Five major universities in the US, including Harvard and the Smithsonian Institution are on a mission to create the Earth’s book of life – an online database. Over the coming years, information about the planet’s 1.8 million species will be available online for free.

Experts on species and software will contribute, creating individual web pages for each species, with photographs, ecological details like habitat, ecosystem, etc with linked references.

It’s a tremendous resource for professional biologists as well as lay persons who need information in a hurry.

Also see:
http://www.shvoong.com/internet-and-technologies/geography-maps/1735525-www-eol-org/