Oxford LibGuides: Ecology for short courses: Oxford's online resources

Oxford's Online Resources

Oxford subscribes to a wide range of online resources which are available to students with an Oxford Single Sign on (SSO) from home. To browse the full list of these resources use the Databases A-Z

If you do not have an Oxford Single Sign on (SSO) please see the 'Free online resources' tab.

If you are looking for a specific ebook or articles please see the tabs for 'books' or 'journals' instead.

Please find below information about resources including

Online tools for literature searching
Key bibliographical databases
Key full text databases
Data and statistics

Online resources for literature searching

You can search for books, articles, conference papers, other publications and dissertations using SOLO, Google Scholar or Bibliographical Databases. Below you will find some brief notes about each of these tools followed by a list of bibliographical databases for Ecology. For a more detailed comparison of the pro's and cons of SOLO, Google Scholar and Bibliographical Databases as literature searching tools please see the 'Search Tips' tab.

SOLO
A keyword search in SOLO will return a wide range of results nearly all of which will be available in full to Oxford students. Although SOLO is an excellent tool for subject searching for books, it can be a blunt tool for searching for articles sometimes returning items which are less relevant to your topic.
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This is because SOLO casts a very wide net (searching across nearly all of Oxford's electronic and print resources). Whilst this can be an advantage in surfacing items from a range of disciplines and perspectives, it can also mean that you receive a lot of results some of which may be less relevant to you. The refine options on the left hand side of SOLO can help by narrowing your search
Google Scholar
A keyword search in Google Scholar will return vast numbers of results which nearly always include useful items but which may also include less relevant and in some cases less scholarly materials. Google Scholar will return some results where you will only see brief details (rather than the 'full text'). See 'more' for information on setting up Google Scholar for Oxford e-resources which will help with this.
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For the best results open Google Scholar 'Settings' and in 'Library Links' search for 'University of Oxford'. This will enable Google Scholar to link to Oxford's subscription eresources. However, Google will still return some results where you can't see the 'full text'.
Bibliographical Databases
Bibliographical Databases search across selected academic publications in a discipline and usually have searchable summaries, advanced search options and refinements. As a result they often return smaller numbers of results which are more focussed and relevant. One disadvantage is that they may include some items which are not available in "full text". Use "Find it @ Oxford" to help with this. You will find a selection of bibliographical databases for your subject below.

Key Bibliographical Databases

Bibliographic databases index the titles and abstracts of journal articles, books and conference papers. They are useful for conducting a structured literature search across a large range of publications.

Databases A-Z
The 'Databases A-Z' lists all the bibliographical databases and other databases and online resources available to members of University of Oxford. To limit to bibliographical databases only choose 'Abstracts and Indexes' under 'Database type'

Scopus
Scopus is a bibliographic database for science, medicine and some social sciences. It includes Geobase, a geography database.
Scopus is a bibliographic database for science, medicine and some social sciences. It covers over 25,000 journals and over 300,000 books from over 7,000 publishers worldwide, providing access to over 90 million records going back as far as the 18th century.
It includes the content from a number of other major databases: Medline (medicine) 1966 - , Embase (medicine) 1970 - , Compendex (engineering) 1970 - , Geobase (geography) 1980 - .
Web of Science
Includes the BIOSIS database on Life Sciences and the Zoological Record database.
Alternative names: WoK ; WoS ; Web of Knowledge. Provides access to and cross-searching of databases in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine, social sciences and humanities. It includes Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Data Citation Index. Also provides access to Journal Citation Reports for sciences and social sciences.
CAB Abstracts
Agricultural and applied life sciences database, covering international issues in agriculture, forestry, and allied disciplines in the life sciences.
CAB ABSTRACTS is the world's most comprehensive and integrated international agricultural and applied life sciences database, covering international issues in agriculture, forestry, and allied disciplines in the life sciences. The database contains over 5.8 million records from over 11,000 journals, books, conferences, reports, and other kinds of literature published internationally in over 75 languages. Subjects covered include animal and crop husbandry, animal and plant breeding, plant protection, genetics,forestry engineering, economics, veterinary medicine, human nutrition, and rural development.
The records are also collected into some 46 printed abstract journals published by CABI. Journals, monographs, conferences, books, annual reports, and other sources from more than 130 countries are scanned regularly for inclusion in the CAB ABSTRACTS database, to produce approximately 180,000 new records per year. Nearly all the records have informative English abstracts prepared by our team of scientists and linguists. A specialized thesaurus of index terms has been developed to provide easy access to all records on the database.
Coverage: 1910 -

Full text databases

Biodiversity Heritage Library
An open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives.
Alternative name: BHL

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of 12 natural history and botanical libraries that cooperate to digitize and make accessible the legacy literature of biodiversity held in their collections and to make that literature available for open access and responsible use as a part of a global “biodiversity commons.” The BHL consortium works with the international taxonomic community, rights holders, and other interested parties to ensure that this biodiversity heritage is made available to a global audience through open access principles. Today, In partnership with the Internet Archive and through local digitization efforts, BHL has digitized over 32 million pages of taxonomic literature, representing over 45,000 titles and 87,000 volumes (January 2011).
BioMed Central Journals
Journal articles on Biology, including collections on topics related to the environment.
Alternative names: Bio Med Central ; BMC Journals

