Online Ecological Resources

Suggested and REQUIRED texts for SEE-U students

Guidelines for how to write a scientific report

Grading breakdown for the SEE-U program
 

---

Links to Online Scientific Journals

Columbia University's E-Journals site is the single best reference for securing online journal articles. Click on the first letter of the journal's name, scroll down to the desired journal, and click on the journal's name. This would be most useful for learning about your individual research project. You will need a Columbia University ID and password to access this page. Your CUID is your email account (everything before the @ sign) and your password is your email password. If you are not a CU student, see a TA for access.

American Scientist

Consequences online magazine

---

Links to Online Books

Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources, 1996, Marjorie L. Reaka-Kudla, Don E. Wilson, and Edward O. Wilson, Editors; A Joseph Henry Press book.

Biodiversity Conservation in Transboundary Protected Areas, 1996, Alicja Breymeyer and Reginald Noble, Editors; Office of Central Europe and Eurasia, National Research Council.

Conserving Biodiversity: A Research Agenda for Development Agencies, 1992, Panel on Biodiversity Research Priorities, National Research Council.

Forest Trees, 1991, Committee on Managing Global Genetic Resources: Agricultural Imperatives, National Research Council.

Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade, 1999, Committee on Global Change Research, National Research Council.

Managing Water Resources in the West Under Conditions of Climate Uncertainty: A Proceedings, 1991, Committee on Climate Uncertainty and Water Resources Management, National Research Council.

Nature and Human Society: The Quest for a Sustainable World, 2000, Peter H. Raven and Tania Williams, Editors; Committee for the Second Forum on Biodiversity, National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council.

(NAS Colloquium) Plants and Population: Is There Time?, 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming: Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base, 1992, Panel on Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine.

Science and the Endangered Species Act , 1995, Committee on Scientific Issues in the Endangered Species Act, National Research Council.

Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics, 1993, Committee on Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics, National Research Council.

Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest, 1996, Committee on Protection and Management of Pacific Northwest Anadromous Salmonids, National Research Council.

The Soil Biology Primer, from the USDA's NRCS Soil Quality Institute in Ames, Iowa, has many chapters on soil ecology.

Links to Valuable Informative Websites

Water on the Web from the University of Minnesota has an excellent glossary of aquatic ecology terms.

Brittanica.com - The Encyclopedia and more.

Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology

HerpDigest, a valuable information clearinghouse and on-line journal for reptile and amphibian enthusiasts

Learn about any organism from University of California Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology Phylogeny Wing.

Learn about any organism from The Tree of Life, created by Drs. David Maddison and Wayne Maddison of the University of Arizona.

Ms. J. Stein Carter, of The University of California, Clermont College, has several good introductory biology discussions.

The World Resources Institute, a Non-Govermental Organization based in Washington D. C. has some nice general information about use and conservation of natural resources all over the world. It also has a nice slide show on the use of natural resources worldwide.
 

Links to Site Specific Information

The World Resources Institute, a Non-Govermental Organization based in Washington D. C. has some nice general information about use and conservation of natural resources all over the world, has a reasonable amount on Brazil. It also has a nice slide show on the use of natural resources worldwide.

There are several useful sites dealing with deforestation in Brazil

Instituto Paulista de Magistrados
Instituto Santos Andira

Biota from FAPESP
Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental
São Paulo State Biodiversity Taskforce
Brazilian Network on Biodiversity Information
Brazil's National report on biodiversity

Ministry of Science and Technology

Official Website of the Federal Republic of Brazil
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics

Biosphere 2, ARIZONA

Snake Bites: Prevention and treatment by Buck Tilton, is a good resource, just in case.

The home page of Biosphere 2 has many links to interesting local pages and those relevant to the domes themselves.

A list of recommended personal field equipment that you should have with you, written by the SEE-U instructors at B2C.

Some links to news and information relevant to the Biosphere 2 complex is available from Biosphere 2.

Lecture Notes from Dr. Rick Brusca on The Deserts of the Southwestern United States, including the Sonoran Desert.

