{ "name": "Clio Online Museum reference library", "description": "A curated index of external reference resources for identifying and describing observations across the living, mineral, microscopic and astronomical world. Clio does not host or vouch for these resources; listing is not endorsement or partnership.", "licence": "The index itself is published by Clio Online Museum. Linked resources carry their own terms.", "generatedAt": "2026-09-16T08:18:21.852Z", "lastChecked": "2026-09-02", "totalResources": 94, "verification": { "curator": 0, "research": 94, "note": "checkedBy=research means the entry was checked against the maintainer's public pages on the stated date; it is not continuous monitoring. checkedBy=curator means a person reviewed the entry against the resource." }, "scope": { "note": "These are Clio's published subject areas, taken from the home page rather than invented here. An area is marked started only when at least one checked reference branch behind it is live. The branches overlap where the work overlaps — shared name and occurrence services support every biological field, while microscopy and molecular evidence remain distinct routes rather than being presented as interchangeable.", "areas": [ { "name": "Plants & trees", "disciplines": [ "Palynology", "Plants, fungi & lichens", "Biological names & occurrences" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Fungi", "disciplines": [ "Plants, fungi & lichens", "DNA & microbial identification", "Biological names & occurrences" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Insects & invertebrates", "disciplines": [ "Animals", "Biological names & occurrences", "DNA & microbial identification" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Microscopy", "disciplines": [ "Microscopic life & imaging", "DNA & microbial identification", "Palynology" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Geology", "disciplines": [ "Rocks, minerals & fossils" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Marine & freshwater life", "disciplines": [ "Marine & freshwater life", "Microscopic life & imaging", "Biological names & occurrences" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Birds", "disciplines": [ "Animals", "Biological names & occurrences" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Mammals", "disciplines": [ "Animals", "Biological names & occurrences" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Reptiles & amphibians", "disciplines": [ "Animals", "Biological names & occurrences" ], "status": "started" }, { "name": "Astronomy", "disciplines": [ "Astronomy & astrophotography" ], "status": "started" } ] }, "disciplines": [ { "id": "palynology", "name": "Palynology", "domain": "Botany & microscopy", "summary": "Pollen and spores: describing a grain precisely enough that someone else can check the determination.", "determinationCeiling": "Light microscopy usually supports family or genus, not species. The grasses are the standard illustration: Poaceae pollen is uniform enough that most of it cannot be separated below family, though a few cereals — rye and maize among them — have grains distinctive enough that a species name is defensible. That pattern is general. Palynologists classify conservatively because the morphological differences between related species are often too small to describe reliably, and a confident species name from a single grain is the most common way a pollen record becomes untrustworthy. It is also worth keeping the two ideas separate: a pollen type is a morphological category, and a plant taxon is a taxonomic one. Recording the characters you measured — and naming the ones you could not resolve — is worth more than a determination the evidence cannot carry.", "url": "/resources/palynology", "resources": [ { "id": "paldat", "name": "PalDat", "fullName": "PalDat — Palynological Database", "url": "https://www.paldat.org", "maintainer": "Division of Structural and Functional Botany, University of Vienna, supervised by AutPal", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "describe" ], "summary": "A palynological database in which an entry ideally carries a detailed grain description, LM, SEM and TEM images, images of the plant and flower, and the relevant literature.", "bestFor": "Checking a description against a carefully written one for the same taxon, and seeing the same grain across several imaging modalities at once.", "limits": "Coverage is entry-by-entry rather than comprehensive — roughly 4,650 species at last check — and not every taxon carries the full complement of description, images and literature. The electron-microscope images show detail you will not resolve on a light microscope, which makes them easy to over-read when matching your own view.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global, with strong European representation. Modern pollen and spores; roughly 4,650 species across 1,810 genera.", "licence": "Custom licence, not Creative Commons: educational and non-commercial use only, with the photographer and PalDat credited. Commercial use requires written permission.", "modalities": [ "LM", "LM-hydrated", "SEM", "TEM" ], "contributing": "Free online access to read; a free registration is required to publish data.", "api": false, "note": "In 2021 PalDat absorbed the PONET database, adding more than 2,000 datasets of high-resolution light micrographs of hydrated pollen. That hydrated-LM material is the closest published analogue to what you are actually seeing down the tube, and it is the part of PalDat to reach for first if you are matching against your own light-microscope view.", "links": [ { "label": "Illustrated terminology", "href": "https://www.paldat.org/terminology/book" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "pollen", "spores", "morphology", "hydrated", "reference images" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "paldat-links", "name": "PalDat link directory", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.paldat.org/info/links", "maintainer": "Division of Structural and Functional Botany, University of Vienna", "kind": "directory", "tasks": [ "compare", "learn" ], "summary": "PalDat's own curated set of links to other palynology sites, collections and projects.", "bestFor": "Finding the regional atlas or specialist collection that no general list will have thought to include.", "limits": "A link list maintained by a third party, with no stated review cadence. Expect dead links: at the last check it still listed the University of Arizona's pollen image catalogue, which returns a 404. Treat it as a set of leads to verify, not a vetted index.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global, weighted toward European institutions.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "Worth mining rather than duplicating. If you are looking for something this library does not yet list, start here before searching generally.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "directory", "links", "palynology" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "apsa", "name": "APSA", "fullName": "Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas", "url": "https://apsa.anu.edu.au", "maintainer": "PalaeoWorks Laboratory, Department of Archaeology & Natural History, The Australian National University", "kind": "reference-collection", "tasks": [ "compare" ], "summary": "Free online access to the largest pollen and spore collection in the Australasian region, with details on over 15,000 species, searchable or browsable by family.", "bestFor": "Australasian material, where a European or North American atlas will simply not contain the taxon you are looking at.", "limits": "Regional by design, and of limited use outside Australasia. The 15,000-species figure counts records with morphological and locality metadata — image coverage is considerably thinner, and it is normal to reach a fully described record that carries no photograph at all. Light microscopy only.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australasia. Over 15,000 species described. The physical collection is held at ANU in Canberra.", "licence": "CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, stated site-wide.", "modalities": [ "LM" ], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "The site is explicitly built for amateurs as well as professionals, which makes it an unusually good starting point. For contributors working on Australian material this is the first place to look, not the last.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "australia", "australasia", "regional", "atlas", "spores" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "global-pollen-project", "name": "Global Pollen Project", "fullName": null, "url": "https://globalpollenproject.org", "maintainer": "Oxford Long-Term Ecology Laboratory, University of Oxford; funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council", "kind": "reference-collection", "tasks": [ "compare" ], "summary": "An open platform serving two purposes: identifying unknown grains, and acting as a morphological reference collection.", "bestFor": "Focusing through a grain the way you would at the microscope, rather than reading a single fixed-focus photograph.", "limits": "Coverage depends on what the community has contributed, so it is uneven across taxa and regions, and it is light microscopy only — no electron micrographs. A crowd-sourced determination is evidence about a grain, not an authority on it. Development also appears to have slowed: at the last check some linked occurrence feeds had not refreshed since 2022, one headline counter on the front page read zero, and the public API is still labelled a preview.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global, community-contributed. Roughly 2,340 species across 2,771 digitised slides at last check.", "licence": "CC BY 4.0 for the Global Pollen Project reference dataset, as stated in its terms.", "modalities": [ "LM" ], "contributing": "Unknown grains can be uploaded for crowd-sourced identification, mediated by an identification model; once they satisfy it they pass into the master reference collection.", "api": false, "note": "Grains are presented as five-image z-stacks you can focus through, emulating a light microscope. That makes it the closest thing available to comparing your own view against a reference, rather than comparing your view against a photograph of one.", "links": [ { "label": "Master reference collection", "href": "https://globalpollenproject.org/Taxon" }, { "label": "Individual collections", "href": "https://globalpollenproject.org/Reference" }, { "label": "Quick start guide", "href": "https://globalpollenproject.org/Guide/Quick-Start" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "crowd-sourced", "z-stack", "identification", "open" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "neotoma", "name": "Neotoma", "fullName": "Neotoma Paleoecology Database", "url": "https://www.neotomadb.org", "maintainer": "An international, community-governed consortium of data stewards, funded by the US National Science Foundation", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "context" ], "summary": "A community-curated database covering fossil pollen among many other palaeoecological proxies, reachable through a map interface, an API, an R package and DOIs.", "bestFor": "Placing a fossil pollen record in its stratigraphic and regional context, and seeing how comparable assemblages have been reported.", "limits": "Palaeoecological rather than identification-focused — it will not help you name a grain. Coverage reflects where researchers have worked, which is heavily weighted toward North America and Europe.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global, unevenly. Fossil and sub-fossil material across many proxies.", "licence": "CC BY 4.0, stated in its data use and embargo policy.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": "Relevant to Clio less for identification than as a precedent: it is a working example of versioned, citable, community-curated records, which is the model Clio is building toward.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "fossil", "palaeoecology", "quaternary", "api", "sediment" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "gbif", "name": "GBIF", "fullName": "Global Biodiversity Information Facility", "url": "https://www.gbif.org", "maintainer": "Global Biodiversity Information Facility", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The international occurrence infrastructure and taxonomic backbone against which biodiversity records are commonly resolved.", "bestFor": "Checking that the plant name your determination lands on is current, and seeing where the taxon has actually been recorded.", "limits": "Not pollen-specific, and the backbone is an aggregation rather than a nomenclatural authority in its own right — for contested names, check a botanical authority as well. Occurrence coverage reflects collection effort, not true distribution.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global, all taxa.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": "Not pollen-specific, but it is the occurrence backbone the Global Pollen Project links against and a useful example of Darwin Core data in practice. Clio has no GBIF publishing connection.", "links": [ { "label": "Species search", "href": "https://www.gbif.org/species/search" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "taxonomy", "occurrence", "darwin core", "backbone", "api" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "illustrated-pollen-terminology", "name": "Illustrated Pollen Terminology", "fullName": "Halbritter et al., Illustrated Pollen Terminology, 2nd edition (2018)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71365-6", "maintainer": "Halbritter, Ulrich, Grímsson, Weber, Zetter, Hesse, Buchner, Svojtka & Frosch-Radivo; published by Springer", "kind": "glossary", "tasks": [ "describe", "learn" ], "summary": "A book-length illustrated treatment of pollen terminology, pairing each term with photographs of real grains showing the feature.", "bestFor": "Learning what a term actually looks like down the tube, rather than what its definition says.", "limits": "A terminology reference, not an identification key — it will teach you to describe a grain precisely but will not tell you which taxon it belongs to. Many illustrations are electron micrographs showing detail a light microscope cannot resolve.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global; over 300 terms with more than a thousand images.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [ "LM", "SEM", "TEM" ], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "Published under a CC BY 4.0 licence, so the full book is legitimately free to download and redistribute — unusual for a reference of this standing, and the single best starting point if you are buying nothing. Its terminology is also browsable through PalDat.", "links": [ { "label": "Free PDF and EPUB (OAPEN mirror)", "href": "https://archive.org/details/oapen-20.500.12657-23003" } ], "citation": "Halbritter, H. et al. (2018) Illustrated Pollen Terminology, 2nd ed. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71365-6", "tags": [ "terminology", "glossary", "morphology", "open access", "illustrated" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "punt-glossary", "name": "Glossary of pollen and spore terminology", "fullName": "Punt, Hoen, Blackmore, Nilsson & Le Thomas (2007)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2006.06.008", "maintainer": "Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (Elsevier); prepared by the IFPS working group on palynological terminology", "kind": "glossary", "tasks": [ "describe" ], "summary": "The community's standard glossary, defining roughly two thousand terms and attributing each to the author who introduced it.", "bestFor": "Settling exactly what a term means, and which author's sense of it a source is using, when two references appear to disagree.", "limits": "Paywalled on the publisher's site, and it is text rather than an illustrated guide — it defines terms precisely but shows you very little. Copies circulating on university teaching pages are not an official open-access release, so do not rely on one being there.", "access": "subscription", "coverage": "Global; pollen and spore morphology terminology.