Quantifying the Tree of Life's Diversity with the Paleobiology Database

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The Paleobiology Database is the Internet's key source of scientific data on the fossil record. It records names and classification of fossil organisms and the ages, locations, and environments of the places that yield these fossils. It has often been used to estimate the number of species existing at different points in geological time. Macquarie will house the Database as it is expanded to record evolutionary relationships of many species. This information will help to estimate dates of origination for major groups such as mammals and birds. It will also help to show whether mass extinctions tend to target old groups with few surviving species, which will help to predict which groups will survive the current mass extinction.