scholarly journals Nurturing a sustainable Open Tree of Life

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e25727
Author(s):  
Emily Jane McTavish ◽  
Mark Holder ◽  
Karen Cranston
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Biodiversity Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Information ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Analysis Tools ◽  
Ready Access

The Open Tree of Life project is a collaborative effort to synthesize, share and update a comprehensive tree of life Fig. 1. We have completed a draft synthesis of a tree summarizing digitally available taxonomic and phylogenetic knowledge for all 2.6 million named species, available at tree.opentreeoflife.org Hinchliff et al. 2015. . . This tree provides ready access to phylogenetic information which can link together biodiversity data on the basis of what we know about relevant evolutionary history. Both the unified reference taxonomy Rees and Cranston 2017 and the published phylogenetic statements underlying the tree McTavish et al. 2015 are available and accessible online. Taxa in the phylogenies are mapped to the the reference taxonomy, which aligns Open Tree taxon identifiers to those from NCBI and GBIF, among several other taxonomy resources. The synthesis tree is revised as new data become available, and captures conflict and consensus across different published phylogenetic estimates. This undertaking requires both development of novel infrastructure and analysis tools, as well as community engagement with the Open Tree of Life project. I will discuss the challenges in and the progress towards achieving these goals.

scholarly journals Understanding UCEs: A Comprehensive Primer on Using Ultraconserved Elements for Arthropod Phylogenomics

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Miles Zhang ◽  
Jason L Williams ◽  
Andrea Lucky
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Ultraconserved Elements ◽  
Background Theory ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Targeted Enrichment

Abstract Targeted enrichment of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) has emerged as a promising tool for inferring evolutionary history in many taxa, with utility ranging from phylogenetic and biogeographic questions at deep time scales to population level studies at shallow time scales. However, the methodology can be daunting for beginners. Our goal is to introduce UCE phylogenomics to a wider audience by summarizing recent advances in arthropod research, and to familiarize readers with background theory and steps involved. We define terminology used in association with the UCE approach, evaluate current laboratory and bioinformatic methods and limitations, and, finally, provide a roadmap of steps in the UCE pipeline to assist phylogeneticists in making informed decisions as they employ this powerful tool. By facilitating increased adoption of UCEs in phylogenomics studies that deepen our comprehension of the function of these markers across widely divergent taxa, we aim to ultimately improve understanding of the arthropod tree of life.

The contribution of peer trainers to the Tree of Life project for young people living with Type 1 Diabetes: Building community

2020 ◽  
pp. 135910452095281
Author(s):  
Lucy Casdagli ◽  
Glenda Fredman ◽  
Ellie Huckle ◽  
Ella Mahony ◽  
Deborah Christie
Keyword(s):  
Type 1 Diabetes ◽  
Young People ◽  
Narrative Therapy ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Building Community ◽  
Narrative Practice ◽  
Collective Narrative

This paper describes the involvement of peer trainers in Tree of Life groups for young people living with Type 1 Diabetes. The approach is informed by narrative therapy and collective narrative practice and principles, where people are seen as separate from problems and the focus is on creating opportunities for people to tell and witness one another’s preferred identity stories. Young people who have participated in a Tree of Life day are invited to join the project as peer trainers who help facilitate, engage group participants, witness their stories and consult to the project. Involving peer trainers also aims to create a community where preferred identity stories can be lived and witnessed. This paper describes the training for peer trainers and the building of community.

scholarly journals Phylogenetically informed spatial planning is required to conserve the mammalian tree of life

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1865) ◽  
pp. 20170627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan F. Rosauer ◽  
Laura J. Pollock ◽  
Simon Linke ◽  
Walter Jetz
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Planning ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Informed Choice ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Phylogenetic Information ◽  
Mammal Conservation ◽  
The Face ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Effective Conservation

