Web of life: scientists create a Web site to record every living thing on Earth.Where can you find brightly colored fish, camels, tomato plants, and pink flamingos all in one place? Not in a fairy-land. The answer is the Encyclopedia of Life Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is the proposed name for a freely-accessible, online collaborative bio-encyclopedia, written by experts,[1][2] which aims to build an encyclopedia of separate articles for all known species, including video, sound, images, . It is a new Web site created by scientists. They hope the Encyclopedia of Life will be the greatest collection of information ever brought together in one place. Over the next 10 years, scientists plan to establish a page on the Web site for every known living species on Earth. A species is a type of plant or animal. There are about 1.8 million known species. The site is beginning with fish--all 30,000 types of fish! Those include the six fish species that have been named in 2008. One of those is the deep blue chromis. It is a bright blue fish discovered in the Pacific Ocean. Each living thing's profile will include information about where that species lives. It will also include the biodiversity biodiversity: see biological diversity. biodiversity Quantity of plant and animal species found in a given environment. Sometimes habitat diversity (the variety of places where organisms live) and genetic diversity (the variety of traits expressed of that species' environment. That is the variety of plants and animals in an environment. All the information is verified, or proved to be true, by a team of scientists. [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Soon, scientists will post information about plants including potato and tomato plants. Botanists This is a list of botanists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also the list of botanists by author abbreviation and . A
The Encyclopedia of Life creators Say one day anyone could post information on the site. "It [makes] sure the latest information is available for everyone to read, use, and to share in the fun of scientific discovery," spokesperson Marie Studer told WR News. Before You Read Ask students: What resources might someone use to research plants and animals? Why might scientists want such information to be in one place? Animals with backbones Some of the animals scientists will include in the Encyclopedia of Life are called vertebrates. Those are animals with backbones. Keep reading to learn more about the five major types of vertebrates. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mammals The class Mammalia (the Mammals) is divided into two subclasses based on reproductive techniques: egg laying mammals (the Monotremes); and mammals which give live birth. The latter subclass is divided into two infraclasses: pouched mammals (the marsupials); and the placental mammals. have fur or hair. They feed their babies milk. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Birds have feathers feathers, outgrowths of the skin, constituting the plumage of birds. Feathers grow only along certain definite tracts (pterylae), which vary in different groups of birds. to keep them warm or help them fly. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Reptiles reptiles terrestrial or aquatic vertebrates which breathe air through lungs and have a skin covering of horny scales. They are poikilothermic, oviparous or ovoviviparous, and, if they have legs they are short and constructed solely for crawling. have dry skin that is covered with scales. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Amphibians amphibians members of the animal class Amphibia. Includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and cecilians all capable of living on land or in water. have moist skin. They live in water and on land. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fish breathe through their gills underwater. Vocabulary biodiversity: the variety of plants and animals in an environment botanist: a scientist who studies plants species: a type of plant or animal verify: to prove to be true vertebrate vertebrate, any animal having a backbone or spinal column. Verbrates can be traced back to the Silurian period. In the adults of nearly all forms the backbone consists of a series of vertebrae. All vertebrates belong to the subphylum Vertebrata of the phylum Chordata. : an animal with a backbone Background * How can scientists use the Encyclopedia of Life? Having all the information about a plant or animal species in one place could speed the process of naming some new species. Some biologists suspect there are about 8.2 million unnamed species. The idea for the Web site came from Harvard University Harvard University, mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college. Harvard College Harvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. biologist Edward O. Wilson. * What else will be on the Web site? Museums, libraries, and research institutions all over the world will contribute information to the Web site. Some are scanning the pages of fragile reference books that are hundreds of years old. Those pages will be posted on the Encyclopedia of Life Web site. That will save scientists time. Before, they had to travel to use the old books. * What else is known about the six recently named fish species? The species that were named this year are all damselfish damselfish, common name for members of the large family Pomacentridae, marine fishes of tropical waters. Common in the West Indies and along the Florida coasts are the sergeant-major, named for its vertical stripes, and the reef fish, found among coral reefs. . They were found in what are sometimes called Twilight Zone twilight zone - [IRC] Notionally, the area of cyberspace where IRC operators live. An op is said to have a "connection to the twilight zone". coral reefs coral reefs, limestone formations produced by living organisms, found in shallow, tropical marine waters. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate (limestone). in the Pacific Ocean. Think Critically Which species would you like to read about on the Encyclopedia of Life Web site? Why? Extend the Lesson Write a Web page entry. Have students imagine they are scientists in charge of writing information about a plant or animal species for the Encyclopedia of Life Web site. Have each student choose a plant or animal to research. Then have him or her write a paragraph about that species, including a description of where it can be found. Web Resource To learn more about the Encyclopedia of Life, visit www.eol.org. THINK ABOUT IT How might the Encyclopedia of Life help scientists do their jobs? |
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