~ Early Web Links ~

Ariu is a high school junior from Indiana whose personal site documents a remarkable range of pursuits, from Drosophila genetics research and healthcare legislation advocacy to an AI tool for school nurses. The site serves as a living digital portfolio of someone genuinely engaged in science, medicine, and civic life at a young age.

A firsthand account of fossil hunting at the Mazon Creek site in Illinois, one of the world's most celebrated locations for soft-body fauna preservation found inside concretions. The author shares photos, practical tips on finding nodules, and personal observations from multiple visits to this unique strip-mine-turned-wildlife-preserve.

The Kentucky Paleontological Society maintains this hub for fossil enthusiasts in the Bluegrass State, featuring field trip reports, taxonomic fossil photo galleries, and an impressive library of digitized historical geology texts dating back to the 1860s. From Ordovician trilobites to tetrapod trackways, the site covers Kentucky's rich fossil record with resources for both amateur collectors and researchers.

Pembrokeshire Birds is a long-running blog dedicated to birdwatching observations across Pembrokeshire, Wales, covering sightings from notable sites like Skokholm Island and Teifi Marshes. With records dating back to 2008, annual reports, species lists, and detailed field notes, it serves as a rich regional ornithological resource for birders interested in Welsh wildlife.

Seabean.com is a dedicated reference site exploring the fascinating world of sea-beans and drift seeds, those tropical seeds and fruits that travel ocean currents for thousands of miles before washing ashore. Visitors can learn how sea-beans float, where they originate, and how to identify specific species like Tropical Almond and Hog Plum.

Rod Crawford's Spider Collector's Journal chronicles decades of arachnid collecting expeditions from 1986 through the present, including trips to the Russian Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island. The site features year-by-year narrative accounts, photo albums, and detailed documentation of tools and techniques used in scientific spider collection.

A comprehensive scientific reference on freshwater benthic ecology and aquatic entomology, covering macroinvertebrate taxa from mayflies and dragonflies to beetles and caddisflies across dozens of detailed chapters. Produced by the Soil and Water Conservation Society of Metro Halifax, this site offers taxa tolerance values, biological monitoring protocols, and research reports focused on freshwater ecosystems in Nova Scotia and beyond.

Dendroica is a long-running nature blog with hundreds of posts spanning years of birding, moth-watching, and wildlife observation, named after a genus of wood-warblers. The archive stretches back many years with consistent weekly updates including a recurring 'Loose Feathers' series, and the blogroll connects to a rich community of birding and entomology blogs.

The Reptile Database, maintained by Peter Uetz and Jiří Hošek since 1995, is a comprehensive scientific reference cataloging all known reptile species including lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles, tuataras, and amphisbaenians. With advanced search tools, downloadable data, and regularly updated species counts backed by a team of volunteer editors, it serves as a definitive taxonomic resource for herpetologists and enthusiasts alike.

Wharfe Conserv@tion is a monthly review of wildlife conservation news in Britain, covering topics from GM crops and endangered butterflies to otters, wildflowers, and Scottish ecosystems. The site features a science section, conservation headlines organized across multiple pages, book reviews, and links to wildlife resources, making it a rich hub for UK nature enthusiasts.