ESRI Conservation Program Resources:

Species, Systematics & Museums

(ECP and CTSP members, sites of interest for mapping/GIS, scholarly papers and ESRI Conference Proceedings, and sites with public conservation and GIS data for downloading) (Under Construction)

(Legend: CTSP sites are coded "c" plus the year of the grant, (cs=software, cm=mac), ECP grantees are coded "e". Many groups, especially newer grantees, do not yet have their own sites and are colored green. Other new groups may be described or supported by other sites)

Academy of Natural Sciences, Pa e98 . (1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103 tel:(215)299-1000 GIS Contact: Dr. Thomas Wilke, twilke@say.acnatsci.org, also: Biosystems Engineering (W. Cully Hession, Ph.D. (215) 299-1104 hession@acnatsci.org) "The Academy's Patrick Center has added a Biosystems Engineering Section to its arsenal of research expertise. Central to this new section is the Spatial Analysis/Geographic Information System (GIS) laboratory...Patrick Center scientists utilize the GIS to examine relationships between watershed characteristics and the resulting chemical, physical and biological response of aquatic ecosystems. " GIS Project: "This research effort will help us predict emerging diseases in the Yangtze River Basin of China; to model transmission of schistosomiasis relative to factors of snail-parasite dynamics and cattle-parasite dynamics in such a way as to optimize control and drug administration programs to eliminate schistosomiasis in Poyang Lake.". SEARCH .

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson AZ c96 . (2021 NORTH KINNEY ROAD, TUCSON, AZ, 85743, tel: 520-883-3007, fax: 520-883-2500, email: FPOLLEN@AZSTARNET.COM, GIS contact: Gary Paul Nabhan gnabhan@desertmuseum.org) . Founded in 1952, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a non-profit educational institution focusing on natural history and dedicated to fostering public appreciation, knowledge and wise stewardship of the Sonoran Desert region. See their Research Projects and Scientific Publications . esp: Sense of Place Project. see also: Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Seri Indian intergenerational trasmission of ethnoherpetology. see also MIGRATORY POLLINATORS AND THEIR CORRIDORS: CONSERVATION ACROSS BORDERS

Association of Systematics Collections . (Roberta Faul-Zeitler, Executive Director Association of Systematics Collections 1725 K Street, NW, Suite 601 Washington, DC 20006-1401 U.S.A. tel: (202) 835-9050 Fax: (202) 835-7334 Email: asc@ascoll.org) "The Association of Systematics Collections is a full-service association whose purpose is to "foster the care, management, preservation and improvement of systematics collections and to facilitate their utilization in s cience and society," (ASC bylaws)...In addition to over 80 institutional members, ASC has 20 affiliate society members representing scientists whose work involves systematics collections. See ONLINE DATABASES ... Information Model for Biological Collections (via MUSE).

The American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (alternate url) is the professional association for public gardens in North America, supporting the public horticulture community in its mission to study, display and conserve plants.

American Museum of Natural History . Research Library (79th St. @ Central Park West New York, New York 10024 USA tel:212-769-5417 fax:212-769-5009 GIS contact: Tom Moritz, Director of the Library, email:tmoritz@amnh.org) "The collection contains over 485,000 volumes, including books, journals, pamphlets, and reprints and is rich in retrospective materials, some dating to the 15th century. "

American Society of Plant Taxonomists . (Hugh Wilson (Chair) - Texas A&M University h-wilson@tamu.edu) "The American Society of Plant Taxonomists promotes research and teaching in the taxonomy, systematics, and phylogeny of vascular and nonvascular plants. Organized in 1935, the Society has a membership of over 1300. "

Biota of North America Program (BONAP) . (Campus Box 3280, Coker Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280 tel:(919) 962-0578 FAX:(919) 962-1625 . Dr. John T. Kartesz, Director mailto: kartesz@email.unc.edu) "BONAP, of the the North Carolina Botanical Garden at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill maintains a historical tradition of working closely with private organizations and federal government agencies in providing assistance with biogeography, taxonomy, and nomenclature for the North American biota...BONAP offers information on a variety of biological fields including rarity, weediness, nativity, insectivory, plant habit, habitat, duration, biogeography, hardiness, medical value, horticultural values, etc. Currently, several thousand fields are being maintained in a relational database at BONAP, making it one of the largest biological data systems now available. We have recently expanded the geographic scope of BONAP to include the entire northern world (north of the 24th parallel) and presently track nearly 80,000 accepted taxa. Projects: SYNONYMIZED CHECKLIST, STATE-LEVEL DISTRIBUTIONS: BONAP maintains a database for the phytogeographic distribution of all known vascular plants occurring in North America (north of Mexico)., COUNTY-LEVEL DISTRIBUTIONS: The BONAP's state-level geography has been expanded over the recent years to include county-level phytogeography for 26 of the 50 U.S. states" See their new CD-ROM publication of nearly 250,000 national phytogeographic records. ( see Distribution/Diversity mapping at the county level: Arkansas Biodiversity - Vascular Plants.) . , VOUCHERING SYSTEM, MORPHOLOGY AND RELATED FIELDS: Currently, a major effort is underway to encode morphological and other related data fields for all species found within the area treated for the purpose of developing specialized computer keys (polyclaves)., ECOLOGICAL SUMMARIES: Ecological summaries for all major continental ecosystems have been developed., PHOTOGRAPHIC INDEX: To complement the morphological and ecological data, BONAP has initiated the building of a photographic index by reproducing images of color photographic slides and hand drawn illustrations on laser disks and CD ROMS. These images will be distinctively reproduced and linked with all other data fields to further facilitate identification of plant species. See also BONAP's 1999 Online phytogeography data :"This site contains the BONAP's phytogeographic data current to August, 1999, as part of a cooperative effort with USDA/APHIS Center for Plant Health Science and Technology for early detection of invasive species' spread.". see also MIP BONAP Page . USDA NRCS NPDC Bonap Page .

Biodiversity and Biological Collections Web Server : Defunct? devoted to information of interest to systematists and other biologists of the organismic kind...Within these pages you will find information about specimens in biological collections, taxonomic authority files, directories of biologists, reports by various standards bodies (IOPI, ASC, SA2000, etc), an archive of the Taxacom, MUSE-L and CICHLID-L listservs), access to on-line journals (including Flora On-line) and information about MUSE and Delta.