Lecture Notes from Dr. Rick Brusca on The Ecological Regions of the Sonoran Desert.

Lecture Notes from Dr. Rick Brusca Comparing the Types of Deserts found Across North America, including the Sonoran Desert.

A description of some plants that are found on the B2C grounds is available from a page created by a B2C student and originally hosted by Biosphere 2 that no longer includes the images, only the descriptive text.

A map of the biotic communities of the southwest is available from SEE-U through this link.

A Geological Map of the areas immediately around the Biosphere 2 Campus is also available from SEE-U through this link.

Black Rock Forest, NEW YORK
 
 

Links Included in SEE-U Intro Texts

Module 1 - Introduction to Biomes

Major Biomes of the World, Radford University, Geography Department

Tour of Biomes, Wheeling Jesuit University / NASA Classroom of the Future

El Niño / Southern Oscillation Page, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Global Positioning System basics, University of Texas, Austin, Department of Geography

Module 2 - The Local Biome

The US LTER Network, or Long Term Ecological Research, exploring longitudinal studies in many biomes across the United States.

An introduction to Geographic Information Systems technology, or GIS, from the United States Geological Survey.

The USGS home page.

ArcView's homepage, by ESRI (the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.).

FileMaker Pro's homepage.

Module 3 - Natural Selection and Evolutionary Ecology

Read more about the controversial political action group called Zero Population Growth, which advocates for greatly reducing the rate of human population growth.

Tour the University of California, Berkeley Museum of Paleontology's phylogeny exhibit for more information on phylogenetic systematics.

Several of Darwin’s books, including On the Origin of Species and Voyage of the Beagle are online here.

The Alfred Russell Wallace Page is an excellent site addressing the life of this important scientist.

The C. Warren Irvin, Jr., Collection of Charles Darwin and Darwiniana is an excellent site addressing the life of this important scientist.

The Introduction to Global Change Course of the Global Change Project, based at the University of Michigan has many excellent informative lectures or resource pages about a diversity of subjects including Classification and Phylogeny and The Process of Speciation, as well as Natural Selection. 

An interesting page discussing the evolutionary ecology of goldenrod galls and the many levels of selection on several plant and animal species is avilable from Warren Abrahamson and Paul Heinrich of Bucknell University.

Module 4 - Population Ecology

For a discussion of matters concerning introduced pest plant species growing exponentially, consult the US Army Corp of Engineers' Aquatic Plant Control Research Program. 

A nice overview of metapopulation dynamics can be found at Dr. Eric Rexstad's Wildlife Populations and their Management course at University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

A useful key to determining the most appropriate population estimation technique can be accessed from the USGS, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

Several population estimation computer programs are available from Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology, most of which are only available for the PC.

Several other population estimation computer programs that involve direct capture of animals are available from Colorado State University's Wildlife departments.

An excellent discussion of Natural Resource Biometrics can be accessed from Dr. David Larsen at the University of Missouri.

A concise discussion of Population Viability Analysis is available from RAMAS Ecological Software by Applied Biomathmatics.

Module 5 - Community Ecology

Biosphere 2's Research entry has several descriptions of each of the biomes within the domes, how they were originally composed, and what research is currently being performed within each.

For an interesting discussion of the ecological processes in a timberline ecotone in the northern US, consult this reference.

The World Resources Institute has excellent discussions of many issues within the conservation of biodiversity, particularly that of the importance of keystone species in an ecosystem.

A good key for choosing the proper Community Diversity Index for your goal is available from The University of Leicester.

The best statistical package on the market for calculating community diversity indices is EstimateS from Rob Colwell at the University of Connecticut. The users manual also has some discussion of diversity indices.

Module 6 - Producers

Read more about photosynthetic bacteria from the University of California Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology Phylogeny Wing Website.

Dr. Thomas D. Brock of The University of Wisconsin has several interesting discussions of life at extremely high temperatures, particulary those at Yellowstone Park, USA.

