home > Resources & Links

'Know before you go' and 'be prepared' are great mottos for volunteering!

In these links we hope to bring you a myriad of background information; information you may find useful and interesting. Not all of it will be perhaps relevant to your particular chosen project or the country you are visiting - but it is a starting point.

If you decide to volunteer with Compass Volunteer and have paid your registration fee, you will receive a package of infomation and documents which go beyond the 'general' information given on this site. The Volunteer Compass Information Guide you will be given is more specific to your chosen project, country and programme as a whole. The more you know - the better.

LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION (or Taxon)

Not everyone is a zoologist, marine biologist, botanist, scientist and the like. However what WE all have in common is a passion - a passion for conservation. Each 'industry' has its own language or classification. On all but a few of our projects no technical knowledge is required or expected. However, knowing a little helps a great deal. For Marine and Wildlife projects here is a laymans' break-down of how we are all put together:

Kingdom is the very first level of organization, the most inclusive or "highest" taxonomic category. Up until 1969 there were just two Kingdoms: Animals and Plants. Since then another three have been added: Monera (bacteria), Protista (mainly single-celled Eukaryotes) and Fungi.

Phylum (from the latin singular form phyla and Greek Phylai ) is defined as a major group within a kingdom. The members of a phylum share a common structure and organisation. This term is mainly or often restricted to the Animal Kingdom. It corresponds to the category "division" in botany.

The levels of organisation are

• kingdom,
• phylum,
• class,
• order,
• family,
• genus,
• species and
• subspecies.

When project leaders, lecturers, scientists and so forth are talking about a particular subject, it is useful or at least nice to know a little bit of background. DON'T WORRY you are not tested on any of this or expected any great knowledge on any of the subjects. You are volunteering your time, effort and enthusiasm for a project - and that's what counts.