Almost one year after the Encyclopedia of Life announced its plan to construct a comprehensive, online catalog of biodiversity, the website will unveil its first 30,000 species pages tomorrow (Feb. 26).

With $50 million from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and other funders, and scientific support from a gaggle of universities and museums, the Encyclopedia of Life began digitizing and organizing scientific information on the planet's living organisms last year. The 30,000 pages that go live tomorrow include plants and animals, and twelve of those pages will be fully functional, including links to DNA barcoding data, ecological information, loads of photos and illustrations, and other features.

The Encyclopedia of Life was started at the urging of famed ecologist Edward O. Wilson last year and plans to complete pages for all of Earth's 1.8 million or so described species by 2017. An Encyclopedia of Life spokesperson told The Scientist that the website's creators will use feedback on the batch of pages going live tomorrow to streamline the construction of future pages.