Environmental Science

In the broadest sense, Environmental Science is the interdisciplinary study of the relationships between living things and the environment.

This guide is a finding aid for information related to Environmental Science. It includes both print and online materials. The guide is not comprehensive. If you need assistance locating these or any other sources, please contact the Science and Engineering Library reference department.

Electronic Databases

Agricola 1966+  
Index to agricultural and related life science journals containing over 3.3 million bibliographic records of journal articles, books, theses, patents, software, audio-visual materials, and technical reports. Indexers regularly scan over 1,400 journals for input into the database.

ASFA 1: Biological Sciences and Living Resources   1971+
Citations with abstracts to journal articles, books, reports, conference
proceedings, and translations dealing with the aquatic sciences. Input to ASFA is provided by a growing international network of information centers monitoring over 5,000 serial publications, books, reports, conference proceedings, translations and limited distribution literature.

Applied Science and TechnologyFull Text 1983+
This database contains full text of articles from 157 applied science and technology journals plus indexing and abstracting for a broad range of leading trade and industrial publications, professional and technical society journals, specialized subject periodicals, buyers' guides, directories, and conference proceedings.

BIOSIS  (Biological Abstracts)   1989+
This database consists of citations with abstracts and links to full text articles in over 7,000 life science journals worldwide. Very comprehensive across all of the life sciences.

Chemical Abstracts via SciFinder Scholar 1907+  
This database is a comprehensive index to journal and patent literature in chemistry and related sciences.

Energy Citations Database 1948+
This database contains bibliographic records for energy and energy-related science and technology information from the Department of Energy (DOE)

Environment Complete 1954+
This database offers deep coverage in applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, environmental law, geography, marine & freshwater resources, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more. It offers cover-to-cover indexing and detailed abstracts for well over 1,000 international journals with ongoing coverage for over 500 titles, providing a global perspective on applicable issues.

General Science Full Text   (WilsonWeb)   1984+
Citations, with abstracts, to journal articles selected from close to 200
English-language core and popular journals covering all science disciplines.
Includes access to the full text of articles for 25% of the journals.

GeoRef 1785+
This is the most comprehensive database of bibliographic information in the geosciences. It provides access to over 2.3 million references to articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports, and theses, covering the geology of the world.

Greenfile
Includes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports. Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, GreenFILE serves as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet. The database contains nearly 300,000 records, full text for selected titles and searchable cited references for more than 200 titles as well.

LexisNexis Academic
This full-text database includes newspapers, wire services, transcripts of television and radio broadcasts, medical and health journals, trade journals, accounting literature, company financial reports, law reviews, statutory and case law, and public opinion polls. It is international in scope, and includes newspapers in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and German. Dates of coverage vary depending upon the publication.

Water Resources WorldWide 1970+
This database enable users to search three of the world's major water-resource databases: South Africa's WATERLIT, Canada's AQUAREF, and the Netherlands' DELFT to find information about a large variety of water-related topics including supply, hydrology, planning, harbors, erosion, environmental impacts, snow/ice, and pollution.

Web of Science 1973+
Offering an electronic version of Science Citation Index, this database
covers articles in all areas of the sciences and enables users to search current and retrospective multidisciplinary information from approximately 8,500 of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world. Its most unique feature is the
ability to search for cited references in journal articles.

Wildlife and Ecology Studies WorldWide 1935+
This database offers a large index to literature on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Topics covered include behavior, endangered/threatened species, habitat, disturbances, genetics, life history, physiology, morphology, pollution, and management.


Guides

Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America
Sci/Eng Reference QH77.N56 B43 2001

Climate change : a reference handbook / David L. Downie, Kate
Brash, and Catherine Vaughan.
Sci/Eng QC981.8.C5 D693 2009

Earth science resources in the electronic age / Judith A. Bazler
Sci/Eng Reference QE48.87 B39 2003

The environmental science of drinking water / Patrick J.
Sullivan, Franklin J. Agardy, James J.J. Clark
Sci/Eng TD345 .S77 2005

The essential guide to environmental chemistry / Georg Schwedt, 2001.
Sci/Eng Reference TD193 .S3813 2001

Nuclear wastelands : a global guide to nuclear weapons production and its health and environmental effects /edited by Arjun Makhijani, Howard Hu, and Katherine Yih, 1995.
Sci/Eng TD195.N85 N83 1995

Principles of water resources : history, development, management,
and policy / Thomas V. Cech
Sci/Eng TC405 .C42 2005

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias


Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Glossary (Center for Disease Control)

