Subject Guides: Biology (general): Find Internet Sites

Information about websites

Your professor might allow you to use websites for your research. When searching for websites, be watchful for:

Who is the author of the website? Is the author credible?
What is the author's agenda or bias? Is coverage of the issue balanced? If not, can you find other websites that present the opposing view?
Be wary of the site's domain or URL. Professional societies usually have a domain of .org; government sites usually have a domain of .gov. University domains are .edu, but not all .edu pages are creditable or reliable. Students, staff, and faculty may have personal sites hosted on the university's site and the information on these sites are not peer-reveiwed.
Be careful of hoax sites like Dihydrogen monoxide, Lake Michigan Whale Watching, or Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.
If a researcher posted an article on a personal website, but you can't find the article in a professional journal, you should ask why you can't find it in a professional journal. If it hasn't been published, there might be a reason.

Online field guides and encyclopedias

There are many online field guides. Just a couple are listed below.

Animal Diversity Web
Online database of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology at the University of Michigan. Includes thousands of species accounts about individual animal species.
Birds of the World
Comprehensive life histories for the 716 species of birds breeding in the U.S.A. (including Hawaii) and Canada. Includes photos, maps, audio clips, and video clips.
Discover Life
Free online tools to identify species, share ways to teach and study nature's wonders, report findings, build maps, process images, and contribute to and learn from a growing, interactive encyclopedia of life that now has 1.3 million species pages.
FishBase
Searchable database of 33,400 species, 318,900 common names, and 57,800 pictures of fish from around the world.
LeafSnap
An app that uses visual recognition software to identify tree species from photographs of their leaves.
Michigan Natural Features inventory
Data and publications designed to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, especially rare and declining plants and animals, and the diversity of ecosystems native to Michigan. Data includes maps and descriptions of Michigan species. Several of the publications are available for free online.
MSU Plant Encyclopedia
The Plant Encyclopedia contains woody (trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers) and herbaceous plants (annuals, biennials, perennials), including weeds and house plants. Pronunciation of the Latin name, and extensive plant data and images are included for each plant.
[Note: This site is no longer active; the link takes you to the Nov. 8, 2016 version of the site on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.]
Waterfowl Identification sheets
Covers 33 species (from Michigan DNR).
What Tree Is That? Online
Covers the eastern and central United States as well as the western United States and an iPhone app is available (from the Arbor Day Foundation).
Wisconsin Fish Identification
Covers 174 fish and a mobile app is available.

Biology (general)

Information about websites

Online field guides and encyclopedias

Useful government websites