USDA Ecosystem Unit Name

http://www.fws.gov/stand/standards/econame_rev3.txt

Official names used by the Service to identify the ecosystem unit boundaries of the United States, which are drawn primarily along watershed boundaries. The Service originally chose the U.S. Geological Survey's Hydrologic Unit Map as the foundation for delineating ecosystem unit boundaries on a national scale. Since that time, boundaries in some of the regions have been moved to the closest county boundaries to simplify management responsibilities. The current unit boundaries reflect this combination.

USFS Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States

http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/wetlands-mapping/index_html

The purpose of this standard is to support accurate mapping and classification of wetlands, while ensuring mechanisms for their revisions and update as directed under OMB Circular A-16, Revised. It is designed to direct the current and future digital mapping of wetlands.

The mapping standard will be used for all wetland mapping nationally including Federal Agencies, States, Tribes, especially if that mapping data will be uploaded into NWI/The National Map as a data layer. Specifically, if Federal funding is involved , then use of the proposed Standard is required. For all other efforts, use of the standard is strongly encouraged.

USGS Geographic Names Information System

http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=139:1:447313099015282

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is the Federal and national standard for geographic nomenclature. The U.S. Geological Survey developed the GNIS in support of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names as the official repository of domestic geographic names data, the official vehicle for geographic names use by all departments of the Federal Government, and the source for applying geographic names to Federal electronic and printed products.

FGDC Soil Geographic Data Standard

http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/soils/soil997.PDF

The purpose of this standard is to standardize the names, definitions, ranges of values, and other characteristics of soil survey map attribute data developed by the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS). The NCSS is the body composed of the various federal, state, and local units of government who work cooperatively to develop the soil survey of all lands in the United States.

Darwin Core Biodiversity Information Standards

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/index.htm

The Darwin Core is body of standards. It includes a glossary of terms (in other contexts these might be called properties, elements, fields, columns, attributes, or concepts) intended to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity by providing reference definitions, examples, and commentaries. The Darwin Core is primarily based on taxa, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, and samples, and related information. Included are documents describing how these terms are managed, how the set of terms can be extended for new purposes, and how the terms can be used. The Simple Darwin Core [SIMPLEDWC] is a specification for one particular way to use the terms - to share data about taxa and their occurrences in a simply structured way - and is probably what is meant if someone suggests to "format your data according to the Darwin Core".

NBII Biocomplexity Thesaurus

http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=578&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true

Development of the Biocomplexity Thesaurus began in 2002-2003 through a partnership between the NBII and ProQuest (formerly CSA), a worldwide information company with more than 30 years experience as a leading bibliographic database provider.

FGDC Biological Data Profile Standard

http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/metadata/biometadata/biodatap.pdf

A common set of terminology and definitions for the documentation of biological data through the creation of extended elements and a profile of the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata.

FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (v2)

http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/metadata/base-metadata/v2_0698.pdf

A common set of terminology and definitions for the documentation of digital geospatial data. The standard establishes the names of data elements and compound elements (groups of data elements) to be used for these purposes, the definitions of these compound elements and data elements, and information about the values that are to be provided for the data elements.

USDA Plant Taxonomy Standard

http://plants.usda.gov/

The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.

Integrated Taxonomic Information System

http://www.itis.gov/

Authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world. We are a partnership of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agencies (ITIS-North America); other organizations; and taxonomic specialists. ITIS is also a partner of Species 2000 and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The ITIS and Species 2000 Catalogue of Life (CoL) partnership is proud to provide the taxonomic backbone to the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL).