Marine Life Research Tools & Methods

Studying life in the ocean involves many different tools and methods. Here we will attempt to describe many of the resources for further study or use.

Ocean Instruments

(WHOI)
All about different ocean instruments, how they work, what they do and why they do it. Written and/or edited by experts in ocean science and engineering, in addition to links to glossaries and multimedia technologies including video streaming, audio packages, and searchable databases. The site is updated as new information arrives from contributing ocean scientists and engineers. Check it out: http://www.whoi.edu/science/instruments/

Relevant Journals - we have collected what we believe to be a full list of scientific journals that are relevant to the study of marine life. Each is briefly described and many require a subscription but abstracts are usually available (and searchable) and many offer the choice to buy single papers or review sample copies. We are convinced that most effective research is that which is done in a meta-context with all relevant issues and fields. Also, the chances to blend traditional field boundaries has never been more possible or necessary considering the state of worldwide marine ecosystems.

Reference Books - depending upon which branch of Marine Biology you study, reference books are still vital to most research efforts. We list the reference texts we use on our references page but your local library and online book sources will probably be the most helpful.

Online Research Tools

- in our research efforts involving both online and offline species data we have combined what we have learned in the resulting pages of this site. There are a myriad of online databases and meta-searches and it can be quite overwhelming. This is one of the reasons we created this site, by combining all useful available information for each species (including the best photographs, video, etc.) on each species' home page we found that only then could we get a relatively complete picture of that species. Each species has the following information available: full taxonomic data (ITIS), photo/video/sound ID data, general physical attributes, unique characteristics, world range & habitat information (including Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) data), feeding and reproductive behavior, warnings and comments, IUCN RedList and CITES listing data, GBIF Global Biodiversity Data, SIRIS biblio search, Species 2000, FishBase, NCBI, Tree of Life, and Molecular/genetic data database searches, and general references. Each species home page is also dynamic and new online resources can be easily added as they arise. By combining the above as well as conservation information and resources, marine life news and our forum, we feel one can get a complete sense of just about any marine species. We have also included the following in the Research Online box in the right column of every page for broader research assistance:

AlgaeBase - database listing species data on the world's algae.

Articles@PubMed - PubMed Central is a digital archive of life sciences journal literature, developed and managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

BioResearch - offers free access to a searchable catalogue of quality reviewed Internet resources covering the biological and biomedical sciences; including genetics, biotechnology, virology, biochemistry and molecular biology.

CephBase - provides taxonomic data, life history, distribution, images, videos, references and scientific contact information on all living species of cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus).

BIOSIS:BioBrowser - produced by BIOSIS, is a free web site offering resources for the life sciences information community.

CITES-listed species database - CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between Governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Around 25,000 plant species and 5,000 animal species listed, in the following proportions: 1) Appendix I: about 600 animal species and 300 plant species; 2) Appendix II: about 1,400 animal species and 25,000 plant species; and 3) Appendix III: about 270 animal species and 30 plant species.

Crustacean Society - to advance the study of all aspects of the biology of the Crustacea by promoting the exchange and dissemination of information throughout the world.

Encyclopedia.com - free encyclopedia, provides users with more than 57,000 frequently updated articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Each article is enhanced with links to newspaper and magazine articles as well as pictures and maps - all provided by eLibrary.

FishBase - 28600 Fish Species, 204900 Common names, 37200 Pictures, 34300 References, 1150 Collaborators.

Genome Browser (Ensembl) - Ensembl is a joint project between EMBL - EBI and the Sanger Institute to develop a software system which produces and maintains automatic annotation on metazoan genomes.

Global Invasive Species databse - The Global Invasive Species Database was developed by the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) as part of the global initiative on invasive species led by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP). It provides global information on invasive alien species to agencies, resource managers, decision-makers, and interested individuals. The database focuses on invasive species that threaten biodiversity and covers all taxonomic groups from micro-organisms to animals and plants. Species information is supplied by expert contributors from around the world and includes; species' biology, ecology, native and alien range, references, contacts, links and images.

Google Scholar - Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

Hexacorals - Biogeoinformatics of hexacorallia (corals, sea anemones, and their allies): interfacing geospatial, taxonomic, and environmental data for a group of marine invertebrates.

IOC OceanPortal - Ocean Portal is a high-level directory of Ocean Data and Information related web sites produced by the IOC/IODE Marine Data Training Team. Its objective is to help scientists and other ocean experts in locating such data & information.

IUCN Red List - The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on taxa that have been evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. This system is designed to determine the relative risk of extinction, and the main purpose of the IUCN Red List is to catalogue and highlight those taxa that are facing a higher risk of global extinction (i.e. those listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable). The IUCN Red List also includes information on taxa that are categorized as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild; on taxa that cannot be evaluated because of insufficient information (i.e. are Data Deficient); and on taxa that are either close to meeting the threatened thresholds or that would be threatened were it not for an ongoing taxon-specific conservation programme (i.e. Near Threatened).

Marine Genomics Project - the web-based interface to bioinformatics data management and data analysis tools. The site has been developed by the bioinformatics group at the DB2E dept. of the Medical University of South Carolina for the Marine Genomics Consortium at the Hollings Marine Lab in Charleston, SC. Both public and species-curators can browse all data within the Marine Genomics website. All species-specific data is accessible via the species links to the right of the page. Curators have permissions to curate and edit their species data, resume/CV information, publications they wish to make available on MG as well as addition/deletion of related projects that might have significance to the community.

Molecular Biology - a comprehensive package for the hands-on teaching of Molecular Biology.

ReefBase - world's premier online information system on coral reefs, and provides information services to coral reef professionals involved in management, research, monitoring, conservation and education.

sciBASE - aggregates and integrates major bibliographic databases from third party publishers to give its subscribers convenient, digital access to the world's scientific information.

ScienceDirect - world's largest electronic collection of science, technology and medicine full text and bibliographic information.

Scripps Library - databases, journals, resources and collections, etc. of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

Sea Slug Forum - everything you ever wanted to know about sea slugs (nudibranchs, bubble-shells, sea hares, and others) including behavior, anatomy, aquarium FAQs and associated marine animals and plants.

SpringerLink - one of the world's leading online information services for scientific, technical, and medical (STM) books and journals. SpringerLink is a preferred data source for researchers in academic and corporate institutions and other vital knowledge centers.

Tree of Life Web Project - a collaborative effort of biologists from around the world. On more than 3000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their evolutionary history (phylogeny), and characteristics.

UCSB Resources - marine and aquatic science reference guide and resources at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Undersea Research - NOAA's Undersea Research Center at UNCW.

USGS:MRIB - Marine Realms Information Bank; an online distributed digital geolibrary for the USGS Coastal and marine Geology Program.

Wikipedia - a free content encyclopedia written collaboratively by contributors from around the world. The site is a wiki, which means that anyone can edit articles, simply by clicking on the edit this page link.

Zetoc - provides access to the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents of around 20,000 current journals and around 16,000 conference proceedings published per year. The database covers 1993 to date, and is updated on a daily basis.

We hope you find MarineBio.org as useful as we do and if you find we are missing useful online research tools, please let us know.

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