Zombie Snails!

Zombie Snails

Richard Dawkins on YouTube

Richard Dawkins on the Evolution of the Eye

Richard Dawkins on the Evolution of Wings

Richard Dawkins on the Evolution of Camouflage

Thanks to Hilary Moores!

Hilary's webpage
Studying for success

How to give a presentation in under 5 minutes

food for thought....for the 3 minutes talks for your species-at-risk project
Here it is

So many worms so little time

Global "worming"

Invasive Species

Global Invasive Species Database and the 100 worst invaders

Aquariums

Vancouver Aquarium
Shedd Aquarium (Chicago)
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Sydney (OZ) Aquarium
Bermuda Aquarium - internships and volunteer positions!

Cnidarians and Ctenophores

Videos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Jellies: Living Art Exhibit

Introduction to the Cnidaria (Berkeley)

Cnidaria on Palaeos (lots of fossil information)

Bioluminesence

Cold Water Coral Reefs

From Biodiversity to Biocomplexity

Amazing Lectures from the World's Leading Ecologists

Species at Risk

The International Union for Conservation of Nature "RED LIST"
COSEWIC (Canada)

Other cool conservation agencies:
World Wildlife Fund
Canadian Wildlife Federation
Conservation Institute
Marine Conservation Biology Institute

Placozoans and Poriferans.....

Our first "whose who" in the metazoan phylogeny lecture is on Placozoans and Poriferans. Digital Zoology has great info on both Phyla (and all the info on Placozoans is there rather than in the textbook) including some virtual labs, crossword puzzles (great learning tool), pictures, and more...check it out...

Also check out the following sites because animals that have probably existed for about 800 million years are just pretty darn interesting....

British Columbia's Glass Sponge Reefs

Sponge phylogeny, taxonomy, fossils

Concatenated Analysis Sheds Light on Early Metazoan Evolution and Fuels a Modern “Urmetazoon” Hypothesis

Sponges in the news:

Voracious Sponges In Underwater Caves Save Reefs

Animal Molecular Phylogenetics

Everything you ever wanted to know (and probably more): molecular phylogenetics

TED Video: Janine Benyus

12 Sustainable Design Ideas from Nature

"A self-proclaimed nature nerd, Janine Benyus' concept of biomimicry has galvanized scientists, architects, designers and engineers into exploring new ways in which nature's successes can inspire humanity"

The Arthropod Story

The Arthropod Story (this site contains additional info on the Cambrian and the evolution of Arthropods)

Evolution of Life in 60 seconds: SEED Magazine

Evolution of Life in 60 seconds

Development, Ecology, and Environment in the Cambrian Metazoan Radiation

Development, Ecology, and Environment
in the Cambrian Metazoan Radiation
By Doug Irwin

The Cambrian radiation of animal life is one of the most profound episodes of evolutionary innovation in the history of life. Understanding the causes of this event requires deciphering the relative contributions of environmental triggers, developmental novelties, and changes in ecosystem structure. At present, ecology appears to have been largely responsible for the breadth and structure of this event, but we lack adequate, process-based models to understand these ecological dynamics.

Also check out: Gould: The Evolution of Life on Earth

In our own backyard!

Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve

Mistaken Point—named for the navigational hazard it poses at the often-foggy southeastern tip of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula—is one of the world's most significant fossil sites.

Embedded in the planes of Mistaken Point's tilted and cleaved mudstone and sandstone, exposed by the pounding of the Atlantic waves, are fossils of the oldest creatures—in fact, the oldest complex life forms—found anywhere on Earth. Known to scientists as the Ediacara biota, they are creatures that lived 575 to 542 million years ago, when all life was in the sea.

The oldest and most spectacular assemblage of these fossils—the Mistaken Point assemblage (575 to 560 million years old)—is preserved in the 5.7-km² Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. The Reserve is the only place in the world where you can view a 565-million-year-old sea floor that accurately preserves the ecology of these ancient deep sea communities. The area is one of nine sites on the Canadian Tentative list of potential UNESCO World Heritage properties.

Two great radio shows

The Ediacaran Fauna
The Cambrian Explosion

Palaeos and the Cambrian Sea Animation

Palaeos -- http://www.palaeos.com/ -- The best site out there for a history of life and fossils....

The Cambrian Sea Animation

Week 2 Webs

LIFE, a journey - Frans Lanting
Frans Lanting’s LIFE: A Journey Through Time is a lyrical interpretation of life on Earth from its earliest beginnings to its present diversity. The LIFE Project aims to bridge the gap between nature and science, and is realized through the integration of photography with the performing arts and the world of life and earth sciences, in collaboration with partners and institutions around the world.

The LIFE Project includes a multimedia orchestral performance (LIFE Music), a traveling exhibition (LIFE Exhibits), a large-format photographic book (LIFE Book), and this website, www.LifeThroughTime.com. Public outreach includes an ongoing series of appearances by Frans Lanting at venues across the United States and Europe, including the TED Conference, Stanford University, the National Geographic Society, the Long Now Foundation, and many others.

TED Edward Wilson Talk

EO Wilson's Talk from Lecture 1

Beast of the Week

Nudibranchs!

The Weekly Webs

This weeks weekly websites focus on diversity itself:

(1) The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is a collaborative effort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world. On more than 10,000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history (phylogeny).

Each page contains information about a particular group, e.g., salamanders, segmented worms, phlox flowers, tyrannosaurs, euglenids, Heliconius butterflies, club fungi, or the vampire squid. ToL pages are linked one to another hierarchically, in the form of the evolutionary tree of life. Starting with the root of all Life on Earth and moving out along diverging branches to individual species, the structure of the ToL project thus illustrates the genetic connections between all living things.

(2)Encyclopedia of Life: "Imagine an electronic page for each species of organism on Earth..." - Edward O. Wilson

(3)Biodiversity Hotspots