SIG > Earth and Life Sciences

Earth and Life Sciences
	Title	A resource for the Colorado River Delta
	Description	This site provides intderdisciplinary ecological and geographical information about the Colorado River Delta. Though it has not been updated since August 2003, it contains background, downloadable data, and contact information for other interested researchers. The site is sponsored by NASA, the Sonoran Institute, and the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Research project
	Link	http://www.ag.arizona.edu/colorado_river_delta/index.html
	Title	Arizona Native Plant Society
	Description	This is the informative and up to date home page of the Arizona Native Plant, a state-wide non-profit organization devoted to Arizona's native plants. There is information on a variety of related topics including volunteer opportunities, plant salvage, exotic invading plants, and local suppliers of native plants. There is also information on becoming a member and links to related sites. It is an especially useful source for merchant information.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Scientific society or professional organization
	Link	http://aznps.org/
	Title	Arizona Rangelands
	Description	The Arizona AgNIC Rangelands web site is currently being developed by a interdisciplinary project team of several collaborating units at the University of Arizona. The site provides links to other information on rangeland conservation as well as information on climate, geology, mamgement, policy, and economics.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Research project
	Link	http://rangelandswest.arid.arizona.edu/az/index.html
	Title	Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
	Description	The Sonora Desert Museum website is bilingual and carries a wealth of information on the museum. The museum was established half a century ago as a zoo, botanical garden and natural history museum and is devoted to education. There are over 300 animals in their natural habitats and for $65 you can learn raptor handling techniques. Learn about volunteer opportunities, numerous art classes, educational programs, the Sonoran Desert, dining and gift shops and when to come watch raptors fly.
	Language	English, Spanish
	Resource Type	Museum
	Link	http://desertmuseum.org/
	Title	Boyce Thompson Arboretum
	Description	The Boyce Thompson Arboretum, located in Superior AZ (about 90 minutes north of Tucson), is affiliated with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Arizona. In addition to providing visitor information, the Arboretum website provides access to plant information (including plants at the arboretum, growing guidelines, and the Desert Legume Program, or DELEP); information about animals present at the arborteum, particularly birds; gardening guidelines; an online tour; desert information; and information about educational programs. Also included is a list of relevant links, including links to sites with photographs of the arboretum.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/
	Title	Butterflies of Southeastern Arizona
	Description	This site provides an online illustrated catalog of the butterflies of southeastern Arizona. Also included is information about common caterpillars of SE Arizona and about habitats and ranges. The site is based on the book Butterflies of Southeastern Arizona, by Richard A. Bailowitz and is compiled and maintained by Bruce Walsh of the Department of Ecology and Evolution Biology and the Center for Insect Science of the University of Arizona.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zeeb/butterflies/seazlist.ht
	Title	Exploring wildfire alternatives
	Description	Wildfire Alternatives (WALTER), located at the University of Arizona, is an interdisciplinary research initiative investigating interactions among wildfire, climate and society. The site provides project data(including maps) as well as background on ongoing research and contact information.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Research project
	Link	http://walter.arizona.edu/
	Title	Hohokam Agave Cultivation
	Description	This resource, part of the "Through Our Parents' Eyes" project, provides information about Hohokam cultivation of agave. The site includes a video tour of a prehistoric rockpile field near Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, narrated by Dr. Suzanne Fish.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Research project
	Link	http://www.parentseyes.arizona.edu/tumamochill.html
	Title	Impacts of Climate Change and Land Use in the Southwestern U. S.
	Description	“Impacts of Climate Change and Land Use in the Southwestern U. S.” was a web conference with papers contributed and discussed in July of 1997. The online interactive workshop was “designed to provide background information and stimulate discussion on the effects of climate variability, possible natural and human-related long-term climate change, and land-use change in the rapidly-growing southwestern United States.” The information gathered from this conference was to be used by the U. S. Global Change Research Program “as part of a national assessment of Global Change issues.” Major topics of discussion include Climatic Variability, Climatic Impacts, and Societal Issues. The site also offers links to information resources such as an interactive database of population density data and the U. S. Geological Survey’s “General Map of the Southwestern United States,” with conference participant feedback on these resources.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	State/federal agency, Message board/online meeting
	Link	http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/
	Title	Laboratory of Tree-ring Research
	Description	The Laboratory of Tree-ring Research (LTRR) at the University of Arizona provides general information about the study of tree rings, as well as specific information about courses, research, people, and services provided by the lab. The site also provides access to free tree-ring analysis software (http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/software.html).