Biodiversity and Ecosystems NEtwork Systematics & Taxonomy page . (By Leland Ellis , Director, W.M. Keck Center for Genome Informatics, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University, Houston, TX 77030 tel: (713) 677-7607 email: l-ellis@xian.tamu.edu OR leland@straylight.tamu.edu)) Defunct? This page is being developed to provide pointers contributed by members of the BENE community to topics of interest in Systematics and Taxonomy, as well as to point to existing resources.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden . (1000 Washington Ave, Brooklyn, New York, 11225-1099 Contact: Steven Clemants tel:(718) 941-4044, ext. 234; e-mail: steveclemants@bbg.org.) "the greenest site on the web: Like all of Brooklyn Botanic Garden's world-renowned publications, our web site aims to offer lots of practical -- and scientifically impeccable -- information to help you create a greener world." GIS Projects: New York Metropolitan Flora Project : Includes hundreds of on-line maps showing flora distributions over the region and their changes thru time. "In 1990 the Garden embarked on the New York Metropolitan Flora project (NYMF), a multi-year effort to document the flora in all counties within a 50-mile radius of New York City, including all of Long Island, southeastern New York State, northern New Jersey and Fairfield County, Connecticut. Understanding the urban landscape is critical in our rapidly urbanizing world. Findings of BBG's Metropolitan Flora Project serve as vital references for those involved in environmental efforts, from preserving rare plants, to planning parks and greenways, to repairing degraded habitats, to designing home gardens in which native plant communities are preserved or restored. " see the Clickable Map . See their GIS Education Outreach Program: "A two-week cooperative learning activity for the AP Biology classroom which relies heavily on the Internet and GIS mapping software (ArcView)." Interactive Garden Stroll lets you walk thru the virtual garden, navigating via grounds maps and viewing pictures and text of each area..See also Interactive Map of the Cranford Rose Garden . Don't Miss: CherryWatch '99 Animated Blossom Status Map! . . .SEARCH .

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco CA e95, (Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 94118-4599 tel:(415) 750-7161 fax:(415) 750-7346 . GIS Contact: Nina Jablonski, tel;750-7163 email:anthropology@cas.calacademy.org). "With eight scientific research departments, the Academy's natural history collections are utilized by scientists from around the world. Our scientists discover, collect and study invaluable specimens of animals, plants, minerals and anthropological artifacts from around the world. The collections provide essential tools for comparative studies in biodiversity, and are ranked among the world's largest. The Academy provides scientific knowledge and expertise to visiting scientists, educators, students, parents, conservation organizations, the media and the general public." GIS PROGRAM STATUS: "The aim of the GIS project was and is is to render a portion of the already automated specimen data from the State of California more usable and accessible by individuals inside and outside of the CAS. This aim will be met by producing a pilot version of a centralized specimen database linked to a map server, that will index and integrate all CAS specimens by geographic locality. Because the number of automated specimen records for all CAS collections is very large (over 2.5 million), the pilot project will be limited to coverage of automated holdings from the state of California (607,480 records). The central database would not completely integrate, but would link, through a central hub, the individual departmental databases currently in existence. The primary function of the database would be to store, by locality, information on CAS California holdings, and distribute more detailed queries to specific departmental databases. Considerable time and attention will be paid to the further development of automated geocoding tools to allow the efficient regularization of specimen locality data and the inclusion of those data in pre-existing databases. The same computer server on which the central database will be maintained will also serve as a map server, acting as the central resource for distributing geographic data in the form of different kinds of digital maps to users who wish to project collection locality points. It is envisioned that this database -- map server complex would be used extensively by workers inside the Academy to access high quality digital map resources, and by diverse outside interests (including our physical and virtual visitorship) seeking information on CAS California collections. "see Clickable Map of California Floristic Regions . Also: Sherman Chickering California Wildlflower Image Library: Online Catalog of over 350 wildlflower images " See also The Manzanita Project: CalPhotos: Plants.for online access to over 19,428 images of plants . ..CAS Species of Fishes Catalog - information for 53,500 species of fishes. Departments: ANTHROPOLOGY, AQUATIC BIOLOGY, BOTANY, ENTOMOLOGY: World Checklist of Extant Mecoptera Species, HERPETOLOGY, ICHTHYOLOGY, INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY AND GEOLOGY: Diatoms Echinoderm Home Page, ORNITHOLOGY AND MAMMALOGY, LIBRARY: Biodiversity Center, Research Resources Internet Links. See also: The Biodiversity Resource Center: "an environmental library located on the exhibit floor of the California Academy of Sciences. The Center provides direct access to the variety of informational resources which describe biodiversity and human efforts to preserve it. " See also: The Academy Library, "founded in 1853, is a major research library devoted to natural history and the natural sciences....Total collection size is approximately 180,000 volumes, with over 2,600 current serial titles. The Academy Library is a depository for U.S. Geological Survey geologic maps and topographic maps of the western United States. The Library also collects maps for other areas in which the Academy has research interests, and maintains extensive holdings of local, regional, national, and foreign gazetteers and other cartographic aids." Calwild Newsletter Online .

Cornell HYDROECOLOGY & FISH BIOLOGY page, (NY Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, 208 Fernow Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 . tel:607-255-2840, FAX:607-255-1895 . contact: Mark B. Bain E-mail: mbb1@cornell.edu ) Research Areas: Watershed Biodiversity Conservation, Sturgeon of the Hudson River, Aquatic Systems Analysis, New York Fisheries, Stream Ecology Course.

EE-Link Endangered Species page . (Main Partner: North American Assn. for Environmental Education, 1825 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 800, Washington, DC 20009-5708 USA, Phone: (202) 884-8912 Fax: (202) 884-8455. web contact: Paul Nowak, mailto:p-nowak@eelink.net) . . (see under ECP Education) . "Consistent with the key principles of environmental education, our mission is to spread information and ideas that will help educators explore the environment and investigate current issues with students...Much of the information here originates from the US Fish and Wildlife Service but has been formatted for WWW by EE-Link. (E.g. the clickable regional map and regional species lists.)" Excellent Search Function . Endangered Species Account, Photos, Laws, Educational Ideas, Taking Action, Groups active in Species Protection and Species Recovery...

Fairchild Tropical Garden, Miami Fl c96 . (Fairchild Tropical Garden Research Center, 11935 Old Cutler Road, Miami, FL 33156 USA. tel: 305/667-1651. Fax 305/661-8953 GIS Contact: Kit Kernan, Conservation Ecologist, ext 3416 . email:kernanc@fiu.edu . OR mailto:kernanc@servms.fiu.edu ) "The mission of Fairchild Tropical Garden is to meet the highest standards in collections, landscape design, and horticulture; to be a primary information source for tropical plants through research and education; and to inspire positive attitudes and behavior toward the environment...The plants and environments of the South Florida region represent a key priority of Fairchild Tropical Garden. Conservation activities include endangered species status surveys, monitoring and mapping of populations of endangered and threatened species, habitat-level vegetation inventories for sites of conservation concern, ecological studies of endangered species, species-level studies of reproductive biology and cultivation requirements, and reinstating populations of endangered species in the wild...Working with satellite-based GIS/GPS technologies, Fairchild conservation ecologists are engaged in research studies to survey endangered and threatened ecosystems in Florida and the greater Caribbean region. With the goal of rapid assessment and analysis of the conservation status of natural areas, Fairchild scientists work in cooperation with local researchers and land managers to devise responsible and effective resource management strategies. ." see their MAPS page for sampling of local maps. See also FLORIDA FLORA PICTURE GALLERY .

Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville FL cs97 . (Florida Museum of Natural History, Powell Hall, Hull Road and SW 34th Street, PO Box 112710, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611-2710 tel:352-846-2000 Gis Contact: Dick Ruble, Programmer Analyst & Webmaster, Office of Museum Technology, tel: (352)392-1721 . email:druble@flmnh.ufl.edu) "The Florida Museum of Natural History is the largest natural history museum in the southern United States, holding more than 16,000,000 specimens of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, mollusks, butterflies, vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, Recent and fossil plants, and associated databases and libraries in the main museum building, J.C. Dickinson Hall, and in Rolfs Hall on the University of Florida Campus, Gainesville, and in the Allyn Museum of Entomology in Sarasota.". The new The Center for Natural History Investigation will have "A bank of 15 multimedia computers that will be outfitted for research, including a digital sonograph system and a GIS mapping system. ". . see .Herpetology on the Web, nice list of links .see also: Herpetology . SEARCH . "The Florida Biotic Information Consortium (FBIC) is committed to identifying and making available to researchers information which deals with Florida's biotic communities." See their Extensive Links to Downloadable Florida Databases . see also Biodiversity Links Page . see also Natural Sciences World Wide Newsletter .

FAO Global Plant Protection Information System (FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy Tel.: +39.0657051 Fax: +39.0657053152 . email:plantinfo@fao.org, GPPIS Supervisor.Tony Putter, mailto:tony.putter@fao.org fax:+39 6 57056347) an "electronic, interactive, multimedia compendium of plant protection information..This system was created in accordance with the function assigned to FAO by Article I.1 of its Constitution, i.e. to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture. The information in this system has the same technical standing as data published in scientific literature, from which it is often drawn." SEARCH .

Harvard University Herbaria . ( 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge Massachusetts 02138, USA. fax:(617) 495-2365, fax:(617) 495-9484 Director: Dr. Michael J. Donoghue mailto:mdonoghue@oeb.harvard.edu) Databases: Gray Herbarium Index of New World Plants, Harvard University Herbaria Type Specimen Database,Treebase, A database of phylogenetic knowledge, Botanical Collectors database and many others. See Also: Arnold Arboretum: (125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain MA 02130-3519) "The Arnold Arboretum is a research and educational institution. It manages a collection of hardy trees, shrubs, and vines located on 265 acres in Boston, Massachusetts and associated herbarium and library collections. The grounds were planned and designed by the Arboretum's first director, Charles Sprague Sargent, in collaboration with the landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted as part of Boston's Emerald Necklace park system." Don't Miss The Institute for Culture Landscape Studies: (see below)

Harvard University Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies: ( The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-3500 tel:617-524-1718 ext.175 (please leave a message) FAX 617-524-1418 mailto:icls@arnarb.harvard.edu) "The Institute for Cultural Landscape Studies was founded in 1997. We work in the overlap among three interrelated fields: historic preservation, natural areas conservation, and land use planning. The Institute works closely with other nonprofit organizations and public agencies to conduct research on emerging landscape issues, give citizens and other decisionmakers more efficient access to specialized knowledge, and foster communication and critical thinking across disciplines and professions. " ILCS Project: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Cultural Landscapes . an excellent introduction and tutorial on the issues of GIS planning and implementation (see under ECP training section)

Illinois Natural History Survey ( Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office Of Scientific Research & Analysis, 524 S. 2nd Street, 4th FL, Springfield, IL 62701 General tel:217/333-9059 . . GIS Contact: Mark Joselyn, Center for Wildlife Ecology, 607 East Peabody Drive, Room 272 Champaign, Illinois 61820 tel:(217) 244-2160 email: mailto:joselyn@uiuc.edu) "The Natural History Survey acquires, organizes, and utilizes collections and associated data pertaining to all aspects of the biotic resources of Illinois. This Division performs scientific inquiry concerning the diversity, life histories, growth and development, ecology, population dynamics, ecosystem properties, and management of the biotic resources of Illinois. " INHS Biodiversity Research Projects . GIS PROGRAM AT INHS: "The GIS at the Illinois Natural History Survey does not stand alone. It is part of a department-wide group of offices and divisions that use GIS technologies. These include: Illinois Natural History Survey, Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois State Water Survey, Waste Management and Research Center, Illinois State Museum, Illinois Office of Mines and Minerals, and Illinois Office of Realty and Environmental Planning.. In the spirit of cooperation and to avoid duplication of effort, GIS data are freely shared between these offices and divisions of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources." GIS Projects at INHS : Landcover Mapping Project, Modelling the Wetlands of Illinois, . Collections Databases: Mollusk, Fish, Amphibian & Reptile, List of Illinois Species...Center for Biodiversity, Center for Wildlife Ecology, Center for Aquatic Ecology . Spatial Analysis and Habitat Modelling Lab Projects: Breeding Bird Survey, Critical Trends Assessment, Illinois GAP Analysis. SEARCH .

Integrated Botanical Information System . (GPO Box 1777 Canberra ACT, 2601 AUSTRALIA Tel: 02-62509450 contact: Jim Croft (jrc@anbg.gov.au)) A project of the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

Interagency Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) . (Director: Dr. Michael Ruggiero email:mike_ruggiero@nbs.gov . Also Contact: Barbara Lamborne, EPA Office of Information Resources Management . email:lamborne.barbara@epamail.epa.gov, tel:202/260-3643) .".ITIS is a database that offers quality taxonomic information of flora and fauna from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. ITIS is the product of a partnership of Federal agencies collaborating with systematists in the Federal, state, and private sectors to provide scientifically credible taxonomic information...NOTE: The initial on-line ITIS database contains information from the National Oceanographic Data Center's (NODC) Taxonomic Code Version 8.0. Certain groups (see ITIS Data Status) are currently undergoing ITIS review and will be updated shortly. You can Query, Download or Generate Reports. Data Sources: Biosystematic Information on Terrestrial Arthropods (BIOTA), NBS Biological Survey Project Checklist of Vertebrates, National Oceanographic Data Center, NRCS PLANTS database.

Internet Directory for Botany, (by Raino Lampinen, Botanical Museum-Finnish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 7, FIN-00014, Helsinki University, FINLAND tel:(358-9) 191 8629 fax: (358-9) 191 8629.email:Raino.Lampinen@Helsinki.Fi) . Over 4,000 links . see especially: Software section . and Cartographic Links for Botanists.

