A University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor and his students are part of a worldwide effort to document all life on the planet on one Web site.

That is a large undertaking, considering there are about 1.8 million known species on Earth, said UW-L biology professor Tom Volk.

So far, Volk and his students in fungi-related classes have created about 90 of the 1.8 million pages that will eventually be on Encyclopedia of Life, online at eol.org.

A Harvard professor emeritus, Edward O. Wilson, in 2003, envisioned a Web site with a page for every species.

"A lot of biological information about species is scattered around the world and not accessible for scientists and people who want to research and learn about it," said Jeff Holmes, digital learning editor for Encyclopedia of Life.

Bringing the information together gives scientists a macroscopic view of biology, shedding light on issues from endangered species to climate change, Holmes said. It also gives the general public a place to explore and learn more about the world around them, said Nathan Wilson, education and outreach committee member for EOL.

Scientists, students, professors and other collaborators from around the world have contributed to about 150,000 species pages on the site so far.

UW-L climbed on board in fall 2008 when the site had one lonely fungus listed. Meanwhile, UW-L's Volk had been building his own Fungi Web site since 1995, and was scoring a quarter of a million hits per year with popular Web features like "fungi of the month."

"I am all about educating people about biodiversity of fungi," Volk said.

Because of Volk's existent resources and plethora of knowledge on fungi, a Harvard professor recruited him and his students to join an undergraduate initiative in which students from Oregon State, Harvard University and University of California-Berkeley create species pages under their professor's supervision to put on eol.org.

"Instead of getting a grade and throwing it away at the end of the year, they are contributing to real science and helping to build a resource," said Holmes.

Students in Volk's mycology and medical mycology classes created two fungi Web pages per student over the course of the 2008-2009 school year, Volk said.

There is no compensation for their work, but it's not about money, Volk said. Students learn about the organisms they write about and how to communicate scientific stuff to the general public.

"That's not easy," Volk said.

To see some of UW-L's work, check out Trametes versicolor, commonly known as Turkeytail, on the site. Volk and his students explain everything from its uses to fight cancer to its habitat on dead hardwood logs and stumps.

Volk's students won't be contributing this year as he is on sabbatical and plans to spend his time writing a North American mushroom field guide.

Check out Volk's fungi page at tomvolkfungi.net.