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/
	Title	LTRR: Forest Fire Management in the Southwest
	Description	This site, hosted by the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, gives a brief series of responses to questions about forest fire patterns in modern as opposed to historical situations. For each section there is a series of active links to references in PDF. They are of limited use because they are either password protected or the newspaper articles they lead to have since been removed. Nevertheless one could use the reference to find the articles elsewhere.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/~sheppard/swland/swfire.html
	Title	Mesoscale Ecological Responses to Climatic Variability in the American Southwest
	Description	This is an online paper (part of an ongoing discussion on impacts of climate change on life and resources--see http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/impacts/biology/) that presents data on different types of ecological responses to climatic variability in the southwest. As well as useful data and a bibliography, the site provides links back to discussion and comment archives.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Report
	Link	http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/impacts/biology/fires_SOI/
	Title	Moths of Southeastern Arizona
	Description	This site is an illustrated list of the moths of southeastern Arizona, organized by family. "Moths of Southeastern Arizona" also includes a useful list of links related to entomology of the Southwestern US/Northwestern Mexico. The site is compiled and maintained by Bruce Walsh of the Department of Ecology and Evolution Biology and the Center for Insect Science of the University of Arizona.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zeeb/butterflies/mothlist.ht
	Title	NASA: Global Change Master Directory Datasets
	Description	This web site provides access to thousands of Earth science datasets. Most of the data is intended for use in GIS-based analyses. Though not specific to the Southwest, many southwestern datasets are included.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	GIS data, State/federal agency
	Link	http://gcmd.nasa.gov/Data/datasets.html
	Title	Native American Ethnobotany Database
	Description	The Native American Ethnobotany Database, provided by the University of Michigan-Dearborn, is an online searchable database of foods, drugs, dyes and fibers of Native American peoples, derived from plants. Searching the database provides the scientific name, groups who used the plant and how they used it, and relevant references. Though not specific to the Southwest, many plants used by Southwestern tribal groups are included in the database.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Database
	Link	http://herb.umd.umich.edu/
	Title	Native Seeds/SEARCH
	Description	“Native Seeds/SEARCH” is a non-profit organization that “works to conserve, distribute and document the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seed, their wild relatives and the role these seeds play in cultures” of southwestern U. S. and northwestern Mexico. NS/S offers free seed, seasonal catalogs and information on native Southwestern vegetation to its members in order to promote the use of traditional crops and their wild relatives. The “Native Seeds/SEARCH” Home site provides information on the organization and its projects, as well as articles of interest from recent issues of the organization’s newsletter “The Seedhead” with information on native crops and grassroots conservation projects in the region. The site also offers native seed listings, information on native foods and crafts, and links to other non-profit seed organizations. The site’s Membership “benefits” page also provides a map of “Indian Tribes of the Greater Southwest.”
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Nonprofit organization
	Link	http://www.nativeseeds.org/
	Title	OALS: Arid Lands Information Center
	Description	The mission of the Arid Lands Information Center (ALIC) is to utilize the most cost-effective and universal means to provide access to information on the nature, development, and management of the world’s arid and semi-arid regions. The web site provides information about the ALIC, the projects available, as well as many other information resources.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/oals/alic/alic.html
	Title	Petrified Forest National Park
	Description	The official National Park Service site for Petrified Forest National Park contains the usual NPS visitor information, but it also contains edcuational materials and lesson plans for teachers (in the "Education Programs" section); an online tutorial on the Triassic for children (in the "For Kids" section); in-depth information on the archaeology, geology, and ecology of the park (in the "In Depth" section); environmental information (in the "Nature and Science" section); and management documents, including a number of environmental assessments (in the "Management Documents" section).