The American Museum of Natural History has a great site discussing the biology and ecology of the hydrothermal vents in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The Introduction to Global Change Course of the Global Change Project, based at the University of Michigan has many excellent informative lectures or resource pages about a diversity of subjects including The Flow of Energy: Primary Production.

See the Global Analysis Interpretation and Modelling Task force Summer 98 bulletin for more information on how to calculate estimates of primary and secondary productivity.

The World Wildlife Fund, UK has an interesting page discussing the structure of tropical forests and the layers of canopy within.

More information on plants, their utility, basic biology, and other processes can be obtained from the Kew Botanical Gardens' Information Sheets.

The Rainforest Explorer from REMedia is an excellent exploration of many subjects related to tropical rainforests, including an excellent glossary.

From Wayne's World, a page discussing the chemical defenses in plants and their effects on humans - Plants that make you loco.

A great overview of plant defenses against herbivory is available from the University of Maryland's Department of Plant Biology, which also has a separate page discussing Psychoactive Plants

Module 7 - Consumers: Herbivory, Predation, and Parasitism

Water on the Web from the University of Minnesota has an excellent glossary of aquatic ecology terms.

The Soil Biology Primer, from the USDA's NRCS Soil Quality Institute in Ames, Iowa, has many chapters on soil ecology.

Dr. Michael J. Pidwirny, of the Department of Geography, Okanagan University College, has an excellent online textbook on Physical Geography. The Introduction to Biogeography and Ecology chapter is particularly relevant to communities.

Davey Jones of the University of Wales, Bangor, has a thorough lecture page on Lichens.

Fun with Lichens from Oregon State University has information on the basic biology of these fascinating organisms, as well as an interactive identification key to lichens.

Module 8 - Decomposers: The End and The Beginning

J. A. Holmes of the Environmental Research and Teaching Center at the University of Toronto has an enlightening page on the various types and mechanisms of succession.

Forensic-Entomology.com has several very informative pages on the application of succession to solving crimes using insects.

The American Board of Forensic Entomology has a rigorous discussion of the science and the applications of forensic entomology to solve crimes.

Dr. Morton Staerkeby of the University of Oslo has a very interesting set of pages he calls The Forensic Entomology Pages, International.

Module 9 - Light and Temperature

The Department of Geography of the University of Oregon has a set of informative Global Climate Animations illustrating annual changes in each of the climate variables. It is from this page that the animations on this page were borrowed.

The International Research Institute (IRI) for Climate Prediction has a page explaining the basis and patterns of the natural phenomenon of El Ni–o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon.

Consult this page from NOAA, OGP, and UCAR discussing El Ni–o and Climate Prediction.

A paper by Alan L. McNab and Thomas R. Karl of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration discusses the relationship between Climate and Droughts in the Southwestern US.

A plain text page that has ample information on the relationship between Sun and Climate is available from Judith Lean and David Rind and published in CONESQUENCES: Volume 2, Number 1, during 1996. 

The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change has several pages that discuss CAM plants and the affect of elevated CO₂.

Dr. Raymond Russo of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis has an informative page of graphs illustrating the impacts of temperature on organismal activity.

Diapause in insects from the website to accompany Developmental Biology, Sixth Edition by Scott F. Gilbert.

An interesting paper is available from Dr. Ronald L. Hanson of the USGS on evapotranspiration and droughts.

Knowledge Centre of New Zealand has an interesting discussion of the impact of winds in determining Anticyclones and New Zealand weather patterns

The Weather Channel has a page discussing the importance of wind in producing Nor'easters, which frequently afflict the BRF.

A paper by Dr. Scott Mori and John L. Brown of the New York Botanical Garden entitled a Report on Wind Dispersal in a Lowland Moist Forest in Central French Guiana presents interesting reading about the beneficial effects of wind on plants.

Module 10 - Geology and Soils

Representative State Soil Profiles are available from the USDA National Soil Survey Center, including soil pit photographs from each state in the USA.