International Species Information System . (12101 Johnny Cake Ridge Road Apple Valley, MN 55124-8151 USA . Executive Director:Nate Flesness email:nate@isis.org ) "ISIS is an international non-profit membership organization (U.S. 501c3) which serves nearly 500 zoological institutional members, from 54 ..Information is available on 250,000 living specimens of 6,000 species, along with an additional 750,000 of their ancestors. Most of these specimens were bred in member facilities.countries, worldwide."

Jepson Herbarium, UC  Berkeley CA . (1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, # 2465, Berkeley, CA 94720-2465 University Herbarium:(510) 642-2465 Jepson Herbarium: (510) 643-7008 FAX: (510) 643-5390 generam email:herbaria@ucjeps.herb.berkeley.edu Director: Prof. Brent D. Mishler, email:bmishler@socrates.berkeley.edu) "With a current combined total of ca. 1,800,000 accessioned specimens, the University Herbarium (UC) and Jepson Herbarium (JEPS) represent the largest collection of herbarium material west of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the largest at a public university in the United States...On-line Resources of the University and Jepson Herbaria: Specimen Management System for California Herbaria (SMASCH), Jepson Place Name Index, Phycology Resources .

Kentucky Native Plant Society (KNPS) Ky e97 . (16 Winn School Rd, Glasgow, KY 42101 USA tel:(502)-646-4060 Fax:(502) 646-5857 Gis Contact: Charlie Lapham, E-mail: lapham@scrtc.blue.net .) "The Kentucky Native Plant Society was founded in 1986 for everyone interested in native plants and wildflowers in Kentucky. With over 800 members in Kentucky and surrounding states, the KNPS is a leader in promoting education about, appreciation for, and conservation of our native plants....The software effort commenced in earnest in late 1995: Charlie Lapham and Dr. Ron Jones have developed a Microsoft access application for creating databases for herbarium collections called Index Kentuckiensis (IK). It is owned by KNPS. It is general enough so it can be used with personal data sets as well as herbarium data sets. It includes map-making capability through the integration of MicroCAM. This is generally sufficient but ArcView compatibility has been considered essential because of the limits of MicroCAM. "

Minnesota Zoo, Minneapolis MN e97 . (13000 Zoo Boulevard, Apple Valley, MN, 55124 FAX (612) 431-9301 Conservation Department tel:612-431-9206 . GIS Contacts: James L. David Smith, Department of Fishereis and Wildlife, University of Minnesota, 200 Hodson Hall, 1980 Folwell Avenue St. Paul, MN 55108 email:dsmith@forestry.umn.edu, or Ron Tilson, Sumatran Tiger Project) ."Our collection currently stands at about 2,300 animals, with 105 animals representing 15 species on the United States Endangered Species Act list. We are involved with national and international programs to breed and preserve these species. Tiger Information Center: This Web Site and the 1-800-5Tigers information line were created to provide the public, scientific, and conservation communities with an international forum for exchanging information relevant to the preservation of wild tigers across Asia and in zoos worldwide...TIGER GIS WORKSHOP: "The first Geographic Information System (GIS) Workshop of Mapping Tiger Populations was held at the Royal Forest Department of Thailand in Bangkok...." SUMATRAN TIGER PROJECT: "The Indonesian Sumatran Tiger Project is a collaborative study involving the Indonesian Department of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHPA), Taman Safari Indonesia, and the IUCN/SSC CBSG Tiger GASP...This long-term field study is designed to develop a cost-effective field censusing system for wild tigers using ground-based census counts, remote camera census, and radiotelemetry...". Tiger Habitat Corridors in Far East Russia, Northeast China, and Northern North Korea: Need for a Conservation Strategy (Nice Map). SEARCH .

Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO e94. (4344 Shaw Blvd, St. Louis, MO, 63110 tel:(314)577-9400 GIS Contacts: George E. Schatz -email:schatz@mobot.org , Chris Casado -email:ccasado@mobot.org ). "The Missouri Botanical Garden, since its founding by Henry Shaw in 1859, has grown into an international resource for botanical research...The Garden continues its longstanding commitment to the creation and dissemination of electronic information about plants with enhancements to its World Wide Web and TROPICOS programs...The Conspectus of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar Project is an international, multi-institutional effort involving the Missouri Botanical Garden (MO), the Laboratoire de Phanérogamie (P) of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, the Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza (TAN), and the Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Devéloppement Rural (TEF), whose goal is to make information on all vascular plants occurring in Madagascar widely accessible. see Research Computing Section . . SEARCH .

The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL e95 . (4100 Illinois Route 53, Lisle, IL 60532-1293 tel:(630)-968-0074 · E-mail: trees@mortonarb.org GIS Contact: Dr, Christopher P. Dunn, Research Director) ...Beautiful gardens and landscapes are found throughout the vast grounds. More than 30,000 labeled plants representing over 3,500 different types of plants from around the world contribute a wealth of information to research scientists, arborists, horticulturists, teachers, students, gardeners, and homeowners. Research Program includes support to the Chicago Wilderness Project (see under ECP Conservation section)

Museum Informatics Project (MIP), UC Berkeley e96 . (Museum Informatics Project University of California 110 Doe Library Berkeley, CA 94720-6200 Phone: (510) 642-6533 Fax: (510) 643-8856 E-mail: mipadmin@socrates.berkeley.edu ) "The Museum Informatics Project (MIP), a department of Information Systems and Technology, is a collaborative effort at the University of California, Berkeley, to coordinate the application of information technology in museums and other organized, non-book collections...MIP staff have investigated GIS software trends and the use of spatial query and reporting tools in museum information systems. GIS software and demonstration data sets have been implemented using data from the Specimen Management System for California Herbaria project. MIP has also participated in the UCB GIS Task Force and in national and international collaborative collections-based GIS research activities. Our major goal in this area for the 96 / 97 fiscal year is to obtain a campus-wide site license for Environmental Sciences Research Institute (ESRI) products including ArcInfo and ArcView in collaboration with the UCB GIS Task Force. ..STANDARDS PROJECT: The Museum Informatics Project promotes a standards-based approach to museum computing on the Berkeley campus and works with campus units, other institutions, organizations, companies, and individuals to influence and guide the direction and development of international standards for museum informatics.

