Note: These databases will require a subscription through your university's library website.
The Biological Abstracts database is a collection of abstracts from scientific peer-reviewed academic journals covering the fields of biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, medicine, pharmacology, zoology, agriculture, and veterinary medicine. This is a great resource for botany students starting a research project to see what research is already out there on a given topic.
The search functions for the Biological Abstracts database are extensive. There is an option to perform a simple keyword search in the top search bar and an advanced search option. The advanced search option has many additional limits specific to biology such as development stage of organism, taxa notes, organism role, organ system, etc. with the option to further refine the search results with the limiters found on the sidebar. The general coverage dates include sources from 1926 to present day. The content is mainly focused to include abstracts but there is an option in the advanced search to only show results with the full text linked. The Biological Abstracts database includes many academic journal sources as well as letters, conference proceedings, and videos. There is an option to sign in to your EBSCO account that allows you to save articles to a folder. The intended audience for Biological Abstracts is students studying the biological sciences and scientific researchers.
Academic Search Complete is a database with thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles from various fields of study. Find botany-related sources by using the general and advanced search functions. The advanced search limiters include full-text and/or peer reviewed sources, an option to filter by language, publication date and resource type. Additional sidebar limiters allow the user to filter the search results by subject, publisher, geography, and company. With monthly updates, this database is useful both for finding general literature reviews or hyper-specific botanical research studies. This is a great resource for students with some experience searching academic journal databases and already have a research topic in mind.
JSTOR’s Global Plants Database is the world’s largest database of digitized plant specimens. Specimen records are useful because of their role as original sources of nomenclature and act as a historical record of changes in species of flora. Global Plants has 66 sub-collections showcasing specimens digitized through partner herbaria and features partner-contributed reference works and primary sources. Features include a search function with botany-specific filters, high-resolution image viewer, stable links to specimens, ability to view all resources related to a specific plant name or taxon in one place, and a commenting feature. This is a great source to use for students studying a specific plant species.
These sources are free for anyone to use!
World Flora Online is an international project to create an open-access web-based collection of Earth's hundreds of thousands of vascular plant and moss species. The goal of WFO is to document a full inventory of earth's plants in order to protect them from extinction. Used by conservation planners, ecologists, and policymakers, this online project provides a global overview of plant biodiversity. A complete WFO species record will contain a description, an illustration, an information on classification, geographic range, IUCN conservation status, human uses, and links to data sources. All content is available without registration, but you will need to create an account to download data and PDFs.
WFO. World Flora Online. accessed November 10, 2024, http://www.worldfloraonline.org
The Tree of Life (TOL) web project is an interactive database of all biological taxons. The database is constructed as a ‘tree’ where users can click on different ‘branches’, or families/genuses, that lead to different ‘leaves’, or a single species. The website states that the goal of the TOL is to “contain a page with pictures, text, and other information for every species and for each group of organisms, living or extinct.” This is a great resource for students to explore different taxonomy groups and see how one species relates to one another.
The TOL is a collaborative project created by hundreds of expert and amateur contributors consisting of professors, government professionals, and web designers. The TOL is made up of over 10,000 web pages about different aspects of biodiversity, characteristics of different organism groups, as well as their evolutionary history. The material is organized in a ‘tree-like’ structure, where general pages are linked to more specific pages . There are also some browsing functions including popular pages, recent additions, or random pages. Each record includes references. The intended audience for this website is anyone looking for information about a particular group of organisms, biologist seeking identification keys, figures, or phylogenetic trees, or biodiversity educators.
TOL. Tree of Life Web Project. accessed November 10, 2024. tolweb.org/tree/
If you've ever stumbled upon a cool plant and wished you had something that could help you identify the species, this is the app for you! Seek by iNaturalist is a free app that uses image recognition technology to ID the plant and animal species you see. Download the app, click the camera icon to open the Seek Camera, and point the camera at the plant you want to identify until the ID meter at the top can identify the species. If you want to add this species to your observation collection, take a picture once the ID meter finds the species. Users can unlock badges for observing different species and participating in monthly observation challenges. No internet is required to observe and identify species, so you can use this resource anywhere!
Download the app here
Hosted by Matt Candeias, a plant ecologist who studies plant biodiversity and author of the book of the same title, In Defense of Plants is a podcast celebrating everything botany "from the smallest duckweed to the tallest redwood". Following this podcast is perfect for aspiring botanists to stay informed on recent findings in the field, or find a single episode that sparks your interest. With a new episode released every week, you are guaranteed to find one that interests you.
Listen to In Defense of Plants on your preferred streaming service, or visit the In Defense of Plants website.