Those of you interested in the Encyclopedia of Life will probably be equally interested in the IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature) web site: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, "the most comprehensive, apolitical global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species." The Red List's Programme goals are to "identify and document those species most in need of conservation attention if global extinction rates are to be reduced; and provide a global index of the state of degeneration of biodiversity." At the site you can search the file for specific species, subspecies and varieties, or stocks and subpopulations, by common name or taxonomy, in terrestrial, m systems. You can also read there species case studies, and learn how the Red List programme was developed and how it works.
Anyone interested in environmental and biodiversity matters will likely find this site both compelling and essential to their use. BTW, you can also make a donation at the site, to help ensure that dolphins (like the bottlenose dolpin pictured above) and other species do not become extinct in our lifetimes.