Soil Science Society of America homepage has links to many soil-related services. Of great interest is access to the abstracts from the last few years of four journals: Soil Science Society of America Journal , Journal of Environmental Quality, Agronomy Journal , and the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education.

The Glossary from the Soil Science Society of America has a searchable index of soil-specific terms and instructions on the use of the Glossary.

Colorado State University has a page with many soil biology projects that could be used as idea-generators for independent projects. This page is included in their Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Homepage, which provides a worthwhile overview of the field.

The University of Wisconsin has made available a detailed description of the US soil taxonomy, based on the hierarchy of the USDA National Soil Science Center. 

A heavily mathematical online lecture notes on soil architecture and physical properties is available from Dr. Mark Radosevich of the University of Delaware.

A description of Soil Horizons and their associated sub-characteristics is available from the Petrik Library.

A study discussing the Influence of air porosity on the distrubution of gases in soil under assay for denitrification is available from the USDA-ARS.

Soil Density and Porosity discussion from Saskatchewan Interactive.

Although we haven't talked about vulcanology here, Volcano World has many interesting links to soil-related subjects, such as the creation of the raw materials (volcano products - ash, lava, etc.) that can be subsequently made into soil by biotic processes and weathering.

Module 11 - Chemical and Hydrological Cycles

General Biogeochemistry Resources on the Internet as compiled by Cornell University.

Geochemical cycles and biogeochemical cycles in general, and sedimentary geochemical cycles in specific are discussed and defined by brittanica.com.

Biochemical cycles are discussed by Dr. Charles Ophardt of Elmhurst College. His discussion also touches upon and slightly blurs the distinction between biochemical and biogeochemical cycles.

The Natural Food Hub has a discussion of how grains, beans and seeds were cultivated during early human evolution in the Nile river basin by taking advantage of the seasonal flooding that leads to sudden sedimentary geochemical cycling.

A discussion of passive diffusion, mostly emphasizing its relevance to drug absorption across a membrane but is still relevant to its role as a mechanism of the biogeochemical cycle, is available from the Veterinary School at Cornell University.

Mass transfer as a mechanism of the biogeochemical cycle, mostly from the perspective of biochemical engineering in porous solids but still relevant, is available from NgeeAnn Polytechnic University.

Mycotrophy and mycorrhizal fungi are discussed by PlantHealthCare.com.

A general treatment of the theoretical bases of leaching is available from The Chemical Engineers' Resource Page.

Translocation as at work within soils and during soil forming processes is available from Dr. Noorallah Juma and Chris Harland of the University of Alberta.

Module 12 - Disturbances

A brief biography of Georges Cuvier is available from the University of California Berkeley Museum of Paleontology. A more critical, and slightly biased, version of Cuvier's life is available from Strange Science. 

Georges Cuvier and Catastrophism, a page explaining catastrophism and has several links to pages discussing this outmoded version of geological change, is available from Kumari Fernando's Exploring Scientific Controversies website. 

The full text of Charles Lyell's influential book Principles of Geology III & IV is available from The "Contradictions of the Enlightment" section of Fordham's Modern History Sourcebook, an excellent resource with many full texts or excerpts from key early scientific texts such as those by Darwin, Spencer, Lyell, Huxley, and many others. 

The entire text of Darwin's Origin of Species is available from Literature.org, as is The Voyage of the Beagle and The Descent of Man. 

The USGS has a thorough discussion and set of images of pages detailing the types and effects of volcano hazards, the location of major eruptions, the deadliest volcanic eruptions since 1500 A.D., and other background reading. 

A discussion of the After Effects of Krakatau's Explosion is available from San Diego State University. 

Sandia National Laboratories have a news release that discusses what an asteroid strike would look like as well as what effect an asteroid impact near New York City would have, as inspired by the movie Deep Impact. 

The original research paper that describes a possible 120km diameter impact structure caused by an asteroid that could have caused the extinction of 90% of all life 250 million years ago. 

National Geographic has a page briefly discussing the asteroid impact at the end of the Permian, 250 million years ago, along with several links to similar pages. 

