This site offers a large selection of pictures of Natural History objects, mostly British in origin. The images are presented to illustrate biodiversity and as an aid to identification. While pictures alone are generally NOT sufficient for identification, by showing different stages, states and views of the organisms more information can be offered than is available in field-guides. How to find your way around: BioImages is arranged in the normal biological classification (or at least my interpretation of it.) This is a hierarchical system with species grouped in genera, genera in families, families in orders and so on up to kingdoms and superkingdoms. 'Living Things' takes you to the top of the classification tree. If you just want to browse, Shortcuts takes you to a list of links to groups of organisms. You can then go directly to the group your are interested in. Then follow the links down to the species you want to see. On the left of each page in the classification hierarchy is a column of links to take you back up the hierarchy. Using these and the subtaxon links in the body of the page you can navigate sideways. This is a large site containing (Mar 06) 53,000 images depicting 4,600 species. The images include habitat shots, close-ups, macro shots and microscopy. Enjoy! ... [Information of the supplier]
Digital botanical illustration allows a fascinating close-up view of the plant world and, while scientifically based, it is also full of beauty for all to enjoy. Developed from the long tradition of botanical art, from the early herbals, through lithographs and engravings, to the meticulously hand-painted watercolours of today, this new digital work aims to combine the best of the old with the demands and technologies of the new. The background to this work was an award in 2003, from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, which part-funded a project to investigate digital techniques for botanical illustration. The first illustrations of this type were created in November 2003. Each composite illustration is a comprehensive plant portrait of a single taxon or plant species, showing the diagnostic and, where space allows, also the characteristic features of that plant. All parts and dissections within it are shown to scale by a metric scale bar, and where appropriate, the notable parts are colour referenced. In addition, each illustration contains a time bar showing the month/s of flowering, botanical symbols, and a title block, in which the currently accepted Latin plant name, author for the name, any common name/s and the accepted botanical family name are displayed. The works are largely, but not totally, photographic. ... [Information of the supplier, modified]