BioMed Central is an independent publishing house committed to providing immediate free access to peer-reviewed biomedical research.
All the original research articles in journals published by BioMed Central are immediately and permanently available online without charge or any other barriers to access. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is central to rapid and efficient progress in science and that subscription-based access to research is hindering rather than helping scientific communication.
All research articles and most other content in BioMed Central's journals are fully and rapidly peer-reviewed. The precise form of peer review is left to those responsible for editorial control of the journal. In some cases, including all the medical BMC journals, reviewers are asked to sign their reviews and the pre-publication history of each paper (submitted versions, reviewers' reports, authors' responses) is posted on the web with the published article.
JSTOR Global Plants
Database of digitised plant specimens. This resource also features partner-contributed reference works and primary sources, such as collectors’ correspondence and diaries, illustrations, and photographs.
Alternative name: Plant sciences

JSTOR Global Plants aggregates content of interest to those working the in the fields of plant sciences, botany and ecology as part of the Global Plants Initiative (GPI). Content includes relevant scientific literature, reference works, images, illustrations, correspondence and a searchable database of over 700,000 plant type specimens.

Data and statistics

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
Provides information about where and when species have been recorded
GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—is an international network and data infrastructure funded by the world's governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth.
Coordinated through its Secretariat in Copenhagen, the GBIF network of participating countries and organizations, working through participant nodes, provides data-holding institutions around the world with common standards and open-source tools that enable them to share information about where and when species have been recorded. This knowledge derives from many sources, including everything from museum specimens collected in the 18th and 19th century to geotagged smartphone photos shared by amateur naturalists in recent days and weeks.
The GBIF network draws all these sources together through the use of data standards, such as Darwin Core, which forms the basis for the bulk of GBIF.org's index of hundreds of millions of species occurrence records. Publishers provide open access to their datasets using machine-readable Creative Commons licence designations, allowing scientists, researchers and others to apply the data in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and policy papers each year. Many of these analyses—which cover topics from the impacts of climate change and the spread of invasive and alien pests to priorities for conservation and protected areas, food security and human health— would not be possible without this.
Global Invasive Species Database
Information about alien and invasive species that negatively impact biodiversity.
The Global Invasive Species Database is a free, online searchable source of information about alien and invasive species that negatively impact biodiversity. The GISD aims to increase public awareness about invasive species and to facilitate effective prevention and management activities by disseminating specialist’s knowledge and experience to a broad global audience. It focuses on invasive alien species that threaten native biodiversity and natural areas and covers all taxonomic groups from micro-organisms to animals and plants.
The Global Invasive Species Database (GISD) is managed by the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. It was developed between 1998 and 2000 as part of the global initiative on invasive species led by the erstwhile Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP).

Encyclopaedias & dictionaries

Oxford Reference
Alternative names: ORO ; Oxford Reference Online

Oxford Reference Online brings together over 450 reference works published by Oxford University Press into a single cross-searchable resource. It includes English and bilingual dictionaries, English grammar and usage guides, quotations and subject-specific reference works.
It is updated regularly with new titles, new editions, new entries, full-colour maps and illustrations, timelines, weblinks, and bibliographies.

A dictionary of ecology by Michael Allaby
ISBN: 9780191793158
Publication Date: 2015
New Encyclopedia of Birds by Christopher Perrins (Editor)
ISBN: 9780198525066
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
A dictionary of environment and conservation by Chris Park and Michael Allaby
ISBN: 0191826324
Publication Date: 2017
Encyclopedia of Biodiversity by Samuel M. Scheiner (Editor-In-Chief)
ISBN: 9780123847201
Publication Date: 2013-02-05

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Oxford Bibliographies
Oxford Bibliographies are comprehensive subject bibliographies, which provide an up-to-date overview of the most recent and authoritative scholarship in a given field.

Includes collections on Ecology and Environmental Science.
Alternative names: OBO ; Oxford Bibliographies Online

Oxford Bibliographies are comprehensive subject bibliographies, which provide an up-to-date overview of the most recent and authoritative scholarship in a given field. Oxford Bibliographies provides faculty and students alike with a seamless pathway to the most accurate and reliable resources for a variety of academic topics. Every article in the database is an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, written and reviewed by academic experts, with original commentary and annotations. The modules include:
African American Studies, African Studies, American Literature, Anthropology, Art History, Atlantic History, Biblical Studies, British and Irish Literature, Buddhism, Childhood Studies, Chinese Studies, Cinema and Media Studies, Classics, Communication, Criminology, Ecology, Education, Environmental Science, Evolutionary Biology, Geography, Hinduism, International Law, International Relations, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Latin American Studies, Latino Studies, Linguistics, Literary and Critical Theory, Management, Medieval Studies, Military History, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Public Health, Renaissance and Reformation, Social Work, Sociology, Victorian Literature.