Monday 16:05:11
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Animals
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© by Bernhard Volmer (Deutschland)
from Artists on Wings
Animals
"As genomics and biomedicine are to human health, so ecology and conservation biology are to the planet's health. Unfortunately, compared with their sister disciplines, ecology and conservation biology are still disadvantaged." -- Edward O. Wilson
Thus begun the compelling Science (guest) editorial by E.O. Wilson, clamoring for a concerted effort to describe and classify all the living organisms on earth -- similar to the Human Genome Project that led to the elucidation (in year 2000) of the complete DNA sequence of Homo sapiensand other species relevant to biomedicine. E.O. Wilson estimated that there are about 1.5-1.8 millions organisms so far described, and perhaps about 10 milllion overall, including those still undescribed.
"To describe and classify all of the surviving species of the world deserves to be one of the great scientific goals of the new century. ... this completion of the Linnaean enterprise is needed for effective conservation practices, for bioprospecting (the search for new natural products in wild species), and for impact studies of environmental change. In basic science, it is a key element in the maturing of ecology, including the grasp of ecosystem functioning and of evolutionary biology. It also offers an unsurpassable adventure: the exploration of a little-known planet. ..." -- E.O. Wilson
One of the goals of the "Animals" section of this webpage is to provide visitors a directory of internet links concerning the works of individuals, institutions and governments dealing with the description and classification of animals.
Here we begin with a separate section on
We hope to develop similar separate sections for "Mammals", "Marine Organisms", "Insects", etc. Obviously, this is a garguantuan effort and will require quite an investment of time, resources and enormous brigade of volunteers (scientists and animal lovers alike), for this lofty goal to be achieved.
Until we have a chance to do this, please visit the Animals Internet Resources section to view photos and databases about animals.
Navigating the Separate "Birds" Section:
Please note that clicking on the hyperlink "Birds" will lead you to a separate section on "Birds", with its own "A-Z" navigation link shown above -- replacing the previous Ecosystems "A-Z" navigation link. This should become apparent because the separate "A-Z" navigation link is predicated by "Birds"). When you click on "Birds" for the first time -- coming from the main "Ecosystems" website -- a new browser window may appear. Be sure to close the previous browser window (where the "Ecosystems" website was located originally) before exploring any further.
Be sure to click on the icon or hyperlink of "Ecosystems", shown at the top or on the left navigation side, to get back to the main "Ecosystems" website.
Literature Cited:
Help preserve the beauty of our world and its resources so that they can be enjoyed by the generations to come!
We need volunteers, academicians and scholars, from around the world, who are interested to monitor their ecosystem, or are interested to create, improve or keep up-to-date any topic in the Ecosystems section. Please contact us, if you are interested to create, improve or keep up-to-date any section included herein.
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