	Language	English
	Resource Type	National/state park or heritage site
	Link	http://www.nps.gov/pefo/
	Title	Quaternary Stratigraphy and Tectonics, and Late Prehistoric Agriculture of the Safford Basin
	Description	This online report (the full title is "Quaternary Stratigraphy and Tectonics, and Late Prehistoric Agriculture of the Safford Basin (Gila and San Simon River Valleys), Graham County, Arizona") was originally a guidebook for the Friends of the Pleistocene, Rocky Mountain Cell 46th Field Conference/Arizona Geological Society Fall Field Trip in 2002. The report contains an overview of the geology of the Safford Basin; road logs with descriptions of stops covering the three days of the field trip; and four short papers that discuss adjacent areas or that expand upon the road log descriptions of the field trip stops. The report contains some discussion of ancient agriculture and irrigation systems.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Report
	Link	http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1062/
	Title	Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology
	Description	Formerly the residence of Georgia O'Keefe, Ghost Ranch is now a Presbyterian conference and educational center with programs in Abiquiu and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The main Abiquiu location also operates the Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology and the Florence Hawley Ellis Museum of Anthropology. Visting hours, brief descriptions of each museum, and a museum gift shop are accessible by clicking on the "Museums" tab on the Ghost Ranch web site.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Museum
	Link	http://www.ghostranch.org/
	Title	Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute
	Description	The Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute (SASI), a non-profit organization, is located within the Tucson Mountain Park in Pima County. SASI is a conservation group, achieving its goal through field research, publications and educational programs. Information about research and educational programs is available on their web site; visitors can also purchase publications online.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Nonprofit organization
	Link	http://www.sasionline.org/
	Title	Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
	Description	The “Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan” site provides an introduction to the conservation plan that has allowed Pima County to integrate its “natural resource protection and land use planning activities.” The site pages provide information on the initial elements of the SDCP: Critical Habitat and Biological Corridors, Riparian Restoration, Mountain Parks, Historical and Cultural Preservation, and Ranch Conservation. The site also provides access to SDCP maps, reports, and archives. The archives page includes past SDCP reports, memos, committee meeting transcripts and minutes, and access to past issues of Sonoran News, the SDCP’s official newsletter. This site also provides several links to conservation sites and related government links.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Report
	Link	http://www.pima.gov/SDCP
	Title	Sources of Archaeological Obsidian in the Greater American Southwest
	Description	This site, provided by Dr. M. Steven Shackley at the University of California-Berkeley, contains maps, images, and information about obsidian sources throughout the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico. This is a great resource for anyone interested in Southwestern stone tools and lithic analysis.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Digital images, Research project
	Link	http://www.swxrflab.net/swobsrcs.htm
	Title	Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
	Description	The official National Park Service site for Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument contains the usual NPS visitor information, but it also contains edcuational materials for teachers; an online virtual tour of Sunset Crater; in-depth information (in the "In Depth" section); environmental information (in the "Nature and Science" section); and management documents (in the "News" section).
	Language	English
	Resource Type	National/state park or heritage site
	Link	http://www.nps.gov/sucr/
	Title	The Water Crisis Questions and Answers
	Description	This is a question and answer format page created by The Hopi Water Team. The mission of this group representing the Hopi Tribal Council is to "protect and advance the water rights of the Hopi Tribe". The major concern of the team is the adverse effects that the Peabody Coal Company is having on the N (Navajo) Aquifer. The slurry stage of processing the raw coal ore is a water intensive process steadily draining the aquifer, which "was scientifically dated to be between 16,000 and 39,000 years old." The proposed solution is a pipeline carrying water from Lake Powell to supply the coal company as well as the growing Native American populations in the region. The question and answer format provides the reader with easy topic reference and explanations in a straightforward manner.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Official tribal web site
	Link	http://www.hopi.nsn.us/water_qanda.asp
	Title	Tucson Botanical Gardens
	Description	This is the home page for the Tucson Botanical Gardens and provides information on the gardens and ongoing classes and attractions as well as on membership, donations and volunteering. There is also a section on local desert gardening and related links to Tucson and Arizona area attractions and programs. The Tucson Botanical Gardens has a variety of different gardens focused on various flora such as herbs, cacti, and wildflowers. The site is constantly updated and is worth checking out for upcoming classes and special events. The gardens can also be rented out for weddings and private functions.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Museum
	Link	http://www.tucsonbotanical.org/
	Title	University of Arizona Desert Laboratory
	Description	The Desert Laboratory has been sponsoring ecological research in deserts (particularly in the southwest) for almost 100 years. Their web site provides detailed information about their current projects (including fire history research and long term ecological studies) as well as a history of the center and contact information for affiliated faculty and staff.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://wwwpaztcn.wr.usgs.gov/home.html
	Title	University of Arizona Herbarium
	Description	The University of Arizona Herbarium (ARIZ) is the largest herbarium in the arid southwest and contains the largest collection in the world of plants from Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The ARIZ web site provides information about visiting, but it also contains a useful catalog of photographs as well as information on an ongoing specimen database project. Detailed information about the database, which will geo-reference all Arizona vascular plant collections by 2006, can be downloaded in the "projects" section of the site.
	Language	English
	Resource Type	Academic program
	Link	http://ag.arizona.edu/herbarium/