BioTech's Life Science DictionaryChemistry and Environmental Dictionary

Dictionary of environment and development : people, places, ideas, and organizations/ Andy Crump , 1993
Mugar Reference X GE10 .C78 1993

Dictionary of environmental science and technology / Andrew Porteous , 2008.
Sci/Eng Reference GE10 .P67 2008

Dictionary of environment and sustainable development / Alan Gilpin, 1996.
Sci/Eng Reference HC79.E5 G518 1996

Dictionary of ecology and the environment / P. H. Collin , 2001.
Sci/Eng Reference QH540.4 .C65 2001

Encyclopedic dictionary of environmental change / edited by John A. Matthews, 2001.
Sci/Eng Reference GE10 .E534 2001

Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment

Encyclopedia of biodiversity / Simon Asher Levin, 2001
Sci/Eng Reference QH541.15 B56 E53 2001

Encyclopedia of energy / Cutler J. Cleveland, 2004
Sci/Eng Reference TJ163.28 .E53 2004

Encyclopedia of energy technology and the environment / Attilio Bisio, Sharon Boots, 1995
Sci/Eng TJ163.235 .E53 1995

Encyclopedia of environmental science / David E. Alexander and Rhodes W. Fairbridge, 1999
Sci/Eng Reference GE10 .E526 1999

Encyclopedia of endangered species / edited by Mary Emanoil, 1994
Sci/Eng Reference QL82 .E5 1994

Encyclopedia of environmetrics / editors-in-chief, Abdel H. El-Shaarawi, Walter W. Piegorsch, 2002.
Sci/Eng Reference GE45.S73 E53 2002

Encyclopedia of global change : environmental change and human society / Andrew S. Goudie, 2002.
Sci/Eng Reference GE149 .E47 2002

Encyclopedia of life sciences, Nature Pub. Group, 2002.
Sci/Eng Reference QH302.5 .E525 2002

Environmental encyclopedia / Marci Bortman, 2003.
Sci/Eng GE10 .E38 2003

Terms of the Environment (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

Journals

Boston University Libraries- eJournal Locator and Complete List of E-Journals

Some environmental journals to which BU has electronic access:

Technical Reports

Congressional Research Service reports  
Full text of over 1200 objective and nontechnical reports on environmental and related topics prepared for the U.S.Congress; redistributed by the National Library for the Environment.

GrayLit Network, 1974+ (varies)  
Portal for full text technical reports from the DOE, DOD, EPA, and NASA; includes 7,000 documents from the EPA's National Environmental Publication Internet Site (NEPIS)

Web Resources

Academic Info Environmental Studies Gateway
This web site is geared toward university students and provides links to many environmental information resources including digital publications, jobs, environmental databases, environmental history, environmental law, global warming & climate change, biodiversity, ozone depletion, and fisheries.

Biodiversity (Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage)
This web site provides very extensive coverage of broad topics related to biodiversity including biodiversity hotspots, international issues, invasive species, migratory species, ecological communities, and wildlife trade.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function On-line
This web site aims to be a resource for researchers specifically concerned with how the richness of species (or functional groups) affects ecosystem function.

Biodiversity and Protected Areas
Information about biodiversity from the U.S. government's National Biological Information Infrastructure.

Department of Energy, Information Bridge
Full text scientific and technical reports.

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (U.S. Department of Energy)
The energy information portal available from this web site provides a gateway to hundreds of web sites and thousands of online documents on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Energy Information Administration, US Government
A statistical agency of the US Department of Energy. Publishes energy statistics, articles, and analysis, covering various fuels (including renewables) and countries, with a focus on the United States.

EnviroLink
Online environmental community uniting hundreds of organizations and volunteers around the world with millions of people in more than 150 countries dedicated to providing comprehensive, up-to-date environmental information and news on a large variety of environmental topics.

EPA Global Warming
The Environmental Protection Agency's Web site specifically related to global warming. Provides a great deal of useful information about the causes and the possible solutions to the problem.

EPA Office of Water
This Environmental Protection Agency site provides information about groundwater, water science, wastewater management, wetlands, oceans and watersheds.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
This internet guide explains what GIS is and how it is used.

Global Biodiversity Information Facility
This site makes primary data on biodiversity freely and universally available via the internet.

Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)
The GCMD serves as an excellent source of information about Earth science, environmental, biosphere, climate, and global change data and information made available to the international scientific community.

Global Invasive Species Database
Allows the user to search for information on numerous invasive species.

Global Land Environments Since the Last Interglacial
Web site providing ecosystems maps based on compilations of the available data in the scientific literature.

Global Warming/Climate Change Theme Page
The web site provides links to collections of useful Internet educational resources about a large variety of topics realted to global warming.

