| Following
is a list of freeware that provides information on nature and wildlife, ecology, and ecosystems. To
learn more about a particular item, click on the item name. To
download a software product or visit an interactive web site,
click on "download" or "view," respectively.
But first, please read our disclaimer and
permissions page if you haven't already done so.
1988 National Listing of Fish and Wildlife Advisories
By US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water. The database, Listing of Fish and Wildlife Advisories (LFWA), available information describing state-, tribal-, and federally-issued fish consumption advisories in the United States for the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. Territories, and in Canada for the 12 provinces and territories.
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ARS Image Gallery
By US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Want a picture of a fruit fly? How about a picture of a riparian buffer zone? This site provides high-quality images available for direct download in three sizes: thumbnail, in-line size, and full screen. Image categories include crops, insects, plants, animals, education, fruits/veggies, illustrations, lab research, and field research (soil/water).
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Bob Atkins Photography Nature and Wildlife Images
By Bob Atkins Photography. Awesome nature and wildlife images (copyright Bob Atkins). Permission to use normally granted by Bob Atkins for non-commercial use without charge in exchange for a photo credit and a link back to his info page.
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Common Game Fish of the Mountain-Prairie Region
By US Fish and Wildlife Service. Photos of common game fish of the mountain-prairie region of the US
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DecAID
By US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. An advisory tool to help managers evaluate effects of forest conditions and existing or proposed management activities on organisms that use snags and down wood. DecAID also can help managers decide on snag and down wood sizes and levels needed to help meet wildlife management objectives of forests in Washington and Oregon.
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Earth
By The Global Education Project. Earth is a graphic look at the state of the world. This online resource presents data and commentaries on the condition of the world's environment - both natural and human - using 15 maps and 99 charts and graphs to create one big picture.
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EarthTrends:The Environmental Information Portal
By World Resources Institute. An online collection of information regarding the environmental, social, and economic trends that shape our world. EarthTrends offers the public a large breadth of statistical, graphic, and analytical data in easily accessible formats.
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Ecological Art Galleries
By Nohra Corredor. Art with an ecological theme.
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Ecological Structure Activity Relationships (ECOSAR)
By US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT). Used to estimate the toxicity of chemicals used in industry and discharged into water. The program predicts the toxicity of industrial chemicals to aquatic organisms such as fish, invertebrates, and algae by using Structure Activity Relationships (SARs). The program estimates a chemical's acute (short-term) toxicity and, when available, chronic (long-term or delayed) toxicity.
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Electronic Wetlands Herbarium (SVGA version)
By US Environmental Protection Agency and Purdue University. A detailed look at the plants typical of 11 different wetland types from bog to wet prairie. After an introduction to a particular type of wetland, the user can explore a list of species found in that ecosystem. Each entry gives detailed botanical information as well as a SVGA photo of the plant. The outstanding photos are identification quality and most were supplied by the Morton Arboretum. Examples are taken from the U.S. Midwest region. A VGA version is also available. A 1995 update with specifies from the lower 48 states is available on a CD-ROM from Purdue.
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Electronic Wetlands Herbarium (VGA version)
By US Environmental Protection Agency and Purdue University. A detailed look at the plants typical of 11 different wetland types from bog to wet prairie. After an introduction to a particular type of wetland, the user can explore a list of species found in that ecosystem. Each entry gives detailed botanical information as well as a VGA photo of the plant. The outstanding photos are identification quality and most were supplied by the Morton Arboretum. Examples are taken from the U.S. Midwest region. An SVGA version is also available. A 1995 update with specifies from the lower 48 states is available on a CD-ROM from Purdue.
download
EMAP (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program)
By US Environmental Protection Agency. The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) is a research program to develop the tools necessary to monitor and assess the status and trends of national ecological resources. EMAP's goal is to develop the scientific understanding for translating environmental monitoring data from multiple spatial and temporal scales into assessments of ecological condition and forecasts of the future risks to the sustainability of our natural resources. A variety of data sets and related information are available from the EMAP web site.
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eNature Field Guides
By eNature.com. Guide to over 5,500 North American plants and animals, with detailed descriptions and photographs. Includes amphibians, birds, butterflies, fishes, insects, mammals, reptiles, seashells, seashore creatures, spiders, trees, and wildflowers. Also includes a habitat gallery and create your own backyard wildlife habitat.
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Encyclopedia of Life
By Encyclopedia of Life Partners. The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is an ambitious project to organize and make available via the Internet virtually all information about life present on Earth. At its heart lies a series of Web sites—one for each of the approximately 1.8 million known species. Each site is constantly evolving and features dynamically synthesized content ranging from historical literature and biological descriptions to stunning images, videos and distribution maps.
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Endangered Means There Is Still Time
By US Fish and Wildlife Service. Educational slides and quiz about endangered species.
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Endangered Means There's Still Time Slide Show Images
By US Fish and Wildlife Service. Slide program with cool photos on endangered species in their natural surroundings.
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Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators (ENTRI)
By Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). Find information about environmental treaties and national resource indicators relevant to nine global environmental issues: 1) land use/land cover change and desertification, 2) global climate change, 3) stratospheric ozone depletion, 4) transboundary air pollution, 5) conservation of biological diversity, 6) deforestation, 7) oceans and their living resources, 8) trade and the environment, and 9) population.