Museum of Vertebrate Paleontology, UC Berkeley . The Museum's enormous collections are ranked 4th in America in size, and include protists, plants, invertebrates and vertebrates...online fish collections database

National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) Botany Department . (Department of Botany ,National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560 U.S.A. Phone: (202) 786-2518 FAX: (202) 786-2563 Vicki Funk, Curator of Botany mailto:funkv@nmnh.si.edu) .. see: Biological Diversity of the Guianas Program "The Biological Diversity of the Guianas (BDG) is a field-oriented program of the Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, that has been operating since 1983. The goal of the BDG is to study, document and preserve the biological diversity of the Guianas. Originally the program was confined to botany; it has since expanded to include the faunal studies with entomologists and zoologists regularly participating in expeditions." see also: A New Victorian Age For Biodiversity by Robert DeFilipps : "Technical studies and inventories of species richness and areas of endemism in the Guianas, often plugged into standard GIS (Geographic Information System) methodology for modelling of non-biotic data such as latitude/longitude, rainfall and elevation, are yielding hard data for analysis. The results will aid in predicting, with a high level of confidence, the distribution of species and concomitantly the sites of areas rich in biodiversity which may thus qualify for status as newly proclaimed national parks. As a result, the eastern Kanuku Mountains of Guyana, for example, seem ripe for designation as a national park in the future. Through GIS, park boundaries can thus be situated in affirmation of a burgeoning ecological awareness in the Guianas which, often unfortunately, is accompanied by irregular but increasingly frequent spurts of resource harvest that occur in the interest of economic progress. " ALso see Laurence J. Dorr: Projects; application of GIS to distribution mapping.

Native Fish Australia . (PO Box 235 Mortdale New South Wales 2223 AUSTRALIA Phone: (02) 9626 9938 (A/H) International: +61-2-9626-9938 (0800 - 1200 HRS GMT)) . is a volunteer organisation that is open to anyone who cares about the well-being of Australia's native freshwater fish and the rivers, streams and other waterways that they inhabit.

NODC Taxonomic Code CD-ROM, Version 8.0 , (J.D. Hardy, Jr. National Oceanographic Data Center NOAA/NESDIS E/OC1 SSMC3, Room 4649 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282 Telephone: (301)713-3272 ext.118 Fax: (301)713-3301 E-mail: dhardy@nodc.noaa.gov ) The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) is pleased to release version 8.0 of the NODC Taxonomic Code, which now contains approximately 244,000 records. The NODC Taxonomic Code is the largest, most flexible, and widely used of the various coding schemes developed over the past two decades to adapt the Linnean system of biological nomenclature to modern methods of data storage and retrieval...Up to now the NODC Taxonomic Code was based on 12-digit "intelligent" code numbers. By "intelligent" code numbers we mean that information about taxonomy was built into the codes through the use of 2-digit couplets to represent one or more levels of the taxonomic hierarchy. (Version 8) also introduces non-intelligent Taxonomic Serial Numbers (TSNs) that will be used in future editions of the NODC Taxonomic Code...As new taxa are added to the file they will be assigned Taxonomic Serial Numbers. The TSN remains with the taxon to which it was assigned, even though the taxon itself may go in or out of synonymy or be entirely reclassified.

North American Native Fishes Association . (Bob Bock, P.O. Box 2304, Kensington, Maryland 20891) . "We serve to bring together professional and amateur aquarists, educators, students, anglers, fish and wildlife officials, and researchers-- anyone with an interest in the appreciation, conservation, and study of these wonderful and important inhabitants of our lakes and streams. "

Taylor Arboretum, Natural Lands Trust, Inc., Media PA cm96 . Defunct? Natural Lands Trust, Inc., a non-profit conservation organization based in Media, Pennsylvania, has managed the Taylor Memorial Arboretum since 1986.

University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web . (Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079 tel:734-764-0476 fax:734-763-4080 Contac: Phil Myers et al, pmyers@umich.edu . general email:ADW_Feedback@umich.edu) "The Animal Diversity Web is a collection of pictures and information about animals. Accounts of individual species include information on distributions, natural history, conservation, and economic importance, along with pictures and sounds if available.". SEARCH . .

NEODAT II . Defunct? The Inter-Institutional Database of Fish Biodiversity in the Neotropics (NEODAT) is an international cooperative effort to make available systematic and geographic data on neotropical freshwater fish specimens deposited in natural history collections in the New World and Europe...Currently 29 institutions in South America, Central America, North America, West Indies, and Europe participate in the project. Over 400,000 records have been captured and are accessible through project databases.

North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . "The NC Botanical Garden is a regional center for research, conservation, and interpretation of plants, particularly those native to the southeastern United States, but also including those with special botanical interest or horticultural plants with traditional uses."

North Carolina Zoological Society e98y (4403 Zoo Parkway Asheboro, NC 27203, tel:(800)488-0444 or (336)879-7000 GIS Contact: Michael Robert Loomis,Chief Veternarian, email:mike__loomis@mail.enr.state.nc.us) GIS PROGRAM: "A five year elephant tracking and conservation program. This program, spearheaded by the Zoo's chief veterinarian, Dr. Mike Loomis, will identify land use and migratory needs of Cameroon's few remaining elephants. In so doing, the program will help local planners develop strategies and set aside natural areas that will reduce crop losses, human injuries, deaths and other devastating consequences of elephant-human interactions. " Live GIS Elephant Tracking Site Now ONLINE! See Live Maps of Cameroon Elephant Positions.

Oregon State University Dept. of Botany, Corvallis, OR e96 . (Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-4501, USA. tel:541-737-1000 Herbarium email:herbarium@scarab.cordley.orst.edu ) The ultimate goal of the Oregon Flora Project is to produce an illustrated Flora of Oregon in text and electronic forms...The Oregon Plant Atlas Project, a partnership between the Oregon Flora Project and the Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO), was launched at Oregon State University on April 11. The goal of the project is to produce an atlas of Oregon vascular plants in conjunction with a new Flora of Oregon. The atlas will include dot maps for each species, a series of map overlays (e.g., ecoregions, actual vegetation, potential vegetation, climate zones), and an introductory chapter on factors that influence plant distributions.....Carex Working Group: With the aid of Dr. Jon Kimerling (Geosciences) and the Oregon Atlas Project, they have used this database to produce Oregon distribution maps of 130 Carex taxa. SEARCH .

PLANTS Database Project, USDA NRCS. (National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. Director: J. Scott Peterson tel:225/775-6280 email:speterson@npdc.usda.gov . ) Plants provides a single source of standardized information about plants. PLANTS provides standardized plant names, symbols and other plant attribute information...PLANTS contains a list of the plants known to occur as native or naturalized within the boundaries of the United States, including its territories. This currently encompasses approximately 45,000 individual taxon, plus synonyms. These taxa include vascular and nonvascular plants. ..PLANTS is providing the plant portion of the taxonomic backbone within the ITIS system. ITIS will provide a taxonomic backbone encompassing the biota of the United States to US Federal agencies...The vascular plant information in PLANTS was developed and is being maintained in cooperation with the Biota of North America Program, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina under the direction of John Kartesz, plus the input of over 700 botanists familiar with the North American flora...PLANTS works to implement the botanical data standards put forth by the following organizations: International Union for Biological Science-Taxonomic Databases Working Group, International Association for Plant Taxonomy, International Botanical Congress (current International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and its revisions), and International Organization for Plant Information. For further information see the page on Standards and TDWG...The geographical (country, state, and county) data, Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes, have been acquired electronically directly from the US Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Plants Photo Gallery : "The images in PLANTS are free for scientific and educational uses provided the photographer (if known), copyright holder, institution, and the PLANTS Database are properly credited. " The USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center is currently working to scan plant photographs for the PLANTS Photo Gallery.