In the face of the current extinction crisis and severely limited conservation resources, safeguarding the tree of life is increasingly recognized as a high priority. We conducted a first systematic global assessment of the conservation of phylogenetic diversity (PD) that uses realistic area targets and highlights the key areas for conservation of the mammalian tree of life. Our approach offers a substantially more effective conservation solution than one focused on species. In many locations, priorities for PD differ substantially from those of a species-based approach that ignores evolutionary relationships. This discrepancy increases rapidly as the amount of land available for conservation declines, as does the relative benefit for mammal conservation (for the same area protected). This benefit is equivalent to an additional 5900 Myr of distinct mammalian evolution captured simply through a better informed choice of priority areas. Our study uses area targets for PD to generate more realistic conservation scenarios, and tests the impact of phylogenetic uncertainty when selecting areas to represent diversity across a phylogeny. It demonstrates the opportunity of using rapidly growing phylogenetic information in conservation planning and the readiness for a new generation of conservation planning applications that explicitly consider the heritage of the tree of life's biodiversity.

scholarly journals A synthetic phylogeny of freshwater crayfish: insights for conservation

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1662) ◽  
pp. 20140009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Owen ◽  
Heather Bracken-Grissom ◽  
David Stern ◽  
Keith A. Crandall
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Status ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Rate Variation ◽  
Freshwater Crayfish ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Phylogenetic Studies ◽  
Taxonomic Framework ◽  
Status Data ◽  
Synthesis Approach

Phylogenetic systematics is heading for a renaissance where we shift from considering our phylogenetic estimates as a static image in a published paper and taxonomies as a hardcopy checklist to treating both the phylogenetic estimate and dynamic taxonomies as metadata for further analyses. The Open Tree of Life project ( opentreeoflife.org ) is developing synthesis tools for harnessing the power of phylogenetic inference and robust taxonomy to develop a synthetic tree of life. We capitalize on this approach to estimate a synthesis tree for the freshwater crayfish. The crayfish make an exceptional group to demonstrate the utility of the synthesis approach, as there recently have been a number of phylogenetic studies on the crayfishes along with a robust underlying taxonomic framework. Importantly, the crayfish have also been extensively assessed by an IUCN Red List team and therefore have accurate and up-to-date area and conservation status data available for analysis within a phylogenetic context. Here, we develop a synthesis phylogeny for the world's freshwater crayfish and examine the phylogenetic distribution of threat. We also estimate a molecular phylogeny based on all available GenBank crayfish sequences and use this tree to estimate divergence times and test for divergence rate variation. Finally, we conduct EDGE and HEDGE analyses and identify a number of species of freshwater crayfish of highest priority in conservation efforts.

scholarly journals Understanding UCEs: A Comprehensive Primer on Using Ultraconserved Elements for Arthropod Phylogenomics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanmeng Zhang ◽  
Jason Williams ◽  
Andrea Lucky
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Ultraconserved Elements ◽  
Background Theory ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Targeted Enrichment

Targeted enrichment of ultraconserved elements (UCE) has emerged as a promising tool for inferring evolutionary history in many taxa, with utility ranging from phylogenetic and phylogeographic questions at deep time scales to population level studies at shallow time scales. However, the methodology can be daunting for beginners. Our goal is to introduce UCE phylogenomics to a wider audience by summarizing recent advances in arthropod research, and to familiarize readers with background theory and steps involved. We define terminology used in association with the UCE approach, evaluate current laboratory and bioinformatic methods and limitations, and, finally, provide a roadmap of steps in the UCE pipeline to assist phylogeneticists in making informed decisions as they employ this powerful tool. By facilitating increased adoption of UCE in phylogenomics studies that deepen our comprehension of the function of these markers across widely divergent taxa, we aim to ultimately improve understanding of the arthropod tree of life.

scholarly journals Phylogeny of the Varidnaviria Morphogenesis Module: Congruence and Incongruence With the Tree of Life and Viral Taxonomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony C. Woo ◽  
Morgan Gaia ◽  
Julien Guglielmini ◽  
Violette Da Cunha ◽  
Patrick Forterre
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Dna Viruses ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Double Stranded Dna ◽  
Domains Of Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Recent Classification ◽  
Jelly Roll