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "There is no formal TDWG or machine-readable ontology for pollen morphology. This glossary is the de facto standard by community convention, which is worth knowing if you are trying to map a description onto structured fields.", "links": [], "citation": "Punt, W., Hoen, P.P., Blackmore, S., Nilsson, S. & Le Thomas, A. (2007) Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 143: 1–81.", "tags": [ "terminology", "glossary", "standard", "morphology" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "cambridge-pollen-protocol", "name": "Cambridge pollen preparation protocol", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/facilities/laboratories/techniques/pollen/", "maintainer": "Department of Geography, University of Cambridge", "kind": "protocol", "tasks": [ "method" ], "summary": "A published laboratory protocol for extracting pollen from sediment, covering reagents, sequence and the safety regime each step requires.", "bestFor": "Understanding what a full preparation actually involves before deciding whether to attempt it or send the sample to a laboratory.", "limits": "Written for a staffed university laboratory operating under UK COSHH requirements. It assumes a fume hood, institutional training and supervision, and it is not adaptable to a home setting — several steps involve hydrofluoric acid.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Sediment-based pollen extraction.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "Read the safety section on this page before the method section. It is unusually explicit about the hazards, including the buddy system and calcium gluconate requirements for hydrofluoric acid work.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "protocol", "acetolysis", "sediment", "safety", "laboratory" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "beug-leitfaden", "name": "Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung", "fullName": "Beug, Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung für Mitteleuropa und angrenzende Gebiete", "url": "https://pfeil-verlag.de/publikationen/leitfaden-der-pollenbestimmung/", "maintainer": "Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich", "kind": "key", "tasks": [ "compare", "name" ], "summary": "The standard identification key for Central European pollen, with keys, plates and comparative tables.", "bestFor": "Working systematically to a determination on Central European material, rather than browsing images and hoping for a match.", "limits": "German-language only, and regionally scoped to Central Europe and adjacent areas — of limited use elsewhere. In print and priced accordingly rather than free.", "access": "print", "coverage": "Central Europe and adjacent regions. 542 pages, 120 plates.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "A worked key is a different tool from an image atlas: it forces you through the characters in order, which is exactly the discipline that stops a determination resting on one striking feature.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "key", "europe", "german", "identification", "print" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "faegri-iversen", "name": "Textbook of Pollen Analysis", "fullName": "Fægri & Iversen, Textbook of Pollen Analysis", "url": "https://archive.org/details/textbookofpollen0000faeg_x3x7", "maintainer": "Originally Munksgaard, later Blackwell and John Wiley & Sons; scanned copy hosted by the Internet Archive", "kind": "textbook", "tasks": [ "learn", "method" ], "summary": "The long-standing standard textbook of pollen analysis, covering laboratory technique alongside the morphological system used to describe grains.", "bestFor": "Building the underlying method properly, rather than assembling it from separate protocols and glossaries.", "limits": "The linked scan is the 1975 third edition and is borrow-only under controlled digital lending, not a free download; the 1989 fourth edition is the one usually cited and is available only in print. Laboratory safety practice has moved on considerably since either, so do not take its procedures as current guidance.", "access": "open-registration", "coverage": "General method; Northern European emphasis in its examples.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "A free Internet Archive account is required to borrow the scanned copy.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "textbook", "method", "classic", "faegri", "iversen" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "erdtman-introduction", "name": "An Introduction to Pollen Analysis", "fullName": "Erdtman (1943), An Introduction to Pollen Analysis", "url": "https://archive.org/details/introductiontopo029798mbp", "maintainer": "Chronica Botanica; scanned copy hosted by the Internet Archive", "kind": "textbook", "tasks": [ "learn" ], "summary": "Erdtman's introductory text, the source of much of the shape and aperture vocabulary still in use.", "bestFor": "Seeing where the descriptive system came from, and why it is built the way it is.", "limits": "Published in 1943. Its taxonomy, distribution data and laboratory safety practice are all long out of date, and it should be read for the origin of the concepts rather than as current guidance.", "access": "open", "coverage": "General introduction; historical.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "Freely downloadable in full, unlike most of the classic literature. Useful background, not a working reference.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "textbook", "historical", "erdtman", "open access" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "powo", "name": "POWO", "fullName": "Plants of the World Online", "url": "https://powo.science.kew.org/", "maintainer": "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name" ], "summary": "Kew's published taxonomy, synonymy, distribution and descriptions for the world's vascular plants, built on the World Checklist of Vascular Plants.", "bestFor": "Checking whether the plant name your determination landed on is currently accepted, and what it is a synonym of if not.", "limits": "Depth and currency still vary by plant group, and the taxonomy reflects Kew's editorial judgement rather than a multi-institution consensus — for a contested name, compare against World Flora Online. There is no documented public API.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global; vascular plants. Names and distributions refreshed weekly.", "licence": "Dataset metadata published under CC BY; images CC BY, © Trustees of RBG Kew.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "A pollen determination ends in a plant name, and a plant name is only useful if it is the accepted one. This is the step most often skipped.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "taxonomy", "nomenclature", "kew", "accepted names", "synonymy" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "world-flora-online", "name": "World Flora Online", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.worldfloraonline.org/", "maintainer": "The World Flora Online Consortium — founded by Missouri Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, now 50-plus institutions", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name" ], "summary": "An open, multi-institution consensus taxonomy for all known plants, published as a continuously curated backbone with citable twice-yearly snapshots.", "bestFor": "A name check that reflects agreement across institutions rather than one herbarium's position, and a versioned snapshot you can cite.", "limits": "Taxonomic depth depends on whether an active expert network covers the family in question; groups without one may still reflect the 2013 Plant List baseline it was seeded from.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global; all known plants. Citable snapshots cut on 21 June and 21 December each year.", "licence": "Portal content CC BY 4.0; the downloadable taxonomic backbone is released CC0 1.0.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": "This supersedes The Plant List, which is now offline entirely. If a guide or paper points you at theplantlist.org, it is out of date.", "links": [ { "label": "WFO Plant List (citable snapshots)", "href": "https://wfoplantlist.org/" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "taxonomy", "consensus", "nomenclature", "open data", "cc0" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "atlas-of-living-australia", "name": "Atlas of Living Australia", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.ala.org.au/", "maintainer": "Atlas of Living Australia — hosted by CSIRO, supported by NCRIS, and the Australian node of GBIF", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "Australia's national biodiversity platform: occurrence records, species profiles and imagery, with name matching against the Australian Plant Census.", "bestFor": "Confirming that a plant you have determined actually occurs where you found it, and resolving Australian plant names against the national authority.", "limits": "Australian in scope and in taxonomy — plant names resolve against the Australian Plant Census, so names outside an Australian context are handled less authoritatively here than in POWO or World Flora Online. Occurrence coverage reflects collecting effort, not true distribution.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australia; over 100 million occurrence records across thousands of datasets.", "licence": "CC BY 3.0 Australia.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": "Paired with APSA, this is the practical Australian workflow: match the grain against the regional atlas, then check the resulting name and its distribution here.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "australia", "occurrence", "taxonomy", "ala", "api" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "mander-punyasena-resolution", "name": "On the Taxonomic Resolution of Pollen and Spore Records", "fullName": "Mander & Punyasena (2014), International Journal of Plant Sciences 175(8)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1086/677680", "maintainer": "International Journal of Plant Sciences, University of Chicago Press", "kind": "journal", "tasks": [ "learn" ], "summary": "A review of why pollen and spore records characteristically describe plant life at a rank above species, and what drives that limit.", "bestFor": "Understanding why the determination ceiling exists rather than taking it on trust — and having something citable when you record a family-level identification.", "limits": "Paywalled, and it is an analysis of the problem rather than a guide to working around it. It will not help you identify a grain.", "access": "subscription", "coverage": "General; palynological taxonomic resolution.", "licence": "Not stated by the maintainer.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "The paper attributes conservative genus- and family-level classification to the difficulty of describing very small morphological differences between species with the available terminology. That is the honest reason a species name is usually not on offer.", "links": [], "citation": "Mander, L. & Punyasena, S.W. (2014) International Journal of Plant Sciences 175(8): 931–945. https://doi.org/10.1086/677680", "tags": [ "taxonomic resolution", "limits", "review", "evidence" ], "checked": "2026-09-01", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "biological-names-occurrences", "name": "Biological names & occurrences", "domain": "Living world · Cross-disciplinary", "summary": "The shared foundations for proposing a biological name, resolving synonyms and checking geographic plausibility.", "determinationCeiling": "A name match, computer-vision suggestion or mapped occurrence is not an identification. Aggregators inherit errors and uneven collecting effort from their source datasets, while accepted-name services do not inspect your evidence at all. Use these resources to generate and normalise a candidate, then support the determination with diagnostic characters, a specialist key, an expert opinion, a voucher or an appropriate sequence. Record which release, dataset and access date you used when the result matters.", "url": "/resources/biological-names-occurrences", "resources": [ { "id": "catalogue-of-life", "name": "Catalogue of Life", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.catalogueoflife.org/", "maintainer": "Catalogue of Life partnership, Species 2000 and contributing taxonomic specialists", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A global checklist joining expert taxonomic sources across the living world, with accepted names, synonyms and classification.", "bestFor": "Normalising a proposed name across kingdoms and tracing the specialist source from which the treatment came.", "limits": "Completeness and update cadence differ among taxonomic groups. The Extended Release is broader but less uniformly scrutinised than the expert-vetted Base Release, and neither identifies a specimen or observation.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global; animals, plants, fungi, prokaryotes and other living groups, with source-dependent coverage.", "licence": "CC BY 4.0 for Catalogue of Life releases unless a contributing source states otherwise.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": "Prefer the Base Release when you need the most consistently reviewed backbone; use the Extended Release when breadth matters, and retain the release name in your record.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "accepted names", "synonyms", "classification", "global", "taxonomy" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "gbif-species-search", "name": "GBIF Species Search", "fullName": "Global Biodiversity Information Facility species and occurrence infrastructure", "url": "https://www.gbif.org/species/search", "maintainer": "Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat and participating data publishers", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "An international taxonomic backbone connected to specimen, survey and citizen-science occurrence records and their source datasets.", "bestFor": "Checking synonymy, geographic plausibility and the provenance of published occurrence evidence.", "limits": "The backbone is a synthetic working taxonomy rather than the final authority for disputed names. Occurrence data can contain errors, duplicates and geographic or collecting bias; a point on the map is not proof of identity or true range.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global, all taxa; coverage and record quality vary greatly by region and source.", "licence": "Each occurrence dataset and media item carries its own CC0, CC BY or CC BY-NC licence; check the source record before reuse.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Browsing and API access are open. An account is required for mediated downloads and publishing occurs through recognised data publishers, not by adding a record directly to GBIF.", "api": true, "note": "Follow a record back to its dataset and institution. GBIF is most useful when it reveals the evidence chain, not when its map is treated as an answer.