This page is a compilation of links I find useful, primarily focused on United States data
Identification
Citizen Science/ Naturalistas
Databases/ Networks
Data Analysis
Job Searching/ Listservs
Identification
- Bugguide: North American insects, probably the best compliation of the region's insect images, includes links to keys, ranges, etc (bugguide.net). Can upload images and get them identified (see iNaturalist as well)
- DiscoverLife: international, compilation of online interactive keys, range maps, and association interactions (discoverlife.org)
- Insects Unlocked: Texas insects. University of Texas insect collection image database. Has focus-stacked high-resolution (public domain) images of insects, mostly from Texas (https://www.flickr.com/photos/131104726@N02/)
Citizen Science/ Naturalistas
- iNaturalist: Upload photos of living things to provide observations and get them identified by enthusiasts (inaturalist.org)
- eBird: Cornell's incredible citizen science birding interface/ app. Log birding observations, search observations, download past data, view ranges/seasonality of birds (ebird.org)
- Christmas Bird Count: annual citizen-run winter census of bird populations across North America. Volunteers spend an entire day documenting birds in an area, all data uploaded and archived by Audubon (https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count)
- Breeding Bird Survey: United States bird population data gathered by scientist and citizen volunteers, collected by USGS and Canadian Wildlife service(https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs)
- eMammal: Smithsonian-run mammal camera trap archives, more for research than every-day observations (emammal.si.edu)
- Seek: created by iNaturalist, uses image recognition to attempt to identify plants/ animals. Excellent for outreach and kid-friendly, identifies certain things better than others (app)
Databases/ Networks
- GBIF: Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Run out of Copenhagen, international, aims to compile any open access data from databases across the world
- LTER: Long-term ecological research. Network of 28 research sites (mostly U.S.) that aim to collect long-term data across habitats
- NEON: National Ecological Observatory Network, non-profit funded by NSF. Provides long-term standardized data (neonscience.org)
- DataONE: data archives for ecological and environmental data, in CSV, netCDF, xml, and satellite imagery (dataone.org)
- NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin. data for oceans, waterways, weather, climate monitoring, atmosphere (noaa.gov)
- USGA Gap Analysis Project: United States GIS, species, environmental datasets collected/ produced by the US Geological Survey
- Vert Net: collection of museum specimen records from around the world for vertebrates (vertnet.org)
- Fishes of Texas: holistic database of fish collection data from across Texas, compiled by University of Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and TCEQ, includes pictures and known locations (fishesoftexas.org)
- GenBank: NCBI-run open access archive of available nucleotide sequences, data in xml, asn.1, genbank format (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)
- Ecological Data Wiki: searchable for other ecological databases (https://ecologicaldata.org/find-data)
- AntMaps: interactive map of ant location data compiled from collections around the world (antmaps.org)
- AntWeb: Cal Academy of Sciences-run, largest online database of imaged ant specimens and natural history information (antweb.org)
- AntCat: online catalog of museum records of ants (antcat.org)
- AntWiki: wikipedia but organized to share and present Formicidae life history information (antwiki.org)
- SEINet: herbaria (plant) database for the American southwest, can create species list for an area of specified radius
- Jepson eFlora: UC-run online key to California plants (ucjeps.berkeley.edu)
- Calflora: searchable database of California plants, includes links to keys (calflora.org)
- Consortium of California Herbaria Portal: plant specimen data from California Phenology Thematic Collections Network and collaborating museums (www.cch2.org/portal/)
- Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: native plant database for North America, run out of Austin, TX. Allows reverse searching as well (wildflower.org)
- Soil Data: USDA-run, United States soil data (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/)
Data Analysis
- R for Data Science: introduction book to R by Grolemund and Wickham. Entire text accessible and searchable online (r4ds.had.co.nz)
- R Graph Gallery: collection of the R graph capabilities and provides suggests for how to best visualize your data, includes code to replicate (r-graph-gallery.com)
Job Searching/ Listservs
- Ecolog: run by ecological society of america. Has international offers from unpaid positions to postdoc and professorships, as well as occasional discussion threads (esa.org. If you can't login properly, there's a great how-to-fix from ASU: https://halllab.asu.edu/how-to-join-the-ecolog-job-board/)
- TAMU job board: run by Texas A&M, has many of the same positions as ecolog, more technician/ North America- focused (wfscjobs.tamu.edu)
- Ornithology Exchange: postitions related to ornithology (orthithologyexchange.org)
- NSF REU: NSF-funded research experiences for undergrads. Fully funded, plus stipend research experiences across many scientific disciplines associated with museums, parks, or universities primarily across North America (https://www.nsf.gov/srssprgm/reu/reu_search.jsp)
- Evoldir: listserv for mainly European/ higher up jobs related to evolution/ ecology
- Bee monitoring listserv: the email group for all things bee and pollinator http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/beemonitoring/