Explore Cornell: Beetle Science [Macromedia Flash Player, QuickTime]
http://explore.cornell.edu/scene.cfm?scene=Beetle%20Science
You don't have to be a coleopterist to enjoy this eye-catching Web site from Cornell University's Department of Entomology. Beetle Science is an excellent showcase for this amazingly diverse and abundant order of insects and related Cornell projects. The Web site offers a number of fun multimedia features, such as a collection of beautiful carbon dust illustrations and rotatable images of beetle specimens from the university's Insect Collection. Visitors may also view an interactive timeline of efforts to control the invasive Asian Longhorned Beetle, or take a virtual tour of two beetle research labs. These and other well-designed features make this a great site for the beetle novice as well as the seasoned expert. [RS]
[Back to Contents]

University of Bristol: Bat Ecology and Acoustics Lab [wav]
http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/research/bats/calls/
This Web site contains audio clips of bat echolocation calls from the Bat Ecology and Acoustics Lab at the University of Bristol. The calls, representing 15 species of bats found in Britain, are time-expanded recordings detectable to the human ear. To hear the entire repertoire of calls for each species, users must download the files and open them with a sound analysis program such as Gram (program link provided). Otherwise, a selection of calls for each species may be heard using any program that recognizes WAV files. The site also provides a text file describing in detail how the echolocation calls were recorded. Anyone is welcome to download the calls for noncommercial purposes; bat biologists and non-experts alike should find this Web site interesting. [RS]
[Back to Contents]

Bioentrepreneur
http://www.nature.com/bioent/
Life scientists interested in commercializing their research can look to Bioentrepreneur -- a comprehensive Web portal from Nature Publishing Group -- for "authoritative, independent advice provided by experts and industry insiders." Bioentrepreneur offers current business development news, a resource toolkit, profiles of life sciences companies, and much more. Users must create a free personal account with Bioentrepreneur to access all features of the Web site. [RS]
[Back to Contents]

The Mayflies of North America
http://www.entm.purdue.edu/entomology/research/mayfly/contents.html
Housed in the Department of Entomology at Purdue University, Mayfly Central is dedicated "to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge about mayflies, or the insect order Ephemeroptera." The Mayflies of North America, a major project of Mayfly Central, contains a comprehensive species and species distribution list (674 entries as of May 2003). Mayfly Central regularly reviews the literature to keep this list as current as possible. [RS]
[Back to Contents]

Biotechnology in Developing Countries [SVGViewer]
http://www.fao.org/biotech/inventory_admin/dep/default.asp
This Web site contains a database from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations created to "gather, store, organize, and disseminate updated baseline information on the state-of-the-art of crop biotechnology products and techniques" in use or planned for use in developing countries. The database (FAO-BioDeC) is a work in progress, currently containing about 2000 entries from 70 nations. In addition to a general search engine, FAO-BioDeC offers a map-based geographical search that recalls all instances of GMOs and other biotechnologies for a selected region. Downloadable reports are also provided. [RS]
[Back to Contents]

University of Colorado Museum: Botany Section [pdf]
http://cumuseum.colorado.edu/Research/Botany/botany_databases.html
This site contains a number of Web-accessible botanical resources from Herbarium COLO, the Botany Section of the University of Colorado Museum. Focused exclusively on the flora of Colorado, the site includes species lists of vascular plants (organized by county), an electronic version of the Catalog of the Colorado Flora (including the most recent addenda), a downloadable table of Colorado vascular plants, and a list of Colorado-type specimens housed in the Herbarium. A specimen database of Colorado vascular plants is currently under construction. These materials are available free of charge to any interested user. [RS]
[Back to Contents]

Human Mitochondrial Protein Database
http://bioinfo.nist.gov:8080/examples/servlets/index.html
The Human Mitochondrial Protein Database (HMPDb) conveniently consolidates information from a number of other databases, including GenBank, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, and the Human Mitochondrial Genome Database. HMPDb "is intended as a tool not only to aid in studying the mitochondrion but in studying the associated diseases" as well. Features include a general database search, a graphical tool for visualizing the mitochondrial DNA sequences, and 3D structures for mitochondrial proteins. Users are welcome to contact the National Institute of Standards and Technology with corrections or other information relating to the database. [RS]
[Back to Contents]

Reef Check [pdf]
http://www.reefcheck.org/
Reef Check, headquartered at the Institute of the Environment at the University of California Los Angeles, is a "volunteer, community-based monitoring protocol designed to measure the health of coral reefs on a global scale." With scientific reef surveys conducted in over 60 countries and territories, Reef Check has been able to track global trends in reef health to better inform possible conservation strategies. Visitors to the Reef Check Web site can read result summaries for the 1997-2001 monitoring period, and check out the organization's current and archived newsletters. Other resources include information on survey methods, Reef Check publications, a species identification guide, and other resources geared mainly toward Reef Check volunteers. [RS]
[Back to Contents]