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "occurrence", "Darwin Core", "distribution", "specimens", "API" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "atlas-of-living-australia-bie", "name": "Atlas of Living Australia", "fullName": "Atlas of Living Australia — Biodiversity Information Explorer", "url": "https://bie.ala.org.au/", "maintainer": "Atlas of Living Australia, hosted by CSIRO and supported by Australia's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Australia's national biodiversity discovery layer, joining names, descriptions, images, maps, records and specialist sources.", "bestFor": "An Australian first pass: finding the relevant national flora, fauna list, collection record or identification resource and checking regional plausibility.", "limits": "It aggregates records of differing quality and taxonomic age. Citizen-science records need source-level scrutiny, sensitive localities may be generalised, and absence from the map does not establish absence in nature.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australia and its territories across the living world, with links to global and regional sources.", "licence": "ALA site material is generally CC BY 3.0 Australia; occurrence records and media retain the licence stated by each provider.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Browsing is open. An account is required for contributions and some personalised services.", "api": true, "note": "For Australian observations, use ALA as a route into the specialist source rather than stopping at the aggregated species page.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "distribution", "species pages", "occurrence", "collections" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "inaturalist-identification", "name": "iNaturalist", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.inaturalist.org/", "maintainer": "iNaturalist, an independent nonprofit organisation, and its contributor community", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "learn" ], "summary": "A professionally operated global observation platform combining photo and sound suggestions with visible community identifications and discussion.", "bestFor": "Generating candidates, finding identifiers who know the group, and seeing which visible characters changed a community determination.", "limits": "Computer vision and community consensus are evidence, not authority. Geographic, seasonal and observer biases affect suggestions; 'research grade' describes a platform state rather than independent verification, and difficult taxa still require specialist characters.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global, all observable living groups; strongest where the community and training data are dense.", "licence": "Observation data and media use contributor-selected licences; check each item before reuse. Platform code and exported datasets have separate terms.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "A free account is required to post observations, add identifications or participate in discussion.", "api": false, "note": "Use it to open an identification, not to close one. Preserve the suggested taxon, identifiers' comments and later changes as part of the determination history.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "citizen science", "community identification", "computer vision", "photographs", "sounds" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "biodiversity-heritage-library", "name": "Biodiversity Heritage Library", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/", "maintainer": "Biodiversity Heritage Library international consortium of natural-history, botanical, research and national libraries", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "context", "learn" ], "summary": "The world's largest open-access digital library of biodiversity literature and archives, with scientific-name indexing across historic and modern works.", "bestFor": "Finding original species descriptions, monographs, plates, historic observations and the literature behind a taxonomic claim.", "limits": "Much of the collection is historical: names, ranges, language and scientific conclusions may be outdated, and optical character recognition can misread names. A digitised page is a source to interpret, not a current determination.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global biodiversity literature from the fifteenth century to the present, with holdings determined by contributing libraries and rights availability.", "licence": "Metadata is CC0. Public-domain works remain public domain; in-copyright items and images carry the rights statement shown on the item.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": "Its taxonomic name finder is an unusually effective bridge from an accepted name to the literature and illustrations that established or revised it.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "literature", "original description", "historical", "plates", "open access" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "plants-fungi-lichens", "name": "Plants, fungi & lichens", "domain": "Living world · Field & herbarium", "summary": "Floristic keys, accepted-name services and specialist references for plants, bryophytes, fungi and lichens.", "determinationCeiling": "A photograph of habit or colour often supports a family, genus or species group, but many vascular plants need flowers or fruit, bryophytes need microscopic leaf and cell characters, fungi need spore and tissue characters, and lichens can require microscopy or chemical tests. Never infer edibility from a photograph or a database match. If the diagnostic structure, life stage, substrate or test is missing, report the highest defensible rank and state what would resolve it.", "url": "/resources/plants-fungi-lichens", "resources": [ { "id": "plants-of-the-world-online", "name": "Plants of the World Online", "fullName": null, "url": "https://powo.science.kew.org/", "maintainer": "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, using the World Checklist of Vascular Plants and contributing sources", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "compare", "context" ], "summary": "A global vascular-plant reference joining accepted names, synonyms, native ranges, descriptions, literature and extensive imagery.", "bestFor": "Checking the accepted global treatment of a vascular-plant name and comparing distribution and available herbarium imagery.", "limits": "It is not a universal diagnostic key. Descriptions and images are uneven among taxa, and regional floras can legitimately adopt a different current treatment.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global vascular plants; coverage depth varies by family and region.", "licence": "Kew and contributing-provider terms apply; check the rights statement attached to data and images before reuse.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "vascular plants", "taxonomy", "synonyms", "distribution", "Kew" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "australian-plant-census", "name": "Australian Plant Census & Australian Plant Name Index", "fullName": null, "url": "https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc", "maintainer": "Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria and Australian Biological Resources Study through the Australian National Species List", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "APC records nationally accepted Australian vascular-plant names; APNI provides the publication, usage and synonym trail behind them.", "bestFor": "Settling the accepted Australian name, then tracing alternative names and the literature in which each usage appeared.", "limits": "Neither service identifies an unknown plant or replaces a flora. Taxonomic concepts can change, so retain the service and access date with a determination.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian native and naturalised vascular plants and their nomenclatural history.", "licence": "Australian National Species List and Australian Government reuse terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [ { "label": "Australian Plant Name Index", "href": "https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apni" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "plant names", "nomenclature", "accepted taxonomy", "APNI" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "flora-of-australia", "name": "Flora of Australia", "fullName": null, "url": "https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa", "maintainer": "Australian Biological Resources Study, Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria and Atlas of Living Australia", "kind": "key", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name" ], "summary": "The current national platform for Australian plant descriptions, identification keys, illustrations, distributions and habitat accounts.", "bestFor": "Working from recorded morphology through an Australian key rather than matching a single photograph.", "limits": "Authoritative where a group has been treated, but the electronic flora is still expanding and some families or profiles remain incomplete.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian native and naturalised plants, with treatment depth varying by group.", "licence": "CC BY unless a page, image or contributing source states otherwise.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "flora", "identification key", "botany", "descriptions" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "plantnet-nsw-flora", "name": "PlantNET — NSW Flora Online", "fullName": null, "url": "https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/", "maintainer": "National Herbarium of New South Wales, Botanic Gardens of Sydney", "kind": "key", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "A detailed regional flora with interactive keys, descriptions, images, maps and herbarium-linked records.", "bestFor": "Identifying New South Wales plants from diagnostic characters and checking local distribution against herbarium evidence.", "limits": "Primarily New South Wales. State treatments can differ from the national census, and determinations outside the region need an appropriate local flora.", "access": "open", "coverage": "New South Wales vascular plants, including native and naturalised taxa.", "licence": "Botanic Gardens of Sydney citation and reuse terms apply; image rights can differ by contributor.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "New South Wales", "flora", "herbarium", "keys", "distribution" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "bryophytes-of-australia", "name": "Bryophytes of Australia", "fullName": null, "url": "https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/boa", "maintainer": "Australian Biological Resources Study and Atlas of Living Australia, with specialist contributors", "kind": "key", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name" ], "summary": "National descriptions, habitat, distribution and interactive keys for Australian mosses, liverworts and hornworts.", "bestFor": "Moving an Australian bryophyte observation from growth form toward a defensible taxon using field and microscopic characters.", "limits": "Some profiles are explicitly partial, and many species cannot be resolved reliably without microscopy and a suitable technical flora.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian bryophytes; descriptive coverage is still being developed.", "licence": "CC BY unless the profile, image or source states otherwise.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [ { "label": "Australian bryophyte names", "href": "https://moss.biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "bryophytes", "mosses", "liverworts", "Australia", "microscopy" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "index-species-fungorum", "name": "Index Fungorum & Species Fungorum", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.indexfungorum.org/", "maintainer": "Index Fungorum Partnership and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "Linked global services for fungal nomenclature, publication details and an accepted-name consensus, including lichenised fungi.", "bestFor": "Separating the publication history of a fungal name from the currently accepted taxonomic treatment.", "limits": "A nomenclatural record is not an identification, and a name present in Index Fungorum is not necessarily the accepted one. Visual and ecological evidence is limited.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global fungi, including lichenised fungi, with source-dependent taxonomic depth.", "licence": "Kew and database terms apply; no blanket licence for all linked content is stated.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [ { "label": "Species Fungorum", "href": "https://www.speciesfungorum.org/" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "fungi", "lichen", "nomenclature", "accepted names", "Kew" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "australian-fungi-list", "name": "Australian Fungi List & Fungi Name Index", "fullName": null, "url": "https://fungi.biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/search/taxonomy", "maintainer": "Australian Biological Resources Study and Australian fungal curators through the Australian National Species List", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "Australia's current accepted fungal classification connected to the national nomenclatural and bibliographic trail.", "bestFor": "Checking which fungal name Australia currently accepts and tracing the usages and synonyms behind it.", "limits": "It is a name service, not an image key. A large proportion of Australia's fungal diversity remains undescribed, so a missing species may reflect a real knowledge gap.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian fungi; taxonomic and nomenclatural records rather than comprehensive identification media.", "licence": "Australian National Species List and Australian Government reuse terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [ { "label": "Australian Fungi Name Index", "href": "https://fungi.biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/search/names" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "fungi", "accepted names", "nomenclature", "NSL" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "australian-lichen-checklist", "name": "Australian Lichen Checklist & Name Index", "fullName": null, "url": "https://lichen.biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/search/taxonomy", "maintainer": "Australian Biological Resources Study through the Australian National Species List", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The current national destination for accepted Australian lichen names and their nomenclatural records.", "bestFor": "Verifying the accepted Australian name after morphology, microscopy or chemistry has produced a candidate.", "limits": "It provides little visual identification help. Many lichens require microscopic structures or chemical characters that a field photograph cannot show.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian lichens and lichenicolous fungi.", "licence": "Australian National Species List and Australian Government reuse terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [ { "label": "Australian Lichen Name Index", "href": "https://lichen.biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/search/names" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "lichens", "nomenclature", "accepted names", "NSL" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "british-lichen-lgbi3", "name": "Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland, third edition", "fullName": null, "url": "https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/identification/lgbi3", "maintainer": "British Lichen Society editorial board and specialist authors", "kind": "key", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name", "learn" ], "summary": "Free specialist family treatments and identification keys progressively replacing the older printed British and Irish lichen flora.", "bestFor": "Working through technical lichen characters with a current specialist treatment rather than relying on colour photographs.", "limits": "Regional and still incomplete. The treatments are technical and often require microscopy or chemical tests; the older LGBI2 genus key is acknowledged as outdated.