Global Warming: Early Warning Signs
Information on global warming provided by a number of environmental organizations.

NOAA paleo global warming
This site provides information related to climate variability. Data, models, maps, reports, and publications provided at the site are globally accessible to online researchers, students, and government policy makers alike.

Invasives on the Web
Provides information on invasive plants in the US.

invasivespecies.gov
From the National Agricultural Library. It provides extensive information about the impact of invasive species and the response of the federal government to this problem.

NASA Earth Observatory
This web site provides a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth's climate and environmental change.

National Geographic News: IN A RAGE OVER ALASKA TREES
Article about the use of Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Includes links to related web sites.

National Library for the Environment
This web site provides timely and easy-to-use single-point entry to environmental information and data.

Natural Resources Defense Council
Contains many useful reports and links, compiled by a leading environmental activist organization.

Natural selection
This web site provides a browsable and searchable collection of Internet resources about the natural world. Topics include Natural Resources & Energy, Palaeontology, Biology, Botany, and Zoology.

Planet Ark
This web site provides comprehensive, daily, international, environmental news from Reuters news agency.

Red List of Threatened Species
This list, compiled by IUCN - The World Conservation Union, provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on taxa that are facing a high risk of global extinction.

SciTechResources.gov
This site "provides the scientist, engineer, and science aware citizen with easy access to government resources on many scientific top ices including environment.

Species 2000
This site contains a series of databases providing a uniform and validated quality index of names of all known species.

Transgenic Crops: An Introduction and Resource Guide
The goal of this web site is to provide information and links to other resources on the technology and issues surrounding genetically modified crops.

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
This site describes the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission which is a joing mission between NASA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan to monitor and study tropical rainfall and the associated release of energy.

UNESCO Water Portal
This web site is intended to enhance access to online information related to freshwater and provide information about UN programs dealing with water.

University of Alaska, Justice Center Web Site Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
This web site provides information about the argument over the use of the ANWR for oil drilling. It includes links to resources for additional information.

USAID Global Climate Change
This web site from the United States Agency for International Development includes information on policies and programs, annual reporting, publications and outreach, and country narratives. It also features information on the following sectors: clean energy technology, land use and forestry, adapting to climate variability and change, capacity building, and climate science for decision-making.

The Virtual Library of Ecology and Biodiversity
This web site specializes in providing information pertaining to ecology and biodiversity that is especially valuable to education. It includes a searchable database of ecology-related information.

The Virtual Library of Urban Environmental Management
This web site provides information related to environmental management in urban settings including documents, insights, links, networks, chronicles, and more.

Water Resources of the United States
This government web site provides a wealth of reliable, impartial, and timely information needed to understand the water resources of the United States.

Wilderness Information Network National Wilderness Preservation System
This web site provides information about a variety of topics related to the US national wilderness including the definition, management, and use.

Wind energy resource atlas of the United States
This site sponsored offers a resource atlas that allows visitors to look at wind power resources on either a macro or micro basis. The site presents maps of all areas of the US, showing wind speeds, direction, variability, seasonal fluctuations, and elevations

World Environment Library
This web site provides access to about 400 publications concerned with ideas and solutions in the fields of Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Impact Assessment, Energy, Health, Natural Resources, Policy, Sustainable Development, Waste Management and Water.


Research Centers and Labs

Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine Research
This institute conducts research in the Arctic, the Antarctic and at temperate latitudes to study the global system and environmental science. This site has a large amount of data about global change research including real time ozone soundings and a hydrographic atlas of the Southern Ocean.

Ames Laboratory's Environmental & Protection Sciences Program
The program focuses on technologies designed to clean up hazardous waste; respond to remediation problems that need faster, safer, better or cheaper technological solutions; the scientists behind them; and efforts to move these technologies into the marketplace.

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)
CDIAC is the primary global-change and greenhouse effect data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)
CIESIN works at the intersection of the social, natural, and information sciences, and specializes in on-line data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment.

Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory
The CMDL works to observe and understand, through accurate, long-term records of atmospheric gases, aerosol particles, and solar radiation, the Earth's atmospheric system controlling climate forcing, ozone depletion and baseline air quality.

Complex Systems Research Center
CSRC is dedicated to the study of the biologically mediated geochemistry of the Earth System.

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
CIRES is a collaborative research and teaching institute covering the wide-ranging disciplines of the environmental sciences. Its mission is to act as a national resource for multidisciplinary research and education in the environmental sciences by providing scientific leadership in the basic and applied research relevant to environmental and earth sciences issues.

