Amerikanische Wissenschaftler und Universitäten haben eine Internetseite geschaffen auf der jede auf der Erde lebende Tierart eingetragen werden soll.
Dies ist ein wirklich ernstgemeintes Projekt an dem sich auch Forscher und Unis aber auch Amateure beteiligen sollen.

Aus einer Pressenachricht:
One of the world’s foremost scientists and environmentalists, Wilson, professor emeritus at Harvard University, “wished” for the establishment of the Encyclopedia of Life during his TED Conference address. Noting that “our knowledge of biodiversity is so incomplete that we are at risk of losing a great deal of it before it is ever discovered,” Wilson called for a contemporary, dynamic portrait of the living Earth.

“I wish that we will work together to help create the key tool that we need to inspire preservation of Earth’s biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life,” Wilson said at TED. “What excites me is that since I first put forward this idea, science has advanced, technology has moved forward. Today, the practicalities of making this encyclopedia real are within reach as never before.”

Ultimately, the Encyclopedia of Life will provide users the opportunity to personalize the learning experience through its “my eol” feature. The site can be made available in all major languages and will connect scientific communities concerned with ants to apples to zebras. As part of its work, the Encyclopedia of Life will collaborate and partner with a wide range of organizations, individuals, and experts to help strengthen the Encyclopedia and its impact on communities throughout the world.

“The solidarity of the U.S. and global communities for the Encyclopedia of Life is tremendously exciting and lifts my confidence that this vast, romantic global effort will succeed,” Edwards said. “We are also encouraged by the declaration in March 2007 by the environment ministers of the G8 nations to foster a global species information system.”

While initial work will emphasize species of animals, plants, and fungi, the design can be extended to encompass microbial life.

To provide depth behind the portal page for each species, the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), a consortium that holds most of the relevant scientific literature, will scan and digitize tens of millions of pages of the scientific literature that will offer open access to detailed knowledge. In fact, the BHL now has scanning centers operating in London, Boston, and Washington DC, and has scanned the first 1.25 million pages for the Encyclopedia.

“I dream that in a few years wherever a reference to a species occurs on the Internet, there will be a hyperlink to its page in the Encyclopedia of Life,” concluded Edwards.

Da hier auch einige Biologen und engagierte User sind dachte ich mir das poste ich mal.

Die Seite ist schon da, aber die Strukturen an sich sind noch nicht ganz fertig.
Noch ist das ganze komplett auf Englisch (oder Französisch), soll aber wohl noch in anderen Sprachen zugänglich gemacht werden.
So weit ich weiß ist die Veröffentlichungsfunktion auch noch nicht 100%ig implementiert. Auf der Site heißt es:
"Provide content. Later in 2008 we will set up a mechanism for anyone to contribute species-related content (photos, drawings, text, video, etc.). The curator(s) of the species will consider the submissions for incorporation into the authenticated species page."

Wer Lust hat könnte sich auch als Kurator bewerben.

http://www.eol.org/index