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Great Britain and Ireland; family treatments are released progressively.", "licence": "British Lichen Society and individual publication terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "lichens", "Britain", "Ireland", "technical key", "microscopy" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "fungimap", "name": "Fungimap", "fullName": null, "url": "https://fungimap.org.au/", "maintainer": "Fungimap Inc., an Australian nonprofit organisation and registered charity", "kind": "society", "tasks": [ "compare", "learn", "context" ], "summary": "Australian field guides, identification support and mapped observations connecting skilled amateurs, mycologists and public recording platforms.", "bestFor": "Learning the field characters of conspicuous Australian macrofungi and finding an appropriate expert community.", "limits": "Strongest for visible macrofungi rather than microfungi. Community identifications still need diagnostic support, and the resource must never be used to infer edibility or safety.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australia, especially conspicuous and target macrofungi.", "licence": "Site, publication and contributed-media terms vary; check the item before reuse.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public participation is routed through Fungimap activities and linked observation platforms; account requirements depend on the activity.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "macrofungi", "community", "field identification", "citizen science" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "animals", "name": "Animals", "domain": "Living world · Field observation", "summary": "Field, image, sound and taxonomic references for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and other terrestrial animals.", "determinationCeiling": "A clear field photograph can support species in a distinctive, well-covered group, but many invertebrates need microscopy or dissection, birds can require sound or plumage-age context, and reptiles and amphibians may need scale counts, calls or locality-specific keys. Computer vision and community agreement do not lift that ceiling. If the distinguishing structure, call, life stage or view is absent, record a family, genus or species group and name the missing evidence.", "url": "/resources/animals", "resources": [ { "id": "australian-faunal-directory", "name": "Australian Faunal Directory", "fullName": null, "url": "https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/home", "maintainer": "Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "Australia's primary national compilation of accepted animal names, synonyms, classification, distribution and bibliography.", "bestFor": "Checking the accepted Australian name and taxonomic placement after an animal has been identified from appropriate evidence.", "limits": "Australia and its territories only. Coverage depth and update date differ among groups, and image or identification-key support is limited.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian animals across terrestrial, freshwater and marine groups.", "licence": "Australian Government citation and reuse terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "fauna", "accepted names", "synonyms", "taxonomy" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "mammal-diversity-database", "name": "Mammal Diversity Database", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.mammaldiversity.org/", "maintainer": "American Society of Mammalogists Biodiversity Committee", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A current global mammal checklist with accepted species, synonyms, higher classification, ranges and downloadable releases.", "bestFor": "Verifying a mammal name against a release maintained by specialist mammalogists.", "limits": "Taxonomy-focused, with limited help identifying an unknown from tracks, photographs, hair or skeletal material. Living and recently extinct mammals are its core scope.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global living and recently extinct mammals.", "licence": "Release and dataset terms are stated with each Mammal Diversity Database download; cite the release used.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "mammals", "taxonomy", "checklist", "range", "global" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "padil", "name": "PaDIL", "fullName": "Pest and Disease Image Library", "url": "https://www.padil.gov.au/", "maintainer": "Plant Health Australia with Australian government, museum and diagnostic partners", "kind": "atlas", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare" ], "summary": "High-quality diagnostic image sets and comparison tools for invertebrates, pathogens and other organisms of biosecurity significance.", "bestFor": "Comparing a suspect pest or vector against expert-prepared views of diagnostic structures and close lookalikes.", "limits": "Biosecurity-oriented rather than a complete fauna, and its presence in the library does not establish regulatory status. Some identifications still require a diagnostic laboratory.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australia-focused biosecurity taxa with international pest and disease coverage.", "licence": "PaDIL site and contributed-image terms apply; check the item before reuse.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public browsing is open; contributor functions require authorisation.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "biosecurity", "diagnostic images", "invertebrates", "pests", "lookalikes" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "antweb", "name": "AntWeb", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.antweb.org/", "maintainer": "California Academy of Sciences and an international network of ant taxonomists and collection curators", "kind": "reference-collection", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "A global ant reference collection with standardised specimen images, type material, regional lists and taxonomic records.", "bestFor": "Comparing an ant specimen from several standard views and locating type or curated collection material for the candidate taxon.", "limits": "Restricted to ants, and many determinations require microscopic characters or a regional key. Image matching alone is especially weak in species-rich genera.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global Formicidae, with uneven digitisation among regions and collections.", "licence": "Specimen data and many images are CC BY; retain the photographer, specimen and collection attribution shown on each record.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "ants", "specimen images", "types", "Formicidae", "collections" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "world-spider-catalog", "name": "World Spider Catalog", "fullName": null, "url": "https://wsc.nmbe.ch/", "maintainer": "Natural History Museum Bern and specialist spider taxonomists", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The current global authority for accepted spider names, synonyms, literature and brief distributions.", "bestFor": "Checking spider nomenclature and tracing the taxonomic literature after morphology has produced a candidate.", "limits": "Spiders only and not a visual key. Geographic detail is brief, and species-level determination commonly requires adult genital morphology.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global Araneae.", "licence": "World Spider Catalog terms apply; API and bulk use are controlled separately.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "spiders", "Araneae", "taxonomy", "literature", "synonyms" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "merlin-bird-id", "name": "Merlin Bird ID", "fullName": null, "url": "https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/", "maintainer": "Cornell Lab of Ornithology", "kind": "software", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "learn" ], "summary": "A guided mobile identification tool using location, date, description, photographs and supported sound recordings with a global bird reference library.", "bestFor": "Generating a short list from a field observation or recording and learning which visible or acoustic features separate candidates.", "limits": "Mobile-first, with regional gaps in Sound ID. Photo and sound suggestions are model outputs that require confirmation against field marks, calls, range and season.", "access": "open-registration", "coverage": "Global bird reference coverage; assisted features and sound models vary by region.", "licence": "Cornell Lab terms apply; reference media retain contributor and Macaulay Library rights.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "The app is free; email or account confirmation is required for continued use and contribution-linked features.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "birds", "sound identification", "photo identification", "mobile", "Cornell" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "birdlife-australia-profiles", "name": "BirdLife Australia Bird Profiles", "fullName": null, "url": "https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profiles/", "maintainer": "BirdLife Australia", "kind": "atlas", "tasks": [ "compare", "learn", "context" ], "summary": "Searchable Australian bird profiles using shape, size, colour, habitat, family and state, with calls and conservation context where available.", "bestFor": "Narrowing a photographed Australian bird and checking habitat, range and call against a conservation organisation's account.", "limits": "The profile collection is still growing and does not cover every Australian bird. It is a visual aid rather than a complete diagnostic key.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian birds; profile depth and taxon coverage vary.", "licence": "BirdLife Australia and individual media rights apply; no blanket open-media licence is stated.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "birds", "Australia", "field marks", "calls", "conservation" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "reptile-database", "name": "The Reptile Database", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.reptile-database.org/", "maintainer": "Peter Uetz, Jakob Hallermann and specialist contributors", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "compare", "context" ], "summary": "A current global reference for living reptile taxonomy, synonyms, distributions, literature and many images.", "bestFor": "Checking a reptile name and distribution, then following the literature and images attached to the taxon.", "limits": "It is not a universal diagnostic key. Images can narrow candidates but rarely replace scale counts, measurements, locality-specific literature or examination of the animal.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global living reptiles.", "licence": "Database and contributed-image terms apply; no blanket open-media licence is stated.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "reptiles", "taxonomy", "distribution", "images", "global" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "amphibian-species-world", "name": "Amphibian Species of the World", "fullName": "Amphibian Species of the World 6.2, an Online Reference", "url": "https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/", "maintainer": "Darrel Frost, American Museum of Natural History", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A global reference for amphibian names, nomenclatural history, country distributions and taxonomic literature.", "bestFor": "Verifying an amphibian name and tracing its synonymy and original or revising literature.", "limits": "Taxonomy-heavy rather than a field or call-identification tool, with limited visual support. Country-level distribution cannot confirm a local observation.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global living amphibians.", "licence": "All rights reserved by the maintainer; citation is required for scholarly use.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "amphibians", "taxonomy", "nomenclature", "distribution", "AMNH" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "frogid", "name": "FrogID", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.frogid.net.au/", "maintainer": "Australian Museum", "kind": "software", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "An Australian citizen-science app that identifies frogs from georeferenced call recordings reviewed by frog experts.", "bestFor": "Turning a good Australian frog-call recording into a reviewable, expert-checked candidate with date and place attached.", "limits": "Australia only and call-based. It cannot identify silent animals or image-only records, and overlapping callers or poor recordings may remain unresolved.", "access": "open-registration", "coverage": "Australian frogs and their calls.", "licence": "Australian Museum and FrogID terms apply to records, audio and derived data.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "A free account and the mobile app are required to submit recordings.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "frogs", "Australia", "calls", "expert review", "citizen science" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "aquatic-life", "name": "Marine & freshwater life", "domain": "Living world · Aquatic observation", "summary": "Names, images, keys and occurrence evidence for fishes, aquatic invertebrates, algae and marine biodiversity.", "determinationCeiling": "Distinctive adult fishes and large invertebrates can sometimes be identified from good in-water photographs, but many larvae, plankton, algae and cryptic species require counts, microscopy, internal anatomy or molecular evidence. Distribution records and image galleries narrow a candidate list; they do not verify it. If a required fin ray, appendage, valve character, reproductive structure or sequence is absent, stop at the rank the visible evidence supports.", "url": "/resources/aquatic-life", "resources": [ { "id": "worms", "name": "WoRMS", "fullName": "World Register of Marine Species", "url": "https://www.marinespecies.org/", "maintainer": "International specialist editorial boards, hosted by the Flanders Marine Institute and supported by LifeWatch Belgium", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "An expert-controlled global register of accepted marine names, synonyms, classification, sources and durable Aphia identifiers.", "bestFor": "Verifying the accepted name and taxonomic placement of a marine organism after diagnostic evidence has produced a candidate.", "limits": "Primarily nomenclatural rather than a visual key. Images, distributions and identification tools are uneven among groups, and whole-database redistribution has additional conditions.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global marine taxa, with specialist subregisters for many groups.", "licence": "WoRMS data are broadly available under CC BY with citation; media and some source records carry separate terms.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "marine", "taxonomy", "AphiaID", "synonyms", "web services" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "fishbase", "name": "FishBase", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.fishbase.org/search.php", "maintainer": "FishBase Consortium and Quantitative Aquatics", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "A global finfish database with names, morphology, photographs, distributions, ecology, references and a substantial set of regional keys.", "bestFor": "Comparing finfish morphology, checking meristic characters and following a regional key or species account.", "limits": "Finfishes rather than all aquatic life. Data depth and interactive-key coverage vary, and photographs do not replace counts or examination in difficult groups.