Double-stranded DNA viruses of the realm Varidnaviria (formerly PRD1-adenovirus lineage) are characterized by homologous major capsid proteins (MCPs) containing one (kingdom: Helvetiavirae) or two β-barrel domains (kingdom: Bamfordvirae) known as the jelly roll folds. Most of them also share homologous packaging ATPases (pATPases). Remarkably, Varidnaviria infect hosts from the three domains of life, suggesting that these viruses could be very ancient and share a common ancestor. Here, we analyzed the evolutionary history of Varidnaviria based on single and concatenated phylogenies of their MCPs and pATPases. We excluded Adenoviridae from our analysis as their MCPs and pATPases are too divergent. Sphaerolipoviridae, the only family in the kingdom Helvetiavirae, exhibit a complex history: their MCPs are very divergent from those of other Varidnaviria, as expected, but their pATPases groups them with Bamfordvirae. In single and concatenated trees, Bamfordvirae infecting archaea were grouped with those infecting bacteria, in contradiction with the cellular tree of life, whereas those infecting eukaryotes were organized into three monophyletic groups: the Nucleocytoviricota phylum, formerly known as the Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDVs), Lavidaviridae (virophages) and Polintoviruses. Although our analysis mostly supports the recent classification proposed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), it also raises questions, such as the validity of the Adenoviridae and Helvetiavirae ranking. Based on our phylogeny, we discuss current hypotheses on the origin and evolution of Varidnaviria and suggest new ones to reconcile the viral and cellular trees.

scholarly journals rotl, an R package to interact with the Open Tree of Life data

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Michonneau ◽  
Joseph W. Brown ◽  
David Winter
Keyword(s):  
Data Structures ◽  
R Package ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Biodiversity Data ◽  
Life Data ◽  
Taxonomic Information ◽  
Source Data ◽  
R Packages ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Tools And Methods

1. While phylogenies have been getting easier to build, it has been difficult to re-use, combine, and synthesize the information they provide because published trees are often only available as image files, and taxonomic information is not standardized across studies. 2. The Open Tree of Life (OTL) project addresses these issues by providing a digital tree that encompasses all organisms, built by combining taxonomic information and published phylogenies. The project also provides tools and services to query and download parts of this synthetic tree, as well as the source data used to build it. Here, we present rotl, an R package to search and download data from the Open Tree of Life directly in R. 3. rotl uses common data structures allowing researchers to take advantage of the rich set of tools and methods that are available in R to manipulate, analyze, and visualize phylogenies. Here, and in the vignettes accompanying the package, we demonstrate how rotl can be used with other R packages to analyze biodiversity data. 4. As phylogenies are being used in a growing number of applications, rotl facilitates access to phylogenetic data, and allows their integration with statistical methods and data sources available in R.

scholarly journals Towards a barnacle tree of life: integrating diverse phylogenetic efforts into a comprehensive hypothesis of thecostracan evolution

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Ewers-Saucedo ◽  
Christopher L. Owen ◽  
Marcos Pérez-Losada ◽  
Jens T. Høeg ◽  
Henrik Glenner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Phylogenetic Information ◽  
Barnacle Species ◽  
Phylogenetic Studies ◽  
Coastal Species ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
Unidentified Species ◽  
Cryptic Taxa ◽  
Phylogenetic Hypotheses ◽  
Tree Approach

Barnacles and their allies (Thecostraca) are a biologically diverse, monophyletic crustacean group, which includes both intensely studied taxa, such as the acorn and stalked barnacles, as well as cryptic taxa, for example, Facetotecta. Recent efforts have clarified phylogenetic relationships in many different parts of the barnacle tree, but the outcomes of these phylogenetic studies have not yet been combined into a single hypothesis for all barnacles. In the present study, we applied a new “synthesis” tree approach to estimate the first working Barnacle Tree of Life. Using this approach, we integrated phylogenetic hypotheses from 27 studies, which did not necessarily include the same taxa or used the same characters, with hierarchical taxonomic information for all recognized species. This first synthesis tree contains 2,070 barnacle species and subspecies, including 239 barnacle species with phylogenetic information and 198 undescribed or unidentified species. The tree had 442 bifurcating nodes, indicating that 79.3% of all nodes are still unresolved. We found that the acorn and stalked barnacles, the Thoracica, and the parasitic Rhizocephala have the largest amount of published phylogenetic information. About half of the thecostracan families for which phylogenetic information was available were polyphyletic. We queried publicly available geographic occurrence databases for the group, gaining a sense of geographic gaps and hotspots in our phylogenetic knowledge. Phylogenetic information is especially lacking for deep sea and Arctic taxa, but even coastal species are not fully incorporated into phylogenetic studies.

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