Subject Guide: Biology and Environmental Studies
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INTRODUCTION
This subject guide is only an introduction—a brief list—to the countless sources and types of information published about biology and environmental studies. If you need additional information about your topic you might wish to explore further independently or contact a librarian. For multidisciplinary topics, or aspects of biology related, for example to chemistry or physics, you might wish to explore the other subject guides and resources.SELECTED BARUCH DATABASES
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Annual Reviews
Annual Reviews introduces readers to current trends and recent important research in the biomedical and physical sciences in essays prepared by respected specialists or “scholars” in a field. Whole articles or “full texts” are available beginning 1996 and continue to recent issues; only tables of contents are available for earlier issues ranging from 1984 to1995.
General Science/[Index/Abstract/]Full Text
General Science lists sources or “citations” and summaries or “abstracts” of articles covering the natural, physical, quantitative and applied sciences published as early as 1984. The database includes “selected” whole articles or “full texts” in the sciences
beginning in 1994.
JSTOR
JSTOR covers only scholarly journals with articles by respected specialists all whole article or “full text” in an array of disciplines including biology and particularly ecology and evolutionary biology. The listing of journals begins with their earliest years of issue. The journals have a “moving wall:” As each new year of issue passes JSTOR adds another year of issue to its database but a lapse of three to five years exists before an
article finally appears.
Medline
The United States National Library of Medicine publishes many authoritative databases including MEDLINE. MEDLINE concentrates on citations, abstracts and full texts of scholarly journal articles in the medical and allied health sciences as well as related policies. If MEDLINE users wish they can employ the MeSH, a thesaurus-like tool, which provides alternate scientific terms. This helps locate information using the vocabulary of researchers and practitioners in the disciplines.
Science Direct (Elsevier)
Science Direct lists both “full texts” or whole articles in scholarly journal articles written by specialists and bibliographic reference to the source with “abstracts” or summaries primarily in the sciences, including the applied sciences of engineering and medicine ranging from the middle of the 1990s to current articles.
Wiley InterScience
Wiley InterScience lists many authoritative full text articles and tables of contents or abstracts for other articles in the sciences as well as other subjects beginning with the year 2000. Sometimes at one of the last steps, the database informs readers that they might have to request an article by a free interlibrary loan from another library or purchase the article.
WEB RESOURCES
 Grasshopper |
About.com: Biotech/Biomedical
Aboutccom: Biotech/Biomedical is a web based general research resource. Although the web site is not a scholarly resource with articles by respected experts, it is generally reliable.
USA.Gov for Science
USA.Gov for Science leads to authoritative science and applied science information compiled by U.S. Government agencies, one of the largest publishers of information in the world. Some of the sources require purchase.
Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory
The nearby Long Island Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory web site is the “home” of one of America’s best known research facilities specializing in studies of cancer, cloning, neurobiology, plant genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. Many links are interactive and may require “plug-ins” or supplementary computer software. The web site leads to information about Caenorhabditis elegans, a worm key in recent genome research.
National Biological Information Infrastructure
The National Biological Information Infrastructure web site is a highly reliable source of information about the ecology of the United States. The United States Geological Survey is the main sponsor of this site.
Animal Diversity Web
The Animal Diversity Web is an online encyclopedia or database of animals sponsored by the University of Michigan. The web pages describe specimens from phylum to specie and include photographs. College students prepared the entries for use under faculty supervision.
Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project is a phylogenetic or "evolutionary tree" explaining evolutionary sequence. The site has bibliographies, webliographies, photographs and videos with citations to authors.
Mammal Species of the World
Mammal Species of the World is a database of mammalian taxonomy. The site is currently under reconstruction but it is still usefully providing authoritative information in tabular format about the phylum mammalia broken down to the level of species. Each entry, for example notes scientific and common names, locale and range as well as links to bibliographies about each mammal. The National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution is primarily responsible for the site.
CSU Biological Sciences Web Server
Curious about the ecology of the West Coast? The web pages prepared by the Department of Biological Sciences California State University at Stanislaus have authoritative and interesting answers. The pages, particularly “Resources” and “ESRP” (Endangered Species Research Program) employ a combination of text, maps and photographs.
Earthportal
Earthportal concentrating on world ecology and environmental studies is comprised of three parts all sources of authoritative information ranging from the elementary to the advanced. Earth News has current events. Encyclopedia of Earth has in-depth narratives. Earth Forum is a discussion board.
OAIster: Find the Pearls
OAIster: Find the Pearls is a “union catalog of [authoritative] digital resources” across the sciences. Many of the texts, images, audio, video and datasets are open access, that is, free although copyrighted. Many of these are from the “hidden web” otherwise difficult to find.
Scirus
Scirus is a search engine that specializes in the sciences tracking an array of types of sources and subjects. Some of the sources charge a fee to read or otherwise use.
Science Daily Magazine
Science Daily Magazine is an “on-line newspaper” that a staff of experienced and respected science journalists writes. In addition to articles the newspaper has pictures and videos. The newspaper is oriented to general readers and those seeking introductory information.
REFERENCE SOURCES
Handbooks, Encyclopedias, Directories, Dictionaries Other Databases
 Cyanobacterium Copyright © 1999 Dennis Kunkel |
A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics / 2nd ed.
Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, c1998.
Baruch Reference 2nd Floor QH 540.4 .L56 1998
Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, c1997.
Baruch Reference 2nd Floor QP 512 .O94 1997
Concise Encyclopedia Biology
Berlin ; New York : Walter de Gruyter, 1996.
Baruch Reference 2nd Floor QH 302 .5 .A2313 1995
Gale Virtual Reference Library: Environment, Medicine, and Science
OTHER SOURCES
Peterson's Graduate Programs in the Biological Sciences
Princeton, N.J. : Peterson's, 42 ed
Baruch Reference 2nd Floor L 901 .P442 2008Peterson’s Graduate Programs in the Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Agricultural Sciences, the Environment and Natural Resources
Princeton, N. J.: Peterson’s, 42 ed.
Baruch Reference 2nd Floor L 901 .P445 2008
 Hydra Copyright © 1999 Dennis Kunkel |
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
- International Scholarly Societies & Professional Associations
- American Societies and Professional Assocations
- American Medical Association
- The American Institute of Biological Sciences
- APSnet - The American Phytopathological Society
- Federation of American Societies
for Experimental Biology
ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE
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