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Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)
By FRCC Interagency Working Group. A tool for determining the degree of departure from reference condition vegetation, fuels and disturbance regimes. Assessing FRCC can help guide management objectives and set priorities for treatments.
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Fish Collection
By Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (NHM). An interactive, online database of information from the NHM fish collection. The collection contains an estimated five million specimens, of which roughly three million are catalogued.
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Fisheries Learning on the Web (FLOW)
By Michigan Sea Grant College Program. A comprehensive curriculum about the Great Lakes ecosystem. Lessons are geared toward educators who teach upper elementary and middle school students. Each lesson is aligned with national and state curriculum standards for science and social studies and features a hands-on classroom activity. Topics include Food Web, Water, and Fish.
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Flora of Europe
By A. Voswinkel. A photographic herbarium. More than 600 photos of flora in Europe (photos are copyrighted).
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Forest Service Find-a-Photo
By US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Agricultural Library. Allows you to access thousands of copyright free wildlife, fish, wildflower and environmental education photographs, donated by Forest Service employees and our partners and volunteers.
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Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS)
By US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. A family of forest growth simulation models.
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GEF Project Database
By Global Environment Facility. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), established in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment. GEF grants support projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. Search projects by country, type, date, keyword, etc.
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Green TV
By United Nations Environment Programme. green.tv is the broadband TV channel for environmental films. green.tv is the first website to bring together films from a whole range of environmental organisations and independent filmmakers and make them available to anyone anywhere.
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HORIZON Solutions Site
By HORIZON Communications, UNEP, UNDP, UNPF, UNICEF, Harvard University, Yale University, and the IDRC of Canada. A source of case studies on proven or promising solutions drawn from all parts of the world and from both high and low technologies. Subjects include agriculture, biodiversity, desertification, forests, oceans, fisheries, land management, energy production and consumption, population, public health, toxic chemical and pollution control, transportation, waste management, and water quality and supply.
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Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Download
By US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Download information on species names and their hierarchical classification. Includes taxonomic information of flora and fauna from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats.
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Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Query
By US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Query information on species names and their hierarchical classification. Includes taxonomic information of flora and fauna from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats.
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InVEST
By The Natural Capital Project. InVEST is a family of tools to map and value the goods and services from nature which are essential for sustaining and fulfilling human life. It enables decision-makers to assess the tradeoffs associated with alternative choices and to identify areas where investment in natural capital can enhance human development and conservation in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.
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Landscape Management System (LMS)
By University of Washington, Yale University, and USDA Forest Service. Assists in landscape level analysis and planning of forest ecosystems by automating the tasks of stand projection, graphical and tabular summarization, stand visualization, and landscape visualization. LMS is comprised of many separate programs that make projections, produce graphical or tabular displays, store inventory information, and connect these diverse programs into a cohesive system.
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Man and the Bioshere (MAB) Species Databases
By US Man and the Biosphere. Database of plants and animals reported from the world's biosphere reserves and other protected areas
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National Image Library
By US Fish and Wildlife Service. Cool photos of wildlife, fish, plants, refuges, hatcheries and habitats (and even some shots of Fish and Wildlife personnel for your scrapbook)
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National Wild Fish Health Survey Database
By US Fish and Wildlife Service and Montana State University. A database of the presence or absence of pathogens (potential agents of disease) or antibodies to pathogens (evidence of previous exposure) in fish. This is an historical compilation which currently includes selected data from only Alaska, Colorado, and Idaho (others to be added in the future).
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NRCS Photo Gallery
By US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Contains natural resource and conservation related photos from across the USA.
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Ocean Discovery Teacher's Guide
By Sea World, Inc.. Students will learn about the ocean by exploring marine animal adaptations and diversity. They will begin to develop a sense of stewardship for the oceans and the animals that live there.
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Plants Data
By US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Allows you to search the PLANTS database by the state you select.
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Plants Image Gallery
By US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Lots and lots of great photos of plants
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Plants National Database
By US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Search lots of information on plants by scientific or common name or plant ID. Select "Query Database" button. Can also search by Wetlands, Endangered, Phylogenetic, Economic Important, or Noxious Plants.
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Red List of Threatened Species
By International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on taxa that have been globally evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. This system is designed to determine the relative risk of extinction. The main purpose of the IUCN Red List is to catalogue and highlight those taxa that are facing a higher risk of global extinction.
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Seafood Selector
By Environmental Defense. An interactive web tool for consumers concerned about their diet, their health, and their environment. A team of scientists, programmers, and editors reportedly worked for more than a year to build the database tool, which is filled with delicious recipes and important safety and health facts for over 150 species of fish.
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Search the EPA Internet
By US Environmental Protection Agency. Search the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) web site.
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USDA Online Photography Library
By US Department of Agriculture. View or download more than 20,000 images. Photo topics include animals, conservation, food safety, forestry, horticulture, farmsteads, pesticides, and many more.
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Virtual Parks
By Erik Goetze. View over 700+ panoramic photos and see what it's like to be at the superlative parks of California (and Utah). Uses Quick Time by Apple (available free via download).
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Wetlands Maps, Facts, and Figures
By US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Maps of wetlands in the US with associated facts, such as affected acreage
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WhatBird
By Percevia. Identify birds of North America with a few clicks using our parametric search engine.
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