The Natural History Museum of London (UK) provides this magnificent Website on sea urchins. Well-written and beautifully designed, the primary purpose of the site is "to provide a taxonomic resource for the scientific community in which the genera and higher taxa of echinoid can be simply and rapidly identified." Spectacular color images form the basis of the identification keys, highlighting the...

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This Web site is a companion to the Discovery Channel/ BBC television series Blue Planet: Seas of Life. The Web site includes images, games, and expeditions all related to oceanography and marine biology. One feature that is particularly interesting is Ocean Alert, an interactive, current events feature where users can identify the topics that most interest them. News headlines, with links to more...

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The Gulf of Maine Aquarium Web site is an abundant resource on marine ecosystems. From communication strategies of marine mammals to coral reefs in Belize, the site uses descriptive text and vivid photos to explore a variety of topics related to ocean life. With each menu expanding into a number of further selections, the site is a maze of topics that allows users to navigate through a vast amount...

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Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) is "a user-friendly, web-based provider of global geo-referenced information on accurately identified marine species" developed by the international research program Census of Marine Life. OBIS can be used to integrate information from a host of stand-alone databases including biological, physical, and chemical oceanographic data on a selected species...

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ReefBase, a comprehensive Web portal for information on coral reefs, is presented by the World Fish Center based in Malaysia. Intended for use by reef managers, scientists, and the general public, ReefBase aims to "facilitate better understanding of the interdependence between humans and coral reefs, in order to benefit management and conservation efforts of these important resources." ReefBase...

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Marine biology is the latest topic from the American Museum of Natural History's OLogy Web site, which offers younger kids a fun, interactive way to explore different "-ologies" and meet the researchers who study them. The module for Marine Biology: The Living Oceans provides loads of colorful and engaging features focused on ocean ecosystems, marine biodiversity, and related topics. The Web site...

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This extensive educational resource from MacGillivray Freeman Films is aimed at assisting educators of grades 4-8 who are interested in teaching about the scientific and social aspects of reefs. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Wildlife Federation, among others, the film and the Teacher's Guide are not only very valuable, they are also linked to national science education...

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From the recently launched SmithsonianEducation.org Web site comes an excellent set of learning resources based on Exploring Marine Ecosystems, a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The activities and lesson plans in Contrasts in Blue help students explore two distinctively different marine ecosystems: the Caribbean coral reef and the rocky coast of Maine....

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A field project of the multi-national Census of Marine Life, the Census of the Diversity of Abyssal Marine Life (CeDAMar) was created to document "actual species diversity of abyssal plains as a basis for global change research and for a better understanding of historical causes and actual ecological factors regulating biodiversity." This site provides Deep-Sea researchers with a forum for...

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This website presents the International Sakhalin Island Project (ISIP), "an international collaboration of American, Russian, and Japanese scientists to survey the plants, lichens, mosses, liverworts, fungi, insects, spiders, freshwater and terrestrial mollusks, freshwater fishes, amphibians, and reptiles of Sakhalin Island." The website was developed primarily "to provide easy access to project...

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