The Smithsonian Institution's Department of Paleobiology has a page discussing the asteroid hypothesis of the extinction that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. 

Brittanica.com has an excellent discussion of community ecology, as well as the concepts of a climax community and ecological succession. 

R. J. Peacock, J. E. Williams, and J. F. Franklin have an interesting paper online discussing Disturbance ecology of forested ecosystems: implications for sustainable management from the Proceedings of the 1997 Conference of the Ecological Society of Australia, from which several other related papers addressing conservation biology and biodiversity are available. 

Quinlan Consultants have an excellent discussion of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. 

The United National Convention to Combat Desertification has a fact sheet discussing the causes of desertification as well as many other aspects of the problem. 

Sierra Club has a series of FAQ sheets discussing several components of environmentalism, including habitat loss.
 

Module 13 - Habitat Fragmentation

A Land Cover Change Monitoring Program: A Federal Agency Initiative (A Report to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources), is available from D.L. Skole and C. O. Justice.

A Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Science/Research Plan is available from B.L. Turner II, David Skole, Steven Sanderson, Gunther Fischer, Louise Fresco and Rik Leemans

A report entitled "What Drives Deforestation In The Brazilian Amazon? Evidence from Satellite and Socioeconomic Data" is available from Alexander S.P. Pfaff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A report discussing the connection between Landscape Ecology and Ecosystems Management is available from Thomas G. Barnes of the University of Kentucky. It is also available for downloading as an Adobe pdf file and discusses matrixes among many other related subjects.

Itaipu Binacional discusses many of the features of its ambitious reforestation and corridor construction plan that it has developed and implemented as part of its massive hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River in Brazil.

Ecosystem Fragmentation and its implications for Canadian Parks is discussed by Canadian Heritage and Parks Canada.

An excellent discussion of the impacts of edge effects in urban areas is available from the California State Parks.

A whimsical, but nonetheless interesting, discussion of avian nest parasites entitled "Brood Parasites or Where Did I Put That Egg?" is available from Christine Tarski at About.com.

The Green Corridors Management Strategy for the Upper Parramatta River Catchment Trust located near Sydney, Australia is an interesting application of the use of corridors for mitigating biodiversity loss from fragmentation.

Habitat fragmentation, corridor construction in Florida, and its impact on the Florida Panther is available from Florida Panther Net.

An impressive bibliography of the Effects of Highways and Other Linear Developments on Wildlife Populations is available from Anthony P. Clevenger of Parks Canada.

A page from Dr. Steve Archer of Texas A & M discusses how multiple factors lead to tree encroachment in grasslands, including land use practices (grazing, fire suppression), climate, and chemical atmospheric changes (such as elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen deposition). It also has an extensive bibliography on these factors.

Module 14 - Exotic Species

The abstract of an excellent article by Peter M. Vitousek, Carla M. D'Antonio, Lloyd L. Loope and Randy Westbrooks entitled "Biological Invasions as Global Environmental Change" is available from American Scientist, published by Sigma Xi. This article is the source of the statistic that 68% of extinctions are caused by exotics.

Information on Exotic Plant Species of the Southwest is available from the USGS, including exotic plant species lists for many of the Southwestern US states.

The Hawaii Cat Foundation website discusses the magnitude of the feral cat problem in Hawaii.

The Hawaiian Ant Group, allied with the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk Project has an extensive set of online references discussing ants in Hawaii.

Daniel Simberloff has an excellent review article on the Impacts of Introduced Species in the United States available from the online journal Consequences.

An interesting discussion of the impact of marine bioinvaders and a large listing of links to pages discussing Marine Bioinvaders is available from the Massachusetts Bay Information Server from the MIT Sea Grant.

Nonindigenous Aquatic Species in a United States Estuary: A Case Study of the Biological Invasions of the San Francisco Bay and Delta by Andrew N. Cohen and James T. Carlton is available from the USGS, USFWS, and Connecticut Sea Grant. The San Francisco Estuary may be the most invaded aquatic ecosystem in North America - this report summarizes to what extent this is the case.