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global marine and freshwater finfishes.", "licence": "Database content is CC BY-NC 4.0; images retain separately stated rights.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "fishes", "finfish", "morphology", "keys", "distribution" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "fishes-of-australia", "name": "Fishes of Australia", "fullName": null, "url": "https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/", "maintainer": "Museums Victoria for OzFishNet and Australian museum partners", "kind": "key", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Authoritative Australian fish accounts, images, distributions, a picture-based family finder and an interactive freshwater-fish key.", "bestFor": "Identifying Australian marine or freshwater fishes and checking the candidate against museum-supported range and diagnostic information.", "limits": "Geographically restricted to Australia, and key depth differs among groups. Some identifications still require counts or specialist examination.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian marine and freshwater fishes.", "licence": "CC BY 3.0 Australia unless a page or image states otherwise.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "fishes", "family finder", "freshwater key", "museum" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "sealifebase", "name": "SeaLifeBase", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.sealifebase.org/", "maintainer": "SeaLifeBase team, FishBase Consortium and Quantitative Aquatics partners", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "A global companion to FishBase for aquatic organisms other than finfishes, with species pages, images, maps, ecology and references.", "bestFor": "Finding baseline information and comparison material for marine invertebrates and other non-finfish aquatic groups.", "limits": "Coverage and depth are much less complete than the diversity it represents. It is not a consistent diagnostic key, and accepted names should be checked in the relevant specialist register.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global non-finfish marine and freshwater organisms, uneven by group.", "licence": "Database content is CC BY-NC 4.0; images retain separately stated rights.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "marine invertebrates", "aquatic life", "ecology", "images", "distribution" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "obis", "name": "OBIS", "fullName": "Ocean Biodiversity Information System", "url": "https://obis.org/", "maintainer": "Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO through its International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange programme and the OBIS node network", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "context" ], "summary": "The world's largest open-access infrastructure for marine biodiversity occurrences, measurements and associated environmental data.", "bestFor": "Checking marine geographic, depth and temporal plausibility and tracing an occurrence back to its survey, collection or monitoring dataset.", "limits": "An occurrence aggregator, not an identification key. Coverage follows sampling effort, records can inherit source errors, and sensitive or culturally governed data require CARE as well as FAIR handling.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global marine biodiversity from a network of regional and thematic nodes.", "licence": "Datasets carry CC0, CC BY or CC BY-NC licences; verify and cite every contributing dataset used. OBIS-derived information products are CC0.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "marine occurrence", "UNESCO", "Darwin Core", "ocean", "API" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "algaebase", "name": "AlgaeBase", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.algaebase.org/", "maintainer": "AlgaeBase team associated with the University of Galway and its international contributor network", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "compare", "context" ], "summary": "A global reference for algal taxonomy, nomenclature, distribution, literature and selected images across marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats.", "bestFor": "Resolving algal names and checking synonyms and distribution after morphology or sequence evidence has produced a candidate.", "limits": "A work in progress reflecting editorial taxonomic opinions. It is not an interactive key, image and verification coverage are uneven, and bulk reuse is controlled.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global algae, including cyanobacteria and diatoms, across marine, freshwater and terrestrial settings.", "licence": "Browser use is open; database, bulk-data and image reuse are subject to AlgaeBase and contributor licensing.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "algae", "taxonomy", "nomenclature", "distribution", "phycology" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "microscopic-life", "name": "Microscopic life & imaging", "domain": "Living world · Microscopy", "summary": "Imaging methods, primary image archives and specialist references for cells, microbes, algae, protists and diatoms.", "determinationCeiling": "Light microscopy can support a useful morphological description and, for some well-characterised groups, a genus or species. Many bacteria, small protists, diatoms and fungal structures need culture, electron microscopy, chemical or molecular evidence for a defensible species determination. Repository images are comparative evidence rather than a key, and an image-model label is a candidate. State preparation and optical limits, preserve scale and focus depth, and stop where the visible characters stop.", "url": "/resources/microscopic-life", "resources": [ { "id": "microscopyu", "name": "MicroscopyU", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.microscopyu.com/", "maintainer": "Nikon Instruments", "kind": "course", "tasks": [ "method", "learn", "describe" ], "summary": "A substantial teaching reference for optical principles, contrast methods, fluorescence, digital imaging and common artefacts.", "bestFor": "Understanding what the microscope and contrast method can resolve before interpreting a feature as biological.", "limits": "Vendor-authored teaching material, not a taxonomic key, safety course or substitute for the operating manual and training for a particular instrument.", "access": "open", "coverage": "General light and fluorescence microscopy, digital imaging and selected advanced methods.", "licence": "Copyright Nikon Instruments; reading is open but content is not blanket-licensed for reuse.", "modalities": [ "LM" ], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "optics", "contrast", "fluorescence", "artefacts", "training" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "myscope-training", "name": "MyScope", "fullName": null, "url": "https://myscope.training/", "maintainer": "Microscopy Australia and Australian university partners", "kind": "course", "tasks": [ "method", "learn" ], "summary": "Structured training modules and simulators for light, electron and cryogenic microscopy, preparation, analysis and image ethics.", "bestFor": "Learning the workflow and vocabulary of an imaging method before entering a supervised facility or documenting a record.", "limits": "Simulators and online modules do not replace facility-specific training, risk assessment or supervised competence with a real instrument and specimen.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Light microscopy, SEM, TEM, cryo-EM, focused ion beam and associated preparation and analysis topics.", "licence": "CC BY-SA 4.0 unless a module states otherwise.", "modalities": [ "LM", "SEM", "TEM" ], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "training", "SEM", "TEM", "image ethics" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "bioimage-archive", "name": "BioImage Archive", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/bioimage-archive/", "maintainer": "EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "context", "method" ], "summary": "A public archive for publication-associated biological image data across scales and modalities, with dataset-level metadata and accessions.", "bestFor": "Finding primary image evidence behind a paper and comparing methods, metadata and source files rather than screenshots.", "limits": "A repository rather than an identification key. Taxonomic depth, metadata completeness, file format, licence and dataset size vary by accession.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Biological imaging from molecules and cells to organisms across many modalities.", "licence": "Each dataset states its own licence and terms; check the accession before reuse.", "modalities": [ "LM", "SEM", "TEM" ], "contributing": "Public discovery and download are open; deposition requires an account and controlled data have additional access conditions.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "REMBI", "primary data", "images", "repository", "provenance" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "image-data-resource", "name": "Image Data Resource", "fullName": null, "url": "https://idr.openmicroscopy.org/", "maintainer": "Open Microscopy Environment project with University of Dundee and EMBL-EBI participation", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "method", "context" ], "summary": "A curated, searchable collection of published imaging datasets using OME standards and structured annotations, often open to reanalysis.", "bestFor": "Exploring a well-annotated image dataset in the browser and understanding how image, phenotype and experiment metadata connect.", "limits": "Selective rather than taxonomically comprehensive, with substantial cell, tissue and screening content. Some legacy images have reduced browser functionality.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Curated biological imaging studies across organisms, cells, tissues and experimental screens.", "licence": "Dataset rights and citations are stated per study; software and OME components have separate open-source licences.", "modalities": [ "LM", "SEM", "TEM" ], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "OME", "annotations", "reanalysis", "phenotype", "API" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "empiar", "name": "EMPIAR", "fullName": "Electron Microscopy Public Image Archive", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/empiar/", "maintainer": "EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "method", "context" ], "summary": "An archive of raw two-dimensional electron micrographs, tilt series, tomograms and volume-EM data underlying published work.", "bestFor": "Inspecting primary electron-microscopy evidence and the acquisition context behind a reconstruction or published figure.", "limits": "Files can be enormous and require specialist software. Much of the archive is structural cryo-EM rather than an organism-identification atlas.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Electron microscopy datasets across structural, cellular and organismal biology.", "licence": "Public EMPIAR datasets are released under CC0; citation of the accession and associated publication remains expected.", "modalities": [ "SEM", "TEM" ], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "electron microscopy", "raw data", "tomography", "cryo-EM", "CC0" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "nordic-microalgae", "name": "Nordic Microalgae", "fullName": null, "url": "https://nordicmicroalgae.org/", "maintainer": "Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute through the Swedish Biodiversity Data Infrastructure, with institutional contributors", "kind": "atlas", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "An illustrated reference for Nordic phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, diatoms, dinoflagellates, ciliates and related protists.", "bestFor": "Comparing a microalgal or plankton observation with curated regional images and occurrence context tied to current names.", "limits": "Nordic emphasis and uneven image coverage. Instrument-specific images may not resemble compound light microscopy, and contributed material varies.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Nordic marine and freshwater microalgae, cyanobacteria and protists.", "licence": "Media licences vary by contributor; check each record. API data follow the terms stated by the service.", "modalities": [ "LM", "SEM", "photograph" ], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "microalgae", "plankton", "Nordic", "protists", "images" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "ecotaxa", "name": "EcoTaxa", "fullName": null, "url": "https://ecotaxa.obs-vlfr.fr/", "maintainer": "Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, Sorbonne University and CNRS", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "A large environment for plankton and particle images from ZooScan, UVP, FlowCam, PlanktoScope and related systems, with annotation and machine-assisted classification.", "bestFor": "Comparing instrument-specific plankton images at scale and seeing how experts organise categories within a project.", "limits": "Annotations vary by project, machine predictions are not determinations, and only public projects are visible. Instrument appearance may differ markedly from a compound microscope.", "access": "open-registration", "coverage": "Global project-contributed plankton and particle imagery, weighted toward oceanographic imaging systems.", "licence": "Project and image licences vary; inspect the project terms before reuse.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Visitors can inspect public material; a free account and project permission are needed for annotation and additional data.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "plankton", "machine learning", "FlowCam", "ZooScan", "annotation" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "diatoms-north-america", "name": "Diatoms of North America", "fullName": null, "url": "https://diatoms.org/", "maintainer": "Collaborative specialist editorial board with institutional and United States agency support", "kind": "key", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name", "learn" ], "summary": "Illustrated genus and species accounts with morphology, terminology, ecology, original references and a practical visual identification system.", "bestFor": "Learning which valve characters to measure and comparing a North American diatom against calibrated specialist imagery.", "limits": "North American emphasis and explicitly a work in progress. Taxonomic concepts continue to change, and ecological interpretations may not transfer to other regions.", "access": "open", "coverage": "North American freshwater and selected other diatoms, expanding by specialist contribution.", "licence": "Content is copyrighted with page-specific citation and reuse conditions.", "modalities": [ "LM", "SEM" ], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "diatoms", "valves", "North America", "morphology", "key" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "diatombase", "name": "DiatomBase", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.diatombase.org/", "maintainer": "DiatomBase specialist editors on the WoRMS infrastructure hosted by the Flanders Marine Institute", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A global nomenclatural backbone for living and fossil marine and freshwater diatoms, with synonyms, types, literature and selected images.", "bestFor": "Validating the name reached through valve morphology or sequence evidence and tracing its type and literature.", "limits": "Primarily nomenclature, not a complete visual key. The service reports substantial unchecked and incompletely illustrated content.