Related Sites

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Management

Biodiversity of plants

• Australia: Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research & Australian National Herbarium
  Botanical research, conservation, management and use of the Australian flora.
• Latin America: Bioactive Agents from Dryland Plants of Latin America
  A project of the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups Program.
• South America: Andean Botanical Information System (Field Museum of Natural History)
  "...collection information from the floristic and systematic investigations of the phanerogams of Andean South America." Includes the LOMAFLOR database of collections from the coastal deserts of Chile and Peru.
• US: An Illustrated Guide to Arizona Weeds (11 March 98)
  The University of Arizona Press has uploaded the entirety of this out-of-print volume to its Website.

Biodiversity of animals

• International: Desert Fish Council (University of Texas at Austin)
  The DFC works "to preserve the biological integrity of desert aquatic ecosystems and their associated life forms," primarily in the US and Mexico.
• International: Stiletto Flies: Therevidae: Diptera: Insecta (University of Illinois)
  International research on the Therevidae fly family, "...critical to the sound functioning of arid and semiarid environments," from the University of Illinois.
• USA: GATF Mojave Desert Tortoise Project (U.S. Army)
  Research project conducting GIS-based desert tortoise habitat modelling in the Mojave Desert of California.

Biodiversity of ecosystems

• Australia: Environment Australia Online
  The Environment Program of the Australian Environment Portfolio.
• Australia: Environment Australia Biodiversity Group (formerly the Australian Nature Conservation Agency) (10 March 98) Website of the principal nature conservation program of the Commonwealth Government of Australia.
• Mexico: CONABIO -- Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Mexico (10 March 98) Website of the Mexican Biodiversity Commission. Primarily in Spanish (some information in English).
• USA: Data Listing for Flora and Fauna of the Great Basin, Western USA (10 March 98)
  Lists, distribution maps, and selected photos of plants and animals; information on endangered species; reports and other documents, from the Biological Resources Research Center, University of Nevada, Reno.

Biodiversity and ecosystems management

• Australia: Fire and Biodiversity: Effects & Effectiveness of Fire Management (online proceedings)
  23 fulltext papers & more from 1994 conference on fire management in temperate Australia; covers fires and fuel behavior; effects on flora, vetebrates, invetebrates & soils; assessing fire protection needs; and integrating fire protection and biodiversity management.
• Australia: Refugia for Biological Diversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Australia
  This detailed online report, covering some 70% of Australia's territory, was produced by the Australian Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories.
• International: Convention on Biological Diversity
  This important international convention entered into force at the end of 1993. Information at this site includes the text of the BCD, a list of ratifying countries, and reports on activities related to implementing the convention.
• International: Expert Meeting, Synergies among Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, and the Forest Principles
  In March 97 this internationally sponsored meeting, held in Israel, focused on identifying "mechanisms and processes which effectively can promote synergies among many of the measures suggested by the instruments individually."
• International: Fire Effects Information System
  Although this resource, developed by a USDA research lab, is primarily aimed at the US, it has extensive information on dryland species (among others) that will be useful for other regions. (One oddity: much of the information on each species must be accessed from the main menu for that species; you can't get to it from the introductory text on that species.)
• International: FireNet: The International Fire Information Network
  Hosted at the Australian National University; information on rural and landscape fires including fire behaviour, fire weather, fire prevention, mitigation and suppression, plant and animal responses to fire and all aspects of fire effects.
• USA: Assessing Effects of Ecosystem Disturbance on Biodiversity in the Mojave Desert of the Southwestern United States (U. of Illinois & US Dept. of the Army)
  Research project incorporating cost benefit analysis, geographic ecological modeling, spatial modeling, and disturbance assessment by remote sensing.
• USA: National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research
  Founded in 1980, the LTER Program supports research on long-term ecological phenomena in the US. LTER research sites that are arid or semi-arid include the Jornada Experimental Range, the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Shortgrass Steppe.