About

Overview

This website provides information on the flora and fauna of New England, with a focus on Massachusetts.

Mass Nature's aim is to promote an understanding of life on earth, and its diversity, complexity, and interconnections, by presenting and summarizing data on the flora and fauna from our local area.

Massnature.com consists of four main components:

1. Pages that supply information on different taxonomic groups (e.g., plants) and subgroups (e.g., ferns), and which list taxa found in New England;
2. Database records associated with these taxa (the database records include various information about the organisms, such as photographic data, status in New England, biology and ecology, habitat, and associated species);
3. Metadata pages, which explain the data included in a database record; and
4. Learning pages, which include short articles and quizzes.

Please note that the lists of taxa that appear on Mass Nature's web pages are not comprehensive lists of taxa found in New England, but rather lists of taxa currently found in the Mass Nature database. The Mass Nature database includes only organisms photographically documented by Mass Nature.

This is an on-going project. Taxa are continually being added to the database. Due to the nature and scope of this project it is possible (and likely) that occasional errors will occur. If you spot an error, or have any comments, questions or suggestions, please contact the webmaster at webmaster@massnature.com.

Links Policy

If you have a website and wish to add a hyperlink directing visitors to a web page on Mass Nature, you are welcome to do so. No permission is necessary.

Linking to a Mass Nature web page does not imply or infer that Mass Nature endorses the entity posting the link or its products, services, or site content.

When linking to a Mass Nature web page/file, it should be clear that the content that is linked to is not part of your website. Inline linking (hotlinking) and framing are not permitted.

Copyright Policy

All content on Mass Nature (images, text, etc.) is protected by U.S. Copyright Law. All rights are reserved.

You may print, copy, and use information on this website and retrieve files containing text or images provided

1. The content is used for noncommercial purposes and is for personal or educational use;
2. You do not modify any content (text or images);
3. You include the copyright notice on the material; and
4. The content is not distributed to or potentially available to the general public (i.e., outside of a classroom setting. You may make multiple copies for classroom use.). Exceptions, in accordance with Fair Use of U.S. Copyright Law (Section 107), may include quoting or referencing material "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching..., scholarship, or research."

If you wish to post/publish an image or other content from Mass Nature on a website or elsewhere (e.g., in a printed publication or on any medium where the content is potentially displayed to the public), you must ask for and receive permission from Mass Nature. This applies to all uses (including educational, personal, non-commercial uses), with an exception being the quoting or referencing of material for purposes noted under #4 above, which are covered under Fair Use.

Images Policy

As described above, you must ask for and receive permission from Mass Nature before posting/publishing an image on a website or elsewhere.

Any image from Mass Nature that is posted/published should credit Mass Nature as the source of the image (e.g., ©2017 Mass Nature).

Mass Nature will generally allow images to be used for a fee. The cost for a license to use an image will depend on the quality and resolution of the image, where and how the image will be used, and how long the image will be used for. Image pricing charts are not currently available.

Mass Nature does not sell copyrights to images.

Under some circumstances Mass Nature may permit an individual or organization to post/publish an image for free. This is more likely to occur if the image is posted/published on a non-commercial site, is used for educational/scientific purposes, is not used to enhance or promote an organization (whether for-profit or nonprofit) or individual, and is posted/published on a site that is accessible to the general public free of charge.

How to cite

If you wish to cite a particular article in Mass Nature, refer to the "how to cite" section on the web page containing the article.

If you wish to cite the Mass Nature website in general, or a database record, or other web page or resource for which citation information, date, and author are not provided, then the format below is suggested: (note: check the home page for the date that the database was last updated.)

For the website:

Mass Nature. 2017. Accessed August 17, 2017. URL: https://massnature.com.

For a data record

Mass Nature. 2017. Acorus calamus L. Single-veined Sweet Flag. Database last updated June 17, 2017. Accessed August 17, 2018. URL: https://massnature.com/record/113.

If a web page date is provided:

Mass Nature. 2016. Ferns and Horsetails (Fern Clade). Revised August 17, 2016. Accessed August 20, 2022. URL: https://massnature.com/plants/ferns.

Contact Information

For questions, comments, or concerns, contact webmaster@massnature.com.

Status of this Website

Mass Nature is under construction! Content and functionality are limited! Please check back soon.