I have been putting together an annotated list of publically-available, web-accessible sources of ecological data that can be used for developing teaching activities in ecology. Below my signature is a list of sites that I have used in the past.
If there is a site that you are familiar with that is not on this list, I would appreciate you sending it along. Please send it directly ([email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ), so as not to clog up ecolog-L . Tom Langen Associate Professor Departments of Biology & Psychology Clarkson University Box 5805, Clarkson U., Potsdam NY 13699-5805 Phone: 315 268 7933, Fax: 315 268 7118 www.clarkson.edu/~tlangen <http://www.clarkson.edu/~tlangen> ............................................................................................................................................................. SOME RECOMMENDED DATA SOURCES National Center for Ecological Assessment & Synthesis (NCEAS) Data Repository http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/knb/style/skins/nceas/index.jsp Data archive of contributed data sets of all types of ecological data. NCEAS Scientific Computing Database http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/scicomp/ Clearinghouse of climatological, geospatial, and other data. Also has shareware software for analysis. National Atlas http://www.nationalatlas.gov/ Geospatial data on the environment, economy, and people of the US. NASA Global Change Master Directory http://gcmd.nasa.gov/index.html Data on all aspects of global change, includes data on climate, land use, biodiversity and human dimensions. Ecotrends http://www.ecotrends.info/EcoTrends/ US Department of Agriculture Census of Agricultural Data http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/ Authoritative data on all aspects of agriculture in the US. Center for Disease Control & Prevention Data & Statistics http://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/ Comprehensive data on all aspects of disease epidemiology. Avian Knowledge Network http://www.avianknowledge.net/content/datasets Archive of aggregated bird surveys from many organizations and studies across throughout the western hemisphere, including Latin America. Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics (ORNL DAAC) http://daac.ornl.gov/index.shtml A NASA-sponsored source for biogeochemical and ecological data and models useful in environmental research. NatureServe http://www.natureserve.org/getData/index.jsp Data on species of plants and animals in the Western Hemisphere, including detailed range maps. The Multi-resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) National Land Cover Database http://www.mrlc.gov/ Land cover or land use, canopy cover, and impermeable surface area of the entire US, at a resolution of 30 m x 30 m, based on remote sensing data from satellite imagery. Global Population Dynamics Data Base http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/cpb/research/patternsandprocesses/gpdd 5000 population size time series for 1400 species, most of which have at least ten years of data. There are data on the natural history of the organism and the location & method of sampling. US Fish & Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/ Wetlands greater than 1 acre are mapped and classified throughout the US, Puerto Rico and US territories. Data can be examined using the Wetland Mapper http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Data/Mapper.html and then downloaded for use by a GIS application, or can by inspected directly using Google Earth http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Data/GoogleEarth.html . USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program http://fia.fs.fed.us/ , Forest Inventory Data Online (FIDO) http://fia.fs.fed.us/tools-data/default.asp Highly-detailed periodic surveys of forest composition at sites throughout the US. US Geological Survey http://www.usgs.gov/ Reports, data analysis, maps, and raw data on a diversity of topics related to environmental science, including biodiversity and emerging diseases. Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network http://www.lternet.edu/ Network of research stations that have standardized monitoring programs as well as site-specific research. Sites are mandated to make data publicly available on the web. NOAA national Weather Service http://www.nws.noaa.gov/view/national.php?thumbs=on Extensive Data archives of weather and climate data. Bird Studies Canada Nature Counts http://www.bsc-eoc.org/birdmon/default/main.jsp Bird survey data archive for Canada, includes point counts and many other types of surveys. Point Reyes Bird Observatory California Avian Data Center http://data.prbo.org/cadc2/index.php?page=download-tools Bird point count and other survey data for California. International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Redlist http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Searchable list of the world's threatened and endangered plants and animal species on the IUCN Redlist. Conservation International Global Biodiversity Hotspots http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/Pages/default.aspx Detailed data on the attributes and threats to the world's global biodiversity hotspots. Ecological Society of America (ESA) Data Registry http://esapubs.org/archive/archive_D.htm Archive of ecological and environmental data from ESA publications.
