Encyclopedia of Life catalogs 1 million species

Going well beyond the range of the Caribbean, the Encylopedia of Life (EOL) began its online edition with exemplar pages for twenty-five species of flora and fauna, ranging from Cafeteria roenbergensis, a single-celled flagellate, to Pinus strobus, the eastern white pine. It includes many ocean species.

The founders of EOL describe their effort as follows:

Welcome to the first release of the Encyclopedia of Life portal. This is the very beginning of our exciting journey to document all species of life on Earth.

Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about all life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goals are to:

Create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike.

Transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating virtually all known data about every living species.

Engage a wide audience of schoolchildren, educators, citizen scientists, academics and those who are just curious about Earth's species.

Increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.