online offers online galleries showing bird behaviors, habitats, nesting habits and more. Also, each online species account contains recordings of birds' songs and calls. Allows searching by species name or keyword.

Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.

Search specimens from the Division of Mammals for holdings and available images.

An authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms, including information on synonymy.

EPA website on climate change issues, technology, laws, and regulations.

Provides indexing and access to a collection of more than two million historical and current government technical reports archived by the National Technical Information Service. Over 500,000 documents are available in full-text format.

Genomic, Genetic and Breeding Resources for Cotton Research Discovery and Crop Improvement

The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) Bioinformatics Resource Portal which provides access to scientific databases and software tools.

Gramene is a curated, open-source, integrated data resource for comparative functional genomics in crops and model plant species.

The Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) is a freely available electronic database containing detailed information about small molecule metabolites found in the human body. It is intended to be used for applications in metabolomics, clinical chemistry, biomarker discovery and general education.

resources for conducting genome and metagenome studies

MaizeGDB is a community-oriented, long-term, federally funded informatics service to researchers focused on the crop plant and model organism Zea mays.

The NCI Development Therapeutics Program (DTP) provides services and resources to the academic and private-sector research communities worldwide to facilitate the discovery and development of new cancer therapeutic agents

A collection of public databases for research in computational biology, genome data, and biomedical information.

NCBI provides several genomic biology tools and resources, including organism-specific pages that include links to many web sites and databases relevant to that species.

A list of tools from the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library.

The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is collaborative effort to safeguard the genetic diversity of agriculturally important plants.