Neotropical Birds Online provides a single source, multimedia introduction to the natural history of birds of the New World tropics. It attracts contributions from everyone with an interest in neotropical birds, from interested amateurs to professional ornithologists with years of experience, and provides them all with a platform to share information. Neotropical Birds also is used in the classroom.
impact statement issue
Most species of neotropical birds are poorly known and poorly studied; most of what little information that exists on these species is scattered in the primary literature or never has been published at all. In the face of ongoing threats to almost all neotropical birds from anthropogenic activities, there is great need to accumulate and synthesize all available information on all species of neotropical birds and to provide an accurate, up-to-date resource for conservation biologists, land managers, biologists, and other interested parties.
impact statement response
Our approach is to be the single source for information on all species of neotropical birds. By providing our accounts online, we can make information available to the widest number of people, and also have the flexibility to update our resources whenever new information becomes available. The site is designed to be built from the ground up: everyone with an interest in the birds of the neotropics not only can learn from visiting the site, but also is invited to contribute to it by providing expert knowledge on species or topics, photographs, audio or video recordings, or translations.
impact statement summary
Neotropical Birds Online (http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu) is an innovative collaboration of researchers, birders, and the conservation community to provide an authoritative online resource with life histories of neotropical birds. We cover the region from Mexico and the Caribbean through all of South America, and the 4,000 bird species that occur there. Neotropical Birds Online provides a survey of the life history of each species. Each species profile is supplemented wherever possible with rich media, such as still images and audio and video recordings.