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global living and fossil diatoms across marine and freshwater habitats.", "licence": "WoRMS/DiatomBase and record-level terms apply; media licences vary.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "diatoms", "nomenclature", "types", "fossil", "WoRMS" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "protisten-de", "name": "Protisten.de", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.protisten.de/", "maintainer": "Wolfgang Bettighofer, independent microscopy author", "kind": "atlas", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "learn" ], "summary": "A rigorously documented independent atlas of living protists with microscopy, scale, morphology and sampling information.", "bestFor": "Comparing the movement and living morphology of a protist against carefully scaled, professionally made micrographs.", "limits": "An individually maintained, mainly European resource rather than a peer-reviewed database. Taxonomic coverage is selective and every determination still needs specialist corroboration.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Mainly European freshwater and other free-living protists, selected by the author.", "licence": "Many records are CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; verify the licence shown on the individual item.", "modalities": [ "LM" ], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": "Included as the library's independent exception because scale, preparation and living morphology are documented unusually well; that does not turn it into a nomenclatural authority.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "protists", "living microscopy", "independent", "freshwater", "Europe" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "molecular-identification", "name": "DNA & microbial identification", "domain": "Living world · Laboratory & sequence", "summary": "Voucher-linked barcodes, curated marker databases, name authorities and strain references for sequence-assisted identification.", "determinationCeiling": "Percentage identity alone never proves species. Short queries, conserved markers, contamination, mixed templates, sequencing errors and mislabelled references can all produce a persuasive wrong match. Report marker, primers, sequence quality, search service, database and release, alignment coverage, identity, gaps, top alternatives and reference provenance. A species determination needs a marker known to resolve that group plus agreement with morphology, ecology or voucher evidence; otherwise report the supported clade or operational unit.", "url": "/resources/molecular-identification", "resources": [ { "id": "bold-systems", "name": "BOLD Systems", "fullName": "Barcode of Life Data Systems", "url": "https://www.boldsystems.org/", "maintainer": "Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, with the International Barcode of Life community", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "A cross-taxon platform joining standard barcode sequences to specimen, voucher, image, collection and taxonomy metadata with identification engines.", "bestFor": "Matching an appropriate barcode marker against specimen-linked references and inspecting the evidence behind the closest records.", "limits": "Coverage and label quality are uneven, private records can make a result hard to reproduce, and Barcode Index Numbers are operational clusters rather than formally described species.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global animals, plants, fungi and other groups using supported barcode loci.", "licence": "Record, sequence and media rights vary by contributor and project; check every reference record before reuse.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public search and identification are free. An account is required for workbench, project and submission functions.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "DNA barcoding", "voucher", "BIN", "sequence matching", "specimens" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "ncbi-blast", "name": "NCBI BLAST", "fullName": "National Center for Biotechnology Information Basic Local Alignment Search Tool", "url": "https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi", "maintainer": "National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health", "kind": "software", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "General nucleotide and protein sequence-similarity searching across curated and broad public databases, with accession-level results.", "bestFor": "Tracing a query to candidate accessions and publications when no more appropriate specialist identification service covers the marker.", "limits": "Similarity is not identity. Broad databases contain submitter-supplied labels, contaminants and uneven curation, and no universal percentage threshold establishes a species.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global public nucleotide and protein sequence collections across all organisms.", "licence": "Public sequence records follow NCBI and source-database policies; cite accessions and the database searched.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [ { "label": "RefSeq Targeted Loci", "href": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/refseq/targetedloci/" } ], "citation": null, "tags": [ "sequence similarity", "accessions", "GenBank", "RefSeq", "alignment" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "silva-rrna", "name": "SILVA", "fullName": "SILVA ribosomal RNA database", "url": "https://www.arb-silva.de/", "maintainer": "SILVA team at DSMZ Digital Diversity", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Quality-controlled, aligned small- and large-subunit ribosomal RNA reference datasets with taxonomy, browsers and downloads.", "bestFor": "Broad 16S, 18S, 23S or 28S placement using a release that can be recorded and reproduced.", "limits": "Reference and Parc subsets have different curation levels; not every record is type-validated, eukaryotic curation is uneven and taxonomy changes between releases.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Cellular life across bacterial, archaeal and eukaryotic ribosomal RNA loci.", "licence": "CC BY 4.0; cite SILVA and the exact release used.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "16S", "18S", "rRNA", "alignment", "release" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "unite-fungal-its", "name": "UNITE", "fullName": null, "url": "https://unite.ut.ee/", "maintainer": "UNITE community-governed collaboration centred on the University of Tartu", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Curated fungal nuclear ITS references, expert annotations, reference sequences and DOI-bearing Species Hypotheses with analysis-ready releases.", "bestFor": "Fungal ITS assignment with a versioned reference set and operational hypotheses that can be cited precisely.", "limits": "Species Hypotheses are threshold-dependent clusters rather than formal species. ITS resolution differs among clades and underlying public labels can still be imperfect.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global fungi and selected other eukaryotes represented by ITS sequences.", "licence": "CC BY for UNITE releases; retain the release DOI and attribution.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Browsing and downloads are open; registration is used for advanced PlutoF curation tools.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "fungi", "ITS", "Species Hypotheses", "curated sequences", "DOI" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "pr2-protists", "name": "PR²", "fullName": "Protist Ribosomal Reference database", "url": "https://pr2-database.org/", "maintainer": "International protist specialists coordinated through Station Biologique de Roscoff, CNRS and EukRef partners", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "An expert-curated 18S ribosomal RNA reference taxonomy for protists with downloadable releases and metabarcoding support.", "bestFor": "Protist-specific 18S assignment using a curated taxonomic framework rather than a broad unfiltered sequence archive.", "limits": "A sequence reference rather than morphology; 18S often cannot resolve species, environmental labels can be uncertain and expert coverage varies among clades.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global protists, with selected fungi, animals and plants retained for context.", "licence": "Open releases; cite PR² and record the database version used.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "protists", "18S", "metabarcoding", "taxonomy", "EukRef" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "bacdive", "name": "BacDive", "fullName": "Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase", "url": "https://bacdive.dsmz.de/", "maintainer": "Leibniz Institute DSMZ — German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Strain-level bacterial and archaeal taxonomy, morphology, physiology, cultivation, isolation, biosafety and sequence links, including type strains.", "bestFor": "Checking whether a microbial candidate agrees with a documented strain's provenance, morphology, physiology and culture conditions.", "limits": "Not a visual identification key. Culture-derived phenotypes can differ from environmental observations, uncultured diversity is underrepresented and record completeness varies.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global bacterial and archaeal strains held by culture collections and represented in the literature.", "licence": "CC BY 4.0 for BacDive data.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Browsing is open; some programmatic services require free registration.", "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "bacteria", "archaea", "strains", "type strain", "culture" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "lpsn", "name": "LPSN", "fullName": "List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature", "url": "https://lpsn.dsmz.de/", "maintainer": "DSMZ Digital Diversity", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A reference for valid publication status, nomenclatural history, synonyms, type strains and literature under the prokaryotic nomenclature code.", "bestFor": "Checking whether a bacterial or archaeal name is validly published and identifying its nomenclatural type strain.", "limits": "Nomenclature is not identification and LPSN is not an official universal biological classification. A valid name says nothing about whether the query belongs to that taxon.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global names of Bacteria and Archaea governed by the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes.", "licence": "Attribution and DSMZ Digital Diversity terms apply; API and downloads require registration.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "prokaryotes", "nomenclature", "type strains", "valid publication", "DSMZ" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "tygs", "name": "TYGS", "fullName": "Type (Strain) Genome Server", "url": "https://tygs.dsmz.de/", "maintainer": "Leibniz Institute DSMZ", "kind": "software", "tasks": [ "compare", "name" ], "summary": "Whole-genome identification and classification against type-strain genomes using digital DNA–DNA hybridisation, G+C comparison and phylogenomics.", "bestFor": "Testing a bacterial or archaeal genome against type-strain references with a standards-oriented, documented workflow.", "limits": "Requires a usable genome, can queue jobs and cannot compensate for missing or problematic type-genome data. Its result still needs sample and contamination scrutiny.", "access": "open-registration", "coverage": "Prokaryotic taxa with suitable type-strain genome references.", "licence": "DSMZ service terms apply; cite the TYGS method and references returned with the result.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Submission is free and uses an email address to return results; no persistent user account is required.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "whole genome", "type strain", "dDDH", "phylogenomics", "prokaryotes" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "rocks-minerals-fossils", "name": "Rocks, minerals & fossils", "domain": "Mineral world · Field & laboratory", "summary": "Authoritative names, measured reference data, classifications and contextual repositories for geological materials and fossils.", "determinationCeiling": "A field photograph may support a broad rock class, fossil group or distinctive mineral, but colour and locality are rarely enough for species-level mineral identification or a fine fossil determination. Weathering, mixtures, treatments and lookalikes make image-only claims fragile. Name the tests performed and retain raw spectra, diffraction, chemistry or measurements. If laboratory confirmation is required but absent, report the candidate or material class and the test that would resolve it.", "url": "/resources/rocks-minerals-fossils", "resources": [ { "id": "ima-cnmnc-mineral-list", "name": "IMA–CNMNC List of Mineral Names", "fullName": null, "url": "https://cnmnc.units.it/", "maintainer": "International Mineralogical Association Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification", "kind": "taxonomy-backbone", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The authoritative list of accepted mineral names, status, formulae and nomenclatural changes maintained by the IMA commission responsible for mineral naming.", "bestFor": "Checking whether a mineral name is approved, renamed, discredited or otherwise qualified, with the list version retained.", "limits": "Not an identification key, occurrence database or image library. An accepted name does not show that a sample belongs to that species.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Globally recognised mineral species and IMA nomenclatural status.", "licence": "IMA and CNMNC reuse terms apply; cite and retain the dated list or update used.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "minerals", "IMA", "accepted names", "nomenclature", "status" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "rruff", "name": "RRUFF Project", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.rruff.net/", "maintainer": "RRUFF research project, originating at the University of Arizona", "kind": "reference-collection", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "method" ], "summary": "Measured Raman, X-ray diffraction, chemistry and related reference data linked to documented mineral samples.", "bestFor": "Comparing laboratory measurements with reference spectra or diffraction data rather than relying on appearance.", "limits": "Species and sample coverage are incomplete, and RRUFF is not the mineral-naming authority. The rebuilt service still marks some functions as unfinished.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global mineral reference samples represented by available analytical datasets.", "licence": "RRUFF citation and site terms apply to data and downloads.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Raman", "XRD", "mineral chemistry", "reference spectra", "analysis" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "handbook-of-mineralogy", "name": "Handbook of Mineralogy", "fullName": null, "url": "https://handbookofmineralogy.org/", "maintainer": "Mineralogical Society of America", "kind": "textbook", "tasks": [ "describe", "compare", "learn" ], "summary": "Free mineral-species PDFs summarising physical, optical, chemical and crystallographic properties, occurrence and references.", "bestFor": "Checking whether a candidate's measured properties and associations agree with a concise specialist summary.", "limits": "Entries are literature summaries rather than live determinations; locality lists are selective and the PDFs are copyrighted.