Vertebrate Morphology, Phylogeny, and 3D Phyloinformatics

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The goal of this work is to provide a systematic framework for vertebrate evolution. This will be accomplished by building a digital library of 3-D datasets for higher-level vertebrate phylogenetic analysis, using the highest quality and resolution now possible. It will establish a 3-D phyloinformatics infrastructure for systematics with application links for transferring scientific information from voxel data, via 2D imagery and annotation tools, to community databases. By integrating tools from MorphBank with Digimorph and newly developed controlled-vocabulary tools they will create an innovative new collaborative environment for morphology and systematics. Legacy data will include a library of volumetric data for approximately 1000 important fossils and recent specimens. This project builds on the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT) and the Digital Library of Vertebrate Morphology, which tested High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (HRXCT) for volumetric imaging of the vertebrate skeleton at meso- and macroscales, from embryo to adult, in fossils and recent specimens. It also established an informatics platform that disseminates nearly a terabyte of 3D CT datasets and derivative visualizations via the Web (DigiMorph.org) and as CD-ROM supplements to conventional publications. CIPRes and Morphbank provide a phyloinformatics platform into which the new 3D data will be integrated. The collective aim is to transform DigiMorph.org into a morerobust resource that meets the rigorous demands of systematic biology. It will also deploy Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (MRM) to comparative soft tissue analysis in the various vertebrates that lack mineralization.This proposal includes an improved Digimorph.org with significantly more content, improved search tools, and access to tools for manipulating and viewing data. This web site, averaging 30,000 visitors a month provides over 3000 movies and animations representing nearly 300 species of plants and animals. Organisms range from a 300 million year-old fossil tunicate only a few millimeters in diameter to an African lion, from a tulip flower to one of the earliest known dinosaur fossils. The Texas Memorial Museum, with over 100,000 K-12 visitors expected this year, has devoted a new exhibit to 3-D models and movies derived from Digimorph scans. This type of educational environment provides an unrivaled opportunity for introducing fundamental biological principals to an audience eager to "see more." This new digital pipeline from research to the public, via web sites and museums, speeds the dissemination of discovery and assures a novel impact for all visitors to Digimorph. The project will train graduate students and researchers in the mechanical and anatomical study of volumetric data. This will be a large step in extending the field of morphology from an analog to a digital environment, and the emergence of an informatics infrastructure exportable to other communities of engineers, physicians and biologists who use 3D data in their research.