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont , CA e96 . (1500 North College Avenue Claremont, CA 91711-3157 General tel:(909) 625-8767 Education Department: (909) 626-1917 Fax: (909) 626-7670 .email:Ann.Joslin@cgu.edu . alternate url ) Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden is dedicated to the collection, cultivation, study and display of California native plants. In addition to its living plant displays, the Garden maintains three significant collections: a one-million specimen herbarium (the thirteenth largest in the U.S., and the third largest west of the Mississippi) that focuses on native California plants and plants of arid regions; a 42,000 volume botanical library with emphasis on plant systematics, evolution and native plants; and an ex-situ seed storage program associated with the Center for Plant Conservation. RSABG has an active research program and, in conjunction with the Claremont Graduate University, the Botanic Garden offers masters and doctoral degrees through a graduate program in botany. The Garden also offers a wide range on non-degree classes for the general public. Call (909) 625-8767 for more information. -- Richard M. Chute, Director of Development, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, 1500 N. College Avenue Claremont, CA 91711 , Phone: (909) 625-8767 , FAX: (909) 626-7670, email: chuter@cgs.edu web: http://cgsweb.cgs.edu/inst/rsa/

San Deigo Zoo: Zoological Society of San Diego . (Zoological Society of San Diego, P.O. Box 120271, San Diego, CA 92112-0271 fax:(619) 685-3290 ) Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species . "CRES is the research department of the Society, and since its founding in 1975, the basic and applied research done by CRES is a major reason for the acknowledged excellence of the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park..Projects in the field and here at home in San Diego are an important part of the Zoological Society's total conservation effort. . Example Projects: Cuban Iguanas: "Since 1992, CRES scientists have been studying Cuban iguanas on the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Their research...has helped to design conservation strategies for the recovery of depleted iguana populations. In 1995, CRES ecologist Dr. Allison Alberts and her field team released 45 juvenile Cuban iguanas that had been reared at CRES into their native habitat. ". .Botanical Gardens: . "Obviously, when it comes to the World-Famous San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park, most people think of our animal collection. But an equally important - and essential - component are the botanical collections of both the Zoo and Park. In fact, the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park are both fully accredited botanical gardens, which is an important and impressive distinction. "

Smithsonian Institution, Wash DC e94 .(Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560 U.S.A. Phone: (202) 786-2518 FAX: (202) 786-2563 ) The Smithsonian Natural History Web is an internet resource compiled and maintained by the staff of the National Museum of Natural History. Here you will find documents and data about Museum research and the national collections, which comprise more than 120 million scientific specimens and cultural artifacts from around the world.... Collections Databases: Type Specimen Holdings, General Holdings (NMNH Fish Collection, US National Herbarium Wood Collection), Scientific Illustrations and Images: (Catalog of Botanical Illustrations, Fish Images Demo Page), Collections Summary Information: (Index of the USNM Birds Collection, Index of the USNM Mammals Collection, USNM Entomology Collections Profiles), Anthropological Collections...Reference Databases: Mammal Species of the World , World List of Insect Families, Index Nominum Genericorum....In support of the these areas of emphasis the Museum has undertaken a program to develop a modern, integrated Collections and Research Information System (CRIS) (alternate url) and foster similar efforts within the international collections community. CRIS is a distributed, multimedia system supporting the documentation, management, analysis, and delivery of the collections and research resources held and produced by the Museum. The foundation of the system is a series of databases describing: specimens and their current and past uses; observations taken in the field; collecting sites and habitats; geographic areas; species and higher taxa; cultural groups; and, relevant literature. The system is based on a multi-server architecture, integrating text databases, digital image and sound recordings, files containing results of scientific analyses, geographic information, and data thesauri: CRIS Logical Data Model for Museum Collections Transaction Management . Smithsonian Natural Science Links: mostly other museums. see also: . . . SEARCH .

The Tree of Life . by David R. Maddison and Wayne P. Maddison, University of Arizona, and many contributors. Contact: Department of Entomology University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 U.S.A. tel:(520) 621-9781 FAX: (520) 621-1150 email:tree@ag.arizona.edu ) The most interesting and far-reaching application of web resources to biological science. "The Tree of Life is a project designed to contain information about the phylogenetic relationships and characteristics of organisms, to illustrate the diversity and unity of living organisms, and to link biological information available on the Internet in the form of a phylogenetic navigator...more than 1270 pages currently in the Tree, housed on 18 computers in three countries.." Conservationists shouldn't miss: An introduction to phylogenetic biology.

Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group . (Department of Biology, MS 3258, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 Curator: Dr Hugh D. Wilson tel:409-845-3354 email:h-wilson@tamu.edu. ) "Research activities of the TAMU-BWG are based on the presence of significant problems in the general area of bioinformatics data development/presentation and the potential for efficient solutions offered by the World Wide Web (WWW).

Texas A&M University Dept. of Biology Herbarium . (Department of Biology, MS 3258, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 Herbarium Curator: Dr Hugh D. Wilson tel:409-845-3354 email:h-wilson@tamu.edu.) The Biology Department Herbarium, housing nearly 50,000 dried plant specimens, has grown 10-fold since its initiation as a departmental facility in 1975....While relatively small, the Department of Biology stands with the herbarium at Sam Houston State University as the only Texas herbaria wth fully computerized specimen data.

Texas A&M Center for the Study of Digital Libraries .( Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA 77843-3112 Tel:409-862-3217 Fax: 01-409-847-8578 email:csdl@csdl.tamu.edu) ..."Before these sources can be combined into realistic, full-scale digital libraries, fundamental research must be performed in areas such as information representation, presentation, and retrieval; human-computer interaction; hypermedia and hyperbase systems; computer-supported collaborative work; distributed multimedia systems; and broadband networking."

Texas A&M University Hypermedia Research Laboratory . (Department of Computer Science Texas A&M University College Station, TX, 77843-3112 USA Phone: (409)862-3217 Fax: (409)847-8578 Email: hrl@bush.cs.tamu.edu) Some of our areas of research interest are: data modeling for, and system building of, advanced distributed hypermedia systems, automaton-based architectures for hypermedia systems and process modeling, spatial hypertext systems, computer-human interaction in general, computer-supported collaborative work, and digital library support systems.