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Recognised mineral species, organised in handbook volumes.", "licence": "Copyright Mineralogical Society of America; reading is free but reuse is not blanket-open.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "mineral properties", "optics", "crystallography", "chemistry", "PDF" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "bgs-rock-classification", "name": "BGS Rock Classification Scheme", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.bgs.ac.uk/technologies/bgs-rock-classification-scheme/", "maintainer": "British Geological Survey, UK Research and Innovation", "kind": "glossary", "tasks": [ "describe", "name", "learn" ], "summary": "A hierarchical scheme and published reports for consistently naming and describing igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic and superficial materials.", "bestFor": "Turning recorded texture, composition and origin into a reproducible rock-classification term.", "limits": "A BGS corporate scheme with some differences from other national or IUGS practice. Classification still requires adequate observation or analysis.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Major natural and artificial rock and superficial-deposit classes used by BGS.", "licence": "British Geological Survey copyright and reuse terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "rock classification", "BGS", "petrology", "lithology", "terminology" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "mindat", "name": "Mindat.org", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.mindat.org/", "maintainer": "Hudson Institute of Mineralogy with an expert-moderated volunteer community", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context", "learn" ], "summary": "A very large community resource for mineral, rock, meteorite and locality discovery, associations, photographs and references.", "bestFor": "Generating candidates from habit and associations and finding locality-specific literature or comparable photographs.", "limits": "Community-curated rather than a nomenclatural authority. Corroborate names with IMA and occurrences with surveys or literature; photographs alone do not identify a specimen.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global minerals, rocks, meteorites and collecting localities, uneven by contributor activity.", "licence": "Database and media terms are mixed; check the individual record or image before reuse.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Browsing is open; an account is required for contributions and some tools.", "api": false, "note": "Included as the geological community exception because its moderation, locality depth and evidence links are unusually useful; it remains a discovery source, not the final authority.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "minerals", "localities", "community", "photographs", "associations" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "meteoritical-bulletin-database", "name": "Meteoritical Bulletin Database", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php", "maintainer": "Meteoritical Society Nomenclature Committee, hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The official database of meteorite names, approval status, classification, find locality, initial description and type repository.", "bestFor": "Checking an official meteorite name and following its classification and repository information.", "limits": "Provisional, doubtful and early classifications need care; classifications can change and mass or collection details can be incomplete. It does not authenticate a newly found stone.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Officially named meteorites and related nomenclatural records worldwide.", "licence": "Meteoritical Society and Lunar and Planetary Institute citation and use terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "meteorites", "official names", "classification", "type repository", "Meteoritical Society" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "international-chronostratigraphic-chart", "name": "International Chronostratigraphic Chart", "fullName": null, "url": "https://stratigraphy.org/chart/", "maintainer": "International Commission on Stratigraphy, International Union of Geological Sciences", "kind": "glossary", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The global standard chart for chronostratigraphic units, boundary ages and Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points.", "bestFor": "Recording a geological age against a named, dated chart version and translating between hierarchy levels.", "limits": "Version-specific and global in scale. It does not supply local rock-unit names, field correlations or the evidence assigning a specimen to an age.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global geological time scale.", "licence": "International Commission on Stratigraphy chart reuse terms apply; retain the chart version.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "stratigraphy", "geological time", "GSSP", "ages", "IUGS" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "australian-stratigraphic-units", "name": "Australian Stratigraphic Units Database", "fullName": null, "url": "https://asud.ga.gov.au/", "maintainer": "Geoscience Australia with the Geological Society of Australia's Australian Stratigraphy Commission", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The primary national source for Australian geological unit names, status, hierarchy, age and references.", "bestFor": "Checking the current or historical name of an Australian stratigraphic unit and its documented relationships.", "limits": "Australia only. Older legacy records vary in detail and need interpretation through the cited maps and publications.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Australian lithostratigraphic and related named geological units.", "licence": "Geoscience Australia attribution and website terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "stratigraphic units", "formations", "geology", "names" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "macrostrat", "name": "Macrostrat", "fullName": null, "url": "https://macrostrat.org/", "maintainer": "Macrostrat Lab, University of Wisconsin–Madison", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "context", "learn" ], "summary": "A research aggregation linking geological maps, stratigraphic columns, harmonised unit names and fossil occurrences through web tools and an API.", "bestFor": "Placing a field observation in broad map and stratigraphic context and finding the original geological source to consult.", "limits": "An academic aggregator rather than a naming authority. Global coverage is uneven and the original map, survey or publication should be cited for a record.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global with strongest depth where map and column sources have been integrated.", "licence": "Macrostrat data are generally CC BY 4.0 while source-provider terms remain attached.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "geological maps", "stratigraphy", "API", "fossils", "context" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "paleobiology-database", "name": "Paleobiology Database", "fullName": null, "url": "https://paleobiodb.org/", "maintainer": "International, multi-institutional community of palaeobiological researchers", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A global, literature-linked research database of fossil occurrences, taxonomy, stratigraphy and analytical data.", "bestFor": "Checking the published occurrence and stratigraphic context of a fossil candidate and tracing the source literature.", "limits": "Contributor-driven and taxonomically dynamic. It is not a museum specimen catalogue or final taxonomic authority, and coverage follows the entered literature.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global fossil occurrences and palaeobiological literature, uneven by group and region.", "licence": "CC BY 4.0 for database content; cite the database and contributing references.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public search, API and downloads are open; contribution requires an approved account.", "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "fossils", "palaeontology", "occurrences", "stratigraphy", "literature" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "nhm-data-portal", "name": "Natural History Museum Data Portal", "fullName": null, "url": "https://data.nhm.ac.uk/", "maintainer": "Natural History Museum, London", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "context" ], "summary": "Primary museum records and research datasets spanning palaeontology, mineralogy and other natural-history collections, often with stable identifiers and media.", "bestFor": "Finding a documented museum specimen or dataset to compare and citing its holding institution and stable record.", "limits": "Represents Natural History Museum holdings and digitisation, not all collections. Records and historical identifications can be incomplete or revised.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Natural History Museum collections and published datasets across natural-history disciplines.", "licence": "Licence is stated per dataset; core collection data are commonly CC0 while media and research datasets may differ.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "museum specimens", "palaeontology", "mineralogy", "collections", "stable identifiers" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "earthchem", "name": "EarthChem", "fullName": null, "url": "https://earthchem.org/data-access/overview", "maintainer": "EarthChem and IEDA2 at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "context", "method" ], "summary": "Integrated access to global geochemical, petrological and geochronological observations from publications and repositories, including PetDB.", "bestFor": "Comparing composition or age data with source-linked analyses and locating relevant published datasets.", "limits": "A heterogeneous aggregation with geographic and material biases. Contributor-assigned rock names are not independently validated identities.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global Earth-material geochemistry, petrology and geochronology, source-dependent.", "licence": "Dataset-specific licences and citations apply; retain the original dataset attribution.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Search is open; submission uses an EarthChem or GeoPass workflow and account.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "geochemistry", "petrology", "geochronology", "PetDB", "datasets" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "auscope-earthbank", "name": "AuScope EarthBank", "fullName": null, "url": "https://ausgeochem.auscope.org.au/", "maintainer": "AuScope Geochemistry Network and Lithodat, supported by Australia's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "context", "method" ], "summary": "Australian sample-linked geochemistry and geochronology, including U–Pb, Ar–Ar, fission-track and elemental data.", "bestFor": "Finding Australian analytical data where samples, methods, laboratories and provenance remain connected.", "limits": "Australia-heavy and contributor-supplied. Inspect laboratory methods, quality assurance and original attribution before comparison.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Predominantly Australian geological samples and analytical datasets.", "licence": "Public data are CC BY 4.0 unless a dataset states otherwise.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public discovery is open; a free account is required for contribution and full workspace tools.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Australia", "geochemistry", "geochronology", "samples", "NCRIS" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "sesar2", "name": "SESAR²", "fullName": "System for Earth and Extraterrestrial Sample Registration", "url": "https://www.geosamples.org/", "maintainer": "IEDA2 GeoInformatics Research Group at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "context", "method" ], "summary": "A registry for persistent International Generic Sample Numbers, sample descriptions, provenance, relationships and links to datasets and publications.", "bestFor": "Checking whether an Earth or extraterrestrial sample has a persistent identifier and tracing related samples, datasets and papers.", "limits": "A metadata and identifier registry, not proof of identity, legal custody, physical availability or analytical quality.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global Earth, environmental and extraterrestrial physical samples registered through participating allocating agents.", "licence": "SESAR² metadata and site terms apply; linked datasets retain their own licences.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public search is open; ORCID-linked registration is required to create or edit sample records.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "IGSN", "sample registry", "provenance", "persistent identifier", "Earth samples" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "georem", "name": "GeoReM", "fullName": "Database on Geochemical, Environmental and Biological Reference Materials", "url": "https://www.georem.earth/", "maintainer": "International Association of Geoanalysts with current infrastructure partners", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "method", "compare" ], "summary": "Certified, recommended and published values for rock, mineral, glass, solution and other analytical reference materials.", "bestFor": "Documenting calibration and quality assurance against an appropriate reference material and comparing published values.", "limits": "Reference materials only, not field specimens. Users must distinguish certified, recommended and compiled values and retain database and material versions.", "access": "open", "coverage": "International geochemical, environmental and selected biological analytical reference materials.", "licence": "International Association of Geoanalysts and database citation terms apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "reference materials", "quality assurance", "certified values", "calibration", "geochemistry" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] }, { "id": "astronomy", "name": "Astronomy & astrophotography", "domain": "Astronomical world · Observation & imaging", "summary": "Object resolvers, catalogues, ephemerides, time-series services, science archives and plate solving for sky observations.", "determinationCeiling": "A successful plate solve establishes a coordinate mapping, not the physical identity or nature of every source in the frame. Catalogue matches depend on epoch, proper motion, resolution and selection effects; transient names and preliminary orbits can change. Photometry and spectroscopy require calibrated methods beyond visual resemblance. Retain WCS residuals, catalogue and release identifiers, time standard, instrument metadata, raw and calibration frames and processing history, and state when an object remains a candidate.", "url": "/resources/astronomy", "resources": [ { "id": "simbad", "name": "SIMBAD", "fullName": "SIMBAD Astronomical Database", "url": "https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/", "maintainer": "Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg, Strasbourg Observatory", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The primary non-Solar-System name resolver, joining identifiers, ICRS coordinates, object types, measurements and bibliography.", "bestFor": "Resolving alternate designations and checking coordinates, object type and literature for a fixed astronomical source.", "limits": "A heterogeneous literature meta-compilation rather than a catalogue, and it excludes Solar-System objects. Measurements from different sources and epochs are not automatically comparable.