Background information on Exotic species is available from Living Landscapes of the Columbia Basin, British Columbia.

A clearinghouse of websites discussing the effects of free-roaming and feral cats on biodiversity is available from the California Department of Fish and Game.

Module 15 - Pollution, Global Warming, and the Ozone Hole

Jonathan Wells of University of California Berkeley has an interesting page entitled: "Second Thoughts about Peppered Moths: This classical story of evolution by natural selection needs revising". Even though this page is hosted by a reactionary creationist website, it provides some interesting reading.  Keep the political goals of the author in mind when reading it.

The EPA has an entire site devoted to the phenomenon of Global Warming with text addressing the climate changes, gas emissions, possible impacts of global warming, and actions needed to address the phenomenon.

The Ice Core Working Group of the University of New Hampshire has a page called "Ice Core Contributions to Global Change Research: Past Successes and Future Directions" that discusses the relationship between carbon dioxide and methane levels in ice cores over long time periods.

"Why is the Ozone Hole Over the Antarctic?", a question that is addressed by a page from the EPA.

The Ozone Hole Tour, from the Centre for Atmospheric Science of Cambridge University, is an excellent introduction to the dynamics and implications of the ozone hole.

Basic chemistry of ozone depletion page from the Numerical Aerospace Simulation Systems Division of NASA has an excellent explanation of the chemical processes causing ozone holes.

Ozone Production and Destruction page from the Atmospheric Chemistry Data and Resources from The Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA also has some short Quicktime videos demonstrating these processes.

A thorough discussion of the Kyoto Protocol is available from the UN, including the full text of the agreement. 

The Woods Hole Resource Center has many links to useful papers discussing several aspects of climate change, some specific to the Amazon, Cape Cod, and many other locales around the world.

Three new Working Papers on climate change policy by researchers at CICERO (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo) are now available in electronic form: The Kyoto mechanisms and the quest for compliance: Unresolved issues and potential pitfalls, Decision-making frameworks for climate policy under uncertainty, and Impatience and climate policy.

A page from Dr. Steve Archer of Texas A & M discusses how multiple factors lead to tree encroachment in grasslands, including land use practices (grazing, fire suppression), climate, and chemical atmospheric changes (such as elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen deposition). It also has an extensive bibliography on these factors.

Module 16 - Conservation and Restoration Biology

Audubon Society
Defenders of Wildlife
Nature Conservancy
Rainforest Action Network
Sierra Club
Wildlife Conservation Society
Wildlife Trust
World Wildlife Fund

The Society for Ecological Restoration Internet Resources Site has a great deal of information on Restoration Ecology.

Save the Albany Pine Bush has some information on the unique pine barrens ecosystem in the Albany, New York area. 

A write up from the US Fish and Wildlife Service has a very informative, if text heavy, page describing the political, geological, and ecological status of the Albany Pine Bush in great detail. 

Beyond Fences: Seeking Social Sustainability in Conservation, Chapter 4.24 - Jobs in Conservation by Larry R. Kohler and Carmen Aalbers of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) discusses the importance of involving local people in conservation strategies. 

Environmental Policies of the Society for Ecological Restoration from the Society for Ecological Restoration is an excellent and brief primer on the main factors that determine an effective restoration ecology program. 

A brief description of the history of the Brazilian Mâta Atlantica is available from American Electric Power. 

The home page of the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecologicas (IPÊ) has a great deal of information on all the restoration and conservation ecology projects on which they are currently working. 

Hunting & Biodiversity in Atlantic Forest Fragments in São Paulo, Brazil by Laury Cullen, Jr of IPÊ has a great deal of information about Morro do Diabo as well as of the title subject. 

IPÊ's project in which they are creating corridors that will connect the remaining fragments is also availalable from Laury Cullen, Jr. 

Ecosystems, Biomes, and Watersheds: Definitions and Use by M. Lynne Corn of the National Council for Science and the Environment in Washington D.C. has an interesting critque of conservation biology as well as a discussion of these definitions.