Texas A&M University Plant Diversity Center .Defunct? Welcome to the Home Page of the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Plant Diversity Information Center (PDIC), which is a collaborative effort by the: W.M. Keck Center for Genome Informatics (Leland Ellis), Department of Biology (Hugh Wilson), Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management (Stephan Hatch), and the Texas Organization for Endangered Species (TOES) . Databases: Endangered/Threatened Plant Taxa of the Texas Flora, Texas Plant Collection Data, Base Information on all Texas Plants

Texas Natural History Collections, University of Texas .(2400 Trinity, University of Texas, Austin, TX, email:tmmweb@uts.cc.utexas.edu )Today TNHC's vertebrate natural history collections consist of approximately 23,000 lots of fish, 55,000 reptile and amphibian specimens, 7,000 mammals and 2,000 birds. DATA: Any use of data from TNHC databases must be acknowledged, including a statement that the specimen-linked database from which the data were derived is maintained by the Texas Natural History Collection of the Texas Memorial Museum of the University of Texas at Austin....Ichthyology - Includes an online searchable Fish Collection database, general information about the collection, fish distribution maps, and Links to other fish-related sites....Herpetology - Includes the online searchable Herp Collection database...many others.

University of California Berkeley Image Libraries Project . (Dr. Robert Wilensky, Principal Investigator, Computer Science Division and School of Information Management and Systems, 721 Soda Hall, University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720 TEL:(510) 642-7034 FAX:(510) 643-1534 email:wilensky@CS.Berkeley.EDU ) "As of 1999, more than 70,000 images are available for online searching. The images are the basis for our computer vision research, and many of them are also linked to other datasets we have online...Most of our data is in the public domain, and may be freely used for non-commercial purposes. With the exception of the Corel images, our image collection is available for other researchers to use. ...The images contained in the CalPhotos California Plants & Habitats pictures database (based on the work of Brother Eric Vogel of St. Mary's College) are available for non-commercial (non-profit) use without prior permission. This includes use in school reports, non-profit flyers and web pages. For non-profit web use, we suggest that you link to the image as described here, rather than down-loading the image. Please credit the photographer on any photos you use; we would also appreciate hearing how you have used the photos. " See also Other Images, Taxonomic, GIS and Geographic Dataset Downloads here in the ECP data sources section.

UK Natural History Museum .(The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD , United Kingdom . tel:+44 (0)207-942 5371 OR +44 (0)207-942 5372 . Fax: +44 (0)207-942 5349 Email:BIU@nhm.ac.uk GIS Contact: David Lees dcl@nhm.ac.uk ) "dedicated to furthering the understanding of the natural world through its unrivalled collections, its world class exhibitions and education, and through its internationally significant programme of scientific research. see Great Links to General Natural History Information Sources . "Since its establishment in 1996, the Biodiversity Information Unit has focused on the development of: Printed and electronic information products; Biodiversity consultancy services and Education and training facilities " "The Biogeography & Conservation Lab's research programme is a specific Natural History Museum (NHM) response to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the lab is now an active partner in many national and international biodiversity initiatives. Its mission is to develop and apply appropriate, explicit and accountable methods to tackle problems in biogeography and in biodiversity assessment to meet conservation needs at any spatial scale (it does not provide data). It works in collaboration with the NHM Biodiversity Information Unit to create high quality biodiversity information products and services, tailored to meet the needs of different users, including natural resource managers, conservation planners and biodiversity specialists. " Their GIS and Mapping work is nicely summed up in the background and tutorial pages here, esp : MEASURING BIODIVERSITY VALUE .and . ASSESSING CONSERVATION PRIORITY & GAP ANALYSIS. Check out their Worldmap GIS software: "The WORLDMAP project was begun in 1988 in response to the need for a platform on which to research and develop new analytical tools for biologists. It is based on the same database - analytical tools - map graphics model as many commercial geographic information systems (GISs). Yet unlike commercial GISs, rather than concentrating on database and graphics flexibility, WORLDMAP is designed to perform specialist biological analyses for unlimited numbers of species" see also: SEARCH .

UK Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew England e94 . (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 181 332 5000 Fax: +44 (0) 181 332 5197 email:info@rbgkew.org.uk GIS Contacts: Justin Moat, GIS Scientist, Malagasy Plant Biodiversity Project email:J.Moat@rbgkew.org.uk . also . David Du Puy, Research Botanist, Malagasy Plant Biodiversity Project email:D.Dupuy@rbgkew.org.uk) "The mission of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is to enable better management of the earth's environment by increasing knowledge and understanding of the plant kingdom. You can now query and download data held in databases at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew via your web browser. Centre for Economic Botany (CEB) has SEPASAL (the Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands)" Their GIS WORK is concentrated in the Madagascar GIS project, which contains many excellent maps and thorough, scholarly presentations of GIS analysis for biogeography. "The GIS component of the Madagascar Biodiversity Project was initially a pilot study. It has demonstrated the great potential of GIS for botanists, specifically where their work includes mapping plant species distributions, and correlating these distributions with physical or climatic parameters. The altitudinal ranges, vegetation and geological type preferences, and climatic constraints on species distributions, for example, can be given with far greater accuracy than can be derived from the label data alone. These are fundamental data which are regularly incorporated into floristic and revisionary research." Don't Miss: MADAGASCAR: Vegetation Mapping and Biodiversity Conservation (using Geographical Information Systems) . also see their Madagascar Data Download , Brunei GIS, . SEARCH .

A Digital Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah (1995 ESRI Paper, R. Douglas Ramsey, Thadeus Tilton, Bonnie B. Banner ,Allan Falconer) ...Collection locations of over 400,000 vascular plant specimens of 2,438 species were digitized from the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah (Albee, Shultz, and Goodrich, 1988). Source maps consisted of 1:6,000,000 approximate scale Utah shaded relief maps with points representing collection locations by species. Location points were transposed onto these maps from the herbaria records of three major universities and the Forest Service.

Collating Multidisciplinary Museum Specimen Data Using ArcView: The Modoc County Project (1997 ESRI Paper, Tom Moritz, California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park San Francisco, CA 94118, Telephone: 415-759-7101 Fax: 415-750-7106 E-mail: TMoritz@CAS.CalAcademy.org, George Chaplin ) . By conservative estimate, the natural history museums of North America hold over 400 million biological specimens. These collections represent the largest raw data set depicting the world's biodiversity. The Modoc County project sought to test the potential utility of these data by selecting a relatively simple and manageable geographic region (Modoc County-northeastern California), acquiring a number of available map layers and then inputting specimen data for the County (derived from a variety of disciplinary and institutional sources). The results of this effort are presented and evaluated with implications for the general utility of museum specimen data.