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Galactic and extragalactic objects outside the Solar System.", "licence": "SIMBAD database content is ODbL; linked measurements and publications retain source terms.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "name resolver", "coordinates", "identifiers", "bibliography", "CDS" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "vizier", "name": "VizieR Catalogue Service", "fullName": null, "url": "https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/", "maintainer": "Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg, Strasbourg Observatory", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Position and field searching across published astronomical catalogues, with catalogue documentation, tables and machine-access formats.", "bestFor": "Cross-matching a field or source against the specific catalogue appropriate to the measurement and retaining its release and ReadMe.", "limits": "Catalogues have different epochs, selection functions, uncertainties and quality flags. Coverage is not exhaustive and source-catalogue reuse terms vary.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Global astronomical catalogues across wavelengths and object types.", "licence": "Reuse terms are set by each source catalogue; cite the catalogue and VizieR record.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "catalogues", "TAP", "ADQL", "VOTable", "cross-match" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "aladin-sky-atlas", "name": "Aladin Sky Atlas", "fullName": null, "url": "https://aladin.cds.unistra.fr/", "maintainer": "Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg", "kind": "software", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "An interactive sky atlas for survey imagery, SIMBAD and VizieR overlays, catalogue cross-matching and local FITS/WCS inspection.", "bestFor": "Visually checking a solved field against survey imagery and catalogue sources while retaining their identifiers.", "limits": "HiPS layers are often resampled visualisations rather than original calibrated files. Authority and reuse conditions remain with each upstream archive.", "access": "open", "coverage": "All-sky and targeted survey layers and catalogues supplied through CDS and partner archives.", "licence": "Aladin Desktop and Lite software are GPLv3; displayed data retain provider terms.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "sky atlas", "FITS", "WCS", "HiPS", "catalogue overlay" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "gaia-archive", "name": "Gaia ESA Archive", "fullName": null, "url": "https://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/", "maintainer": "European Space Agency Science Archives Team and Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "The reference archive for Gaia positions, proper motions, parallaxes, broad-band photometry, variability and released spectra.", "bestFor": "Checking astrometric identity and epoch-dependent position against a named Gaia data release.", "limits": "Crowding, zero-points, selection effects and release-specific source identifiers matter. The live archive warned of instability during DR4 preparation at the last check.", "access": "open", "coverage": "All-sky stellar and other source data within Gaia's observing and processing limits.", "licence": "Gaia data are publicly accessible; cite the applicable release and follow ESA and Gaia acknowledgement guidance.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public access is available without payment; registration is optional but recommended for sustained or saved queries.", "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "astrometry", "parallax", "proper motion", "Gaia", "data release" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "ned", "name": "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database", "fullName": null, "url": "https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/", "maintainer": "Caltech/IPAC for NASA", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A cross-identification and synthesis service for galaxies, quasars and other extragalactic objects, including redshifts, distances, spectral energy distributions and literature.", "bestFor": "Resolving an extragalactic source and tracing the measurements and publications behind its identifiers and redshift.", "limits": "Extragalactic only and updated in releases rather than continuously. Legacy APIs cannot see data ingested after January 2026; use the current APIs.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Extragalactic objects and associated measurements and literature.", "licence": "No blanket open licence is stated; cite NED and the original data sources.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "galaxies", "quasars", "redshift", "cross-identification", "NASA" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "aavso-vsx", "name": "AAVSO Variable Star Index", "fullName": "The International Variable Star Index (VSX)", "url": "https://vsx.aavso.org/", "maintainer": "American Association of Variable Star Observers", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "A moderated living index of variable-star identities, coordinates, AUIDs, variability types, periods, magnitude ranges and references.", "bestFor": "Checking a variable-star designation and the current classification and period evidence attached to it.", "limits": "An index rather than a light-curve archive or formal publication. Crowded fields, blends and incomplete literature can remain, and records are revised.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Known and candidate variable stars worldwide.", "licence": "AAVSO citation and data-use guidance apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public search is open; an AAVSO account is required for submissions and revisions.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "variable stars", "period", "AUID", "classification", "AAVSO" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "aavso-aid", "name": "AAVSO International Database", "fullName": null, "url": "https://apps.aavso.org/v2/data/search/photometry/", "maintainer": "American Association of Variable Star Observers", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "context", "method" ], "summary": "A long-baseline archive of visual and instrumental variable-star photometry with bandpass, uncertainty and observer provenance.", "bestFor": "Comparing a time series with historical observations and inspecting the filters, errors and observer metadata behind each point.", "limits": "Instruments, filters and error practices are heterogeneous; visual observations have intrinsically larger scatter. Time and quality flags need careful interpretation.", "access": "open", "coverage": "International variable-star photometry contributed by professional and amateur observers.", "licence": "AAVSO data-use and citation guidelines apply.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Search and export are open; submission requires an account and observer code.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "photometry", "time series", "variable stars", "filters", "pro-am" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "minor-planet-center", "name": "Minor Planet Center", "fullName": null, "url": "https://minorplanetcenter.net/", "maintainer": "Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under the International Astronomical Union", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The official clearing house for designations, astrometric observations, orbital records and circulars for minor planets, comets and outer natural satellites.", "bestFor": "Checking an official designation and the observation and orbit record for a Solar-System small body.", "limits": "Preliminary designations and orbits evolve as observations arrive. A short arc or catalogue entry does not prove a secure identification.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Minor planets, comets and outer natural satellites.", "licence": "No blanket database licence is stated; use MPC citation and data-use guidance.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public access is open; astrometric submission uses MPC and ADES workflows and usually requires an observatory code.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "minor planets", "comets", "astrometry", "designations", "IAU" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "jpl-horizons", "name": "JPL Horizons", "fullName": null, "url": "https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/", "maintainer": "NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Dynamics Group", "kind": "software", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Observer- and time-specific ephemerides for Solar-System bodies, including coordinates, rates, light-time, visibility and frame choices.", "bestFor": "Testing whether a moving object should have occupied the measured position at the recorded time and observing site.", "limits": "Observer centre, time scale, refraction and coordinate-frame defaults must be checked. Coverage has object-specific bounds and the service is best-effort.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Solar-System objects represented in JPL ephemeris and small-body services.", "licence": "NASA and JPL terms apply; cite Horizons and retain the query parameters and solution date.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "ephemeris", "Solar System", "coordinates", "observer location", "JPL" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "transient-name-server", "name": "Transient Name Server", "fullName": null, "url": "https://www.wis-tns.org/", "maintainer": "Weizmann Institute of Science under the International Astronomical Union supernova and transient framework", "kind": "database", "tasks": [ "name", "context" ], "summary": "The official IAU mechanism for reporting and naming astronomical transients, with discovery and classification reports, coordinates, photometry and spectra.", "bestFor": "Checking whether a transient has an official designation and whether it is merely reported, classified or confirmed.", "limits": "A named candidate is not necessarily classified or confirmed. Proprietary periods exist and the service discourages bulk scraping of search pages.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Reported extragalactic and other astronomical transients within TNS scope.", "licence": "TNS and source-report terms apply; cite the discovery and classification reports used.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public search is open; reporting requires an approved account or group, and API automation requires bot credentials.", "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "transients", "supernovae", "official names", "classification", "IAU" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "helioviewer", "name": "Helioviewer.org", "fullName": null, "url": "https://helioviewer.org/", "maintainer": "ESA/NASA Helioviewer Project with support from NASA's Solar Data Analysis Center", "kind": "atlas", "tasks": [ "compare", "name", "context" ], "summary": "Time-matched, registered multiwavelength solar imagery and event overlays from major solar missions.", "bestFor": "Comparing a solar observation with the same time and wavelength context across SDO, SOHO, STEREO, Hinode, Solar Orbiter and other sources.", "limits": "Primarily a visualisation service using derived products. Retrieve original calibrated files from the mission archive for measurement.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Solar imagery and event annotations from participating spacecraft and observatories.", "licence": "Open-source service; imagery remains subject to the source mission's terms and acknowledgement guidance.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "Sun", "solar imagery", "multiwavelength", "events", "NASA" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "mast", "name": "MAST", "fullName": "Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes", "url": "https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html", "maintainer": "Space Telescope Science Institute for NASA", "kind": "data-repository", "tasks": [ "compare", "context", "method" ], "summary": "Original and calibrated FITS images, spectra and time series from Hubble, Webb, TESS, Kepler, GALEX, Pan-STARRS and related collections.", "bestFor": "Retrieving the mission-calibrated product and provenance behind a comparison image, spectrum or light curve.", "limits": "Primarily ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared; active-mission data can be embargoed, and calibration and product meanings remain mission-specific.", "access": "open", "coverage": "NASA and partner space-telescope missions curated by MAST.", "licence": "Most public holdings are public domain; some high-level products are CC BY 4.0 and DSS/GSC products have separate restrictions.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Public data are available anonymously; an account is required for protected data and some workspace functions.", "api": true, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "FITS", "Hubble", "JWST", "TESS", "archive" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "esasky", "name": "ESASky", "fullName": null, "url": "https://sky.esa.int/esasky/", "maintainer": "European Space Agency, ESAC Science Data Centre", "kind": "atlas", "tasks": [ "compare", "context" ], "summary": "An accessible all-sky discovery and download interface for ESA and selected partner images, spectra and catalogues.", "bestFor": "Finding which mission has relevant data at a sky position before moving to the mission archive and documentation.", "limits": "A discovery interface rather than the final authority for calibration or provenance. Return to the named source mission for quantitative use.", "access": "open", "coverage": "All-sky and targeted holdings from ESA and partner missions across wavelengths.", "licence": "Reuse terms follow the contributing mission and product.", "modalities": [], "contributing": null, "api": false, "note": null, "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "ESA", "all-sky", "images", "spectra", "discovery" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" }, { "id": "astrometry-net-nova", "name": "Astrometry.net Nova", "fullName": null, "url": "https://nova.astrometry.net/", "maintainer": "Astrometry.net team; web service hosted through Canadian astronomy data infrastructure", "kind": "software", "tasks": [ "name", "method", "context" ], "summary": "A blind plate-solving service that identifies an unknown star field and returns standards-based WCS metadata and object annotations.", "bestFor": "Turning an astrophotograph with no reliable coordinates into a testable sky position and plate solution.", "limits": "The shared queue has no solve guarantee; sparse, distorted or poor-signal fields can fail. WCS still needs residual validation and is not photometric calibration.", "access": "open", "coverage": "Stellar fields that can be matched to the service's index files.", "licence": "Anonymous uploads are public and default to CC BY 3.0; sign in to control visibility and licensing. The software distribution is GPLv3 overall.", "modalities": [], "contributing": "Anonymous solving is available, but private or sensitive images should be uploaded only through an account with visibility set deliberately.", "api": false, "note": "Check image privacy before uploading: the anonymous path is public. A plate solution should be retained with scale, rotation, parity and residuals rather than copied as a target name only.", "links": [], "citation": null, "tags": [ "plate solving", "WCS", "astrophotography", "coordinates", "privacy" ], "checked": "2026-09-02", "checkedBy": "research" } ] } ] }