Content Partners

Encyclopedia of Life content partners serve authenticated species information through the EOL portal. After developing a joint commitment, the content partners work closely with the EOL component groups to make their data visible within EOL.

Note that all of these partners maintain their own Web sites where you will find additional information not available through EOL. We urge you to click through to their sites to examine the richness of information each of them contains.

Partner	Description
AmphibiaWeb	AmphibiaWeb is an online system enabling anyone with a Web browser to search and retrieve information relating to amphibian biology and conservation. This site was inspired by the global declines of amphibians, the study of which has been hindered by the lack of multidisplinary studies and a lack of coordination in monitoring, in field studies, and in lab studies. One of its major goals is to encourage a shared vision for the study of global amphibian declines and the conservation of remaining amphibians. See AmphibiaWeb agreement.
Animal Diversity Web	Animal Diversity Web (ADW) is a project of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. It is a large searchable encyclopedia of the natural history of animals. ADW facilitates inquiry-driven learning with a database rich enough that students can discover for themselves basic concepts in ecology and conservation biology. ADW has partnered with the EOL to share its text, much of which has been created by undergraduates across North America. It will also share its multimedia as licensing allows See Animal Diversity Web agreement.
AntWeb	AntWeb is generally recognized as the most advanced biodiversity information system at species level dedicated to ants. Altogether, its acceptance by the ant research community, the number of participating remote curators that maintain the site, number of pictures, simplicity of web interface, and completeness of species, make AntWeb the premier reference for dissemination of data, information, and knowledge on ants. AntWeb is serving information on tens of thousands of ant species through the EOL. See AntWeb agreement.
ARKive	ARKive is a Wildscreen initiative – a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to promoting the public understanding of biodiversity and the need for its conservation. ARKive’s mission is to create a lasting, publicly accessible, audio-visual record of life on Earth. ARKive is sharing with EOL its species texts. To access ARKive’s rich repository of films and photographs, follow links in the Specialized Projects area of our pages. See ARKive agreement.
Atlas of Living Australia	ALA - The Atlas of Living Australia is a five-year project funded under the Australian Government's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). Its mission is to develop a biodiversity data management system which will link Australia’s biological knowledge with its scientific and agricultural reference collections and other custodians of biological information. See Atlas of Living Australia agreement.
BioLib.cz	BioLib, the Biological Library, is a non-commercial educational project intended to be used both by experts and general public. It produces a gallery, glossary, vernacular names dictionary, database of links and literature, systems of biotopes, discussion forum and several other functions related to biology. EOL partnered with BioLib to present many of its images.
Biolib.de	Biolib.de is a collection of historic and modern biology books.
BioPedia	Biopedia is a communal repository of descriptions of organisms. Biopedia works in conjunction with the STAR biodiversity web sites, such as microscope, and with the Encyclopedia of Life. Text descriptions will be immediately be visible in the STAR sites. If you would like to be able to add to Biopedia, please contact us or register. We asccept content on the understanding it can be made available under a Creative Commons attribution license.
Biopix	Biopix is a collection of biological photos, primarily from Scandinavia. It is used by a wide range of students, teachers, researchers, photographers, among others. EOL partnered with Biopix to present many of its images.
Catalogue of Life	The Catalogue of Life Partnership (CoLP) is an informal partnership dedicated to creating an index of the world’s organisms, called the Catalogue of Life (CoL). The CoL provides different forms of access to an integrated, quality, maintained, comprehensive consensus species checklist and taxonomic hierarchy, presently covering more than one million species, and intended to cover all know species in the near future. They contain substantial contributions of taxonomic expertise from more than fifty organizations around the world, integrated into a single work by the ongoing work of the CoLP partners. EOL currently uses CoLP as its taxonomic backbone. See Catalogue of Life agreement.
FishBase	FishBase is a global information system with all you ever wanted to know about fishes. FishBase is a relational database with information to cater to different professionals such as research scientists, fisheries managers, zoologists and many more. The FishBase Website contains data on practically every fish species known to science. The project was developed at the WorldFish Center in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and many other partners, and with support from the European Commission. FishBase is serving information on more than 30,000 fish species through EOL. See FishBase agreement.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)	The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is the world's premiere source for information on biological specimen and observational data, providing on-line access to more than 135 million data records from around the world. GBIF is providing range maps for the EOL species pages. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is the world's premiere source for information on biological specimen and observational data, providing on-line access to more than 135 million data records from around the world. GBIF is providing range maps for the EOL species pages. See Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) agreement.
IUCN	International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. IUCN supports scientific research; manages field projects all over the world; and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice. EOL partnered with the IUCN to indicate status of each species according to the Red List of Threatened Species.
*Microscope**	microscope is a communal web site that provides descriptive information about all kinds of microbes. It combines locally assembled content with links to other expert sites on the internet. Information is assembled in collections provided by various contributors. See Microscope agreement.
Mushroom Observer	The purpose of this site is to record observations about mushrooms, help people identify mushrooms they aren’t familiar with, and expand the community around the scientific exploration of mushrooms (mycology). Some have asked what counts as a mushroom. This site takes a very broad view. While the emphasis is on the large fleshy fungi, other fungi such as lichens, rust and molds as well as fungus-like organisms such as slime-molds are all welcome. Ultimately, I hope this site will become a valuable resource for both amateur and professional mycologists. I like to think of it as a living field guide for mushrooms or a collaborative mushroom field journal.
Naturalis	Naturalis is the Dutch National Natural History Museum. Naturalis aims to use its unique natural history collection to make a real contribution to furthering the knowledge and appreciation of nature across Dutch society. Naturalis collaborates with a number of Dutch knowledge institutions, field data collecting organizations, and nature conservation organizations to gather, model and distribute the best possible collection of information on Dutch biodiversity. Naturalis and partners organize expeditions, develop educational programs, publish journals and books and websites to distribute the information efficiently and effectively. Naturalis is developing a Netherlands regional EOL site, which will serve information in Dutch; the same information will be served on the EOL central portal in English. See Naturalis agreement.
Solanaceae Source	The Solanaceae Source Web site is the product of an ongoing five year project: Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (PBI) Solanum: A worldwide treatment. The aim of the project is to produce a worldwide taxonomic monograph of the species occurring within the plant genus Solanum (the potato and tomato family), organized by a robust phylogenetic framework. The project began in January 2004 and is just one of four inventories funded by the National Science Foundation at that time. The project is made possible through collaborations between Solanaceae specialists worldwide, with principal investigators from four research institutions in England and the United States.
The Nearctic Spider Database	The Nearctic Spider Database presents peer-reviewed species pages, aggregates individual and institutional collection records, and maintains deep links to the primary literature on spiders throughout Canada, United States, Greenland, Bermuda, and parts of Mexico. The forum, public commenting on pages, web services, reverse geocoding services, syndicated content, and nomenclatural checks are all well used by the public and by araneid systematists and their students.
Tree of Life web project	Tree of Life (ToL) project is a collaborative effort of biologists from around the world. On more than 9,000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their evolutionary history (phylogeny), and characteristics. ToL pages are linked to one another hierarchically, in the form of the evolutionary tree of life. Starting with the root of all Life on Earth and moving out along diverging branches to individual species, the structure of the ToL project thus illustrates the genetic connections between all living things. In the future, ToL Web will concentrate on supra-specific species pages and EOL on species-level pages. See Tree of Life web project agreement.