In the 2012 President's Budget Request, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is terminated. As a result, all resources, databases, tools, and applications within this web site will be removed on January 15, 2012. For more information, please refer to the NBII Program Termination page.
Earth is host to a wide diversity of habitat types, each of which supports its own specialized plant, animal, and microbial species assemblages.
DESERT Covering 20% of the Earth's land surface, deserts are not all "hot and dry."
FOREST Forests occupy approximately one-third of Earth's land area, account for over two-thirds of the leaf area of land plants, and contain about 70% of carbon present in living things.
MARINE There are many types of marine habitats. Habitats are classified using a variety of factors such as vegetation, substrate, depth, salinity, and wave action.
PRAIRIE Once a vast ecosystem type across the American Mid-west, prairies now exist as a shadow of their former range, which has been depleted by up to 99%.
The NBII Program is administered by the Biological Informatics Program of the U.S. Geological Survey