Encyclopedia of Life

Scientists from around the world plan to collaborate on a free website aimed at providing information on all 1.8 million known species of animals, plants, and other living creatures on the planet.

The Encyclopedia of Life project, to be officially launched on Wednesday, will provide over the next 10 years written information on each species. When available, the site will also offer photographs, video, sound, location maps, and other multimedia information.

The site will provide valuable biodiversity and conservation information to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Through collaboration, all can increase the appreciation of the immense variety of life, the challenges to it, and ways to conserve biodiversity.

Gathering information about the world's species, their ecology and their behaviour on one site should have an equally catalytic effect on other parts of society. The site would be useful for policy makers and managing biological diversities as well as educators, school children, and even gardeners interested in their favourite flowers. It will be an educational tool for everyone.

Site visitors will be able to learn how the geographical range of a particular species changes over the years due to the effects of global warming. You can model possible future changes base upon different climate scenario, land use scenarios, and etc.

Such an ambitious website is possible only due to recent technological advances, especially in visualization and internet search engines.