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BSC 1005: Life in Its Biological Environment

This guide is designed to provide library research support for BSC1005.

General Databases

Subject Specific Databases: Biology

ECOTOX (ECOTOXicology)

Author: EPA
Provides single chemical toxicity information for aquatic and terrestrial life which is useful for examining impacts of chemicals on the environment. Peer-reviewed literature is the primary source for the database including information on the species, chemical, test methods, and results. Another source of test results is independently compiled data files (such as the Pesticide Ecotoxicity database) provided by various United States and International government agencies. ECOTOX is a unified interface providing access to three U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) ecological effects databases.

Electronic Book & Document Collections Online

Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of natural history and botanical libraries worldwide that cooperate to digitize and make accessible the legacy literature of biodiversity held in their collections and to make that literature available for open access and responsible use as a part of a global “biodiversity commons.” BHL also serves as the foundational literature component of the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) with access provided to texts "with information on over a 150 million species names." 
Biodiversity Heritage Library Tutorials

Bio-protocol

A rapidly growing collection of peer-reviewed, life science protocols organized by 11 different fields of study and 10 different organisms. Protocols are organized chronologically with a detailed guide on how to reproduce a given experiment. Each protocol also contains an interactive and moderated Q & A section to facilitate open communication between protocol authors and the research community. Coverage: Jan 2011 – present.

Biorxiv - The preprint server for biology  bioRxiv (pronounced "bio-archive") is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution. 

Sea Grant Digital Library [via National Sea Grant Library]

Digital repository on coastal and marine topics with electronic versions of Sea Grant Publications under ten categories: coastal hazards; diving safety; education; responsible aquaculture; global warming; HACCP (FDA Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point programs); harmful algae; marine careers; Sea Grant history; and seafood safety/foodborne illnesses. Additional pre-designed workforms facilitate online searching of the entire Sea Grant database for information on either print or online Sea Grant publications on marinas, aquaculture, habitat restoration or education.

Aquatic Commons

Author: IAMSLIC (International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers)
"The Aquatic Commons is a thematic digital repository covering the natural marine, estuarine /brackish and fresh water environments . It includes all aspects of the science, technology, management and conservation of these environments, their organisms and resources, and the economic, sociological and legal aspects. It is complementary to OceanDocs, which is supported by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) specifically to collect, preserve and facilitate access to all research output from members of their Ocean Data and Information Networks (ODINS). The records of both repositories are harvested by Avano which aggregates records from marine and aquatic repositories around the World."