An Expert System for Identifying Plants from Their Visible Features (1996 Paper, M. Al-Gharabat, E. Campbell, D. Johnson, W. Nathan, J.R. Schoolar, F. Winters, and D. Mitra )...In this paper we present the result of a project on developing an expert system for identifying plants from their visible features. The system is an interactive one which asks questions to a non-expert user and gradually narrows down the possibilities, eventually deciding about the identity of the plant in question. Currently it identifies forty-eight plants of types tree, vine, or shrub.

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS) AS A TOOL IN NATIVE PLANT SPECIES CONSERVATION (Darrel L. McDonald, David L. Creech, and David L. Kulhavy Geography/Horticulture/Forestry Stephen F. Austin State University Nacogdoches, Texas 75962-3045) "Abstract. - Texas has a diverse flora with over 5500 species in ten vegetation zones. The Pineywoods of East Texas contain forty (40%) percent of the native plants identified for Texas. Although most species are stable, about 50 species can be considered as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable, depending on what list or information resource one is looking at. The database for East Texas plant communities has not been attempted except in a piecemeal fashion. Completion of a native plant species inventory and spatial assessment should be a high priority item to insure current and accurate information is available for evaluation of the impact of habitat change. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology offers powerful applications to the storage, management, and spatial analysis of species inventories, plant community dynamics, long-term habitat monitoring. This paper provides a general overview of GIS applications in native plant conservation."

A GIS Analysis Of The Fishes Of Guyana . (by Deokie Arjoon, University of Guyana, Turkeyen, Guyana. Supervising Scientist: Dr V. Funk, Department of Botany. Contact: Mary Sangrey, Research Training Program, National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560-0166 U.S.A., tel:202-357-4548 FAX: 202-786-2563 E-MAIL: sangrey.mary@nmnh.si.edu ) "Very little is known about the fish fauna of Guyana. This project was an effort to search for, consolidate and organize all of the museum collections' information on the fishes of Guyana...The various data formats were standardized and merged into a single computer database for analysis. Georeferencing of the collections localities were carried out using gazetteers and topography sheets of Guyana. The data were then imported into the GIS (Geographic Information System) program ArcInfo, and maps were produced using ArcView showing species distribution and collection intensity in various areas. All fish names were checked for changes using "Catalog of Fishes" by Eschemyer (1998). As a result of this project, the first modern list of species of fishes found in Guyana has been established. The species list, together with geographic collections information, should be a valuable tool for management, establishment of the country's first protected areas system, and the planning for future ichtheological expeditions."

The Impact and Role of GIS on Natural Resources Policy in Florida (by Dean K. Jue, Director, Florida Resources and Environmental Analysis Center, Presented at the FBIC Conference at Tall Timbers, Nov. 6-7, 1996) "Geographic information system (GIS) usage in Florida is increasing among both biologists and public agencies. Some of the reasons for this are discussed below as well as information on how to better use this GIS tool to provide scientific information to public decisionmakers in helping set state natural resource policies."

Mammalian Extinction Rates and Habitat Loss in the Continental United States (1996 ESRI Abstract, Roman Dial and John M. Stroud)...Using historical land use data compiled by EROS of the USGS and terrestrial mammal data compiled by state Natural Heritage Programs, this paper compares losses predicted by species-area relations to observed mammal losses for each of the forty-nine continental United States. We considered croplands and urban areas as nonhabitat, and any other, nonaquatic land cover type as habitat. We used GRID in ArcInfo to count habitat and nonhabitat pixels in each state. We then converted the raster data to vector data to quantify the size of the largest habitat fragment in each state....

EUCLID: An interactive key to the identification of Eucalypts. CD-ROM and manual. (Brooker, M.I.H. et al. 1997. ) $120 US. CSIRO Publishing. See http://www.csiro.au/

From Ethanol to Ethernet: Biological Collections Data Delivery on the World Wide Web (1996 Abstract, Thomas N. Kompare, James Crowder, Christine Mayer)...One of the goals of this agreement was to make the Illinois Natural History Survey's vast biological specimen collection data available to a larger scientific community. The Survey holds approximately seven million specimens. With the use of ORACLE as a data server and ArcInfo as a mapping tool, the Illinois Natural History Survey is designing an information server to distribute these collection data. This information server is accessible via the World Wide Web....Persons accessing the Illinois Natural History Survey's World Wide Web site will be able to access our collections data and receive a map of their data query "on the fly."

Testing Conservation Assumptions with Amazonian Data in a GIS . (1997 ESRI Paper, Daniel Cole Smithsonian Institute Mailstop 136 Washington DC, 20560 Telephone: 202-357-1955 Fax: 202-357-4122 E-mail: mnhan040@sivm.si.edu) . A major challenge to preserving tropical biodiversity is the need to make conservation decisions with inadequate biological data. We explore certain implications of this obstacle by focusing on Amazonia through a GIS as an example. Two major problems with the biological data for Amazonia are that collecting efforts have been extremely patchy and species level understanding of most organisms is poor. Two approaches were taken as potential solutions to these problems. One was to find a conceptual model that would be true for all organisms and that would also have conservation implications. The second was to use available distributional data, which in turn required a major assumption for their "generalizability." As part of our general studies on understanding neotropical lowland biota, we recently revised various neotropical taxa so that good species level understandings, including their distributions, are now available for groups of organisms that were not used to make conservation recommendations by others in the past. We use these data to examine spatial patterns relative to areas of high species richness and high species endemism to critique the robustness of how well distributional data from relatively well-known groups are representative for other groups. This project is part of the ongoing work of the Neotropical Lowlands Research Project group of the National Museum of Natural History.

Vegetation mapping and classification in Madagascar (using GIS): implications and recommendations for the conservation of biodiversity. In: C.R. Huxley, J.M. Lockand D.F Cutler (editors.). Chorology, taxonomyn and ecology of the Floras of African and Madagascar. Pp 97-117. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. by Du Puy, D.J and Moat, J.F. (1998). "A map of the ‘Remaining Primary Vegetation’ in Madagascar has been derived (Map 1) and divided into broad vegetation zones. It is based on the vegetation cover map of Faramalala (1988, 1995), produced from satellite imagery, and the classification of Humbert (1955). A map of the ‘Simplified Geology’, derived from Besairie (1964), has also been produced, with the geological categories grouped into broad rock types which are thought to have a strong influence on the vegetation they support and its species composition. These two base maps have been superimposed to show the extent and distribution of the remaining primary vegetation in Madagascar, classified firstly into broad vegetation ‘zones’ and secondly by the underlying geology into vegetation ‘types’ (Maps 2 to 5; see also Du Puy and Moat, 1996). These maps have then been compared to the map of ‘Protected Areas’ (COEFOR/CI, 1993), and analysed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS)."

All text by the respective organizations/authors, January 2, 1997

Web layout & design: Charles Convis, ESRI,. January 2, 1996