Earthwatch Institute
Earthwatch Institute engages people worldwide in scientific field research
and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment.

Environmental Change Network
The Environmental Change Network (ECN) is the UK's long-term, integrated environmental monitoring and research program. ECN gathers information about the pressures on and responses to environmental change in physical, chemical and biological systems.

Environmental and Societal Impacts Group (ESIG)
ESIG is concerned with the weather, climate shifts, and human behavior. Its research covers the impact of the environment on human behavior and the impact of human behavior o the environment.

Environmental Working Group (EWG)
EWG is a not-for-profit environmental research organization that uses information to improve public health and protect the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food.

Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
The Leopold Center is a research and education center with programs to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources.

Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network
LTER is a collaborative effort involving more than 1100 scientists and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales.

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
NCAR performs research on atmospheric and related science problems related to our understanding of the earth system, including climate change, changes in atmospheric composition, Earth-Sun interactions, weather formation and forecasting, and the impacts of all of these components on human societies.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
NREL focuses on developing and advancing renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
This lab conducts high-quality research and provides scientific leadership on important issues in both Great Lakes and marine coastal environments leading to new knowledge, tools, approaches, awareness and services.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Sciences Division (ESD)
Interdisciplinary research and development organization conducting research, developing technology, and performing analyses to understand and assess responses to global and regional change, environmental stress, and resource use. Publications and more detailed information about research projects are available.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
SERC's interdisciplinary research applies long-term studies to examine the ecological questions about landscapes of linked ecosystems, especially those impacted by human activities. Publications and more detailed information about research projects are available.

Water Quality Group (North Carolina State University)
This group is a multidisciplinary team that analyzes and conducts natural resource management programs with an emphasis on nonpoint source pollution policy, assessment, and control technologies.

Organizations

Center for Biological Diversity
This center is an endangered species advocate who provides an excellent web site for information on endangered animal species.

Center for Health and the Global Environment
The Center for Health and the Global Environment works to expand environmental education at medical schools and to further investigate and promote awareness of the human health consequences of global environmental change.

Environment Canada
The Canadian government environmental protection agency, Environment Canada provides a wealth of environmental information for national and international users.

Environmental Careers Organization (ECO)
This non-profit organization works to help people, especially students, in environmental issues find employment working for the environment.

Environmental Defense
This non-profit organization is dedicated to protecting clean air and water, healthy and nourishing food, and a flourishing ecosystem for all people and future generations.

Environmental Organization Web Directory
This web site provides hundreds of listings by discipline for organizations dealing with the environment.

Environmental Protection Agency (United States)
This federal government web site provides information about many environmentally-related topics; laws, regulations, and dockets; and links to educational and informational resources.

European Environmental Agency
This organization provides decision-makers with the information needed for making sound and effective policies to protect the environment and support sustainable development.

Greepeace International
This non-profit organization is concerned with protecting biodiversity and the environment.

International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
ICLEI's works to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global environmental and sustainable development conditions through cumulative local actions.

International Fund for Animal Welfare
This organization works to prevent cruelty to animals and protect wild animals and their habitats.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
IISD works to advance policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change, measurement and indicators, and natural resource management to make development sustainable.

International Solar Energy Society (ISES)
ISES works to advance renewable energy technology, encouraging implementation and education all over the world.

Jane Goodall Institute
This non-profit organization works to advance the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment for all living things.

Kai Makana Ocean Awareness
This organization takes an active role in educating and mobilizing the public to better understand and preserve marine life and the ocean environment. Through educational youth mentorship and community-based programs, Kai Makana motivates people to protect, preserve, and respect the ocean as an ecosystem central to our health, wellness and happiness.

National Environmental Directory
A directory of more than 13,000 U.S. organizations concerned with environmental issues and environmental education.

Nature Conservancy
Non-profit organization working to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.

Marine Fish Conservation Network
This network is a coalition of over 155 national and regional environmental organizations, commercial and recreational fishing groups, aquariums, and marine science groups dedicated to conserving marine fish and to promoting their long term sustainability.

Rainforest Action Network
This non-profit organization works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action.

Sierra Club
This non-profit organization works to educate communities and protect the remaining wild areas on Earth.

Solar Energy International
SEI is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide education and assistance so that others will be empowered to use renewable energy techniques.

United Nations Environment Programme
Global organization providing leadership and encouraging partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

World Agroforestry Centre
This nonprofit focuses on research and education in partnership with international institutions concerned with mitigating deforested tropical forests. World Agroforestry Centre's purpose is to mitigate tropical deforestation, land depletion, and rural poverty through improved agroforestry systems.

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