ABI: Sustaining - MorphoBank: the web tool and database for phylogenetic tree-building with phenotypes and the interpretation of trait evolution

科学家通过研究表型（解剖学、行为学、生理学）和基因型来理解和解释物种的进化。整合这些数据，包括化石物种，可以重建生命之树，这被科学杂志确定为新千年的125个顶级科学挑战之一。通过记录树木建造的表型，研究人员测试了主要的进化假设，比如一个物种是什么时候进化出花的？还是飞翔的能力？地球上有数以千万计的物种，组织这些信息需要大量创造性的计算机基础设施。这种基因型信息的基础设施已经存在了一段时间，主要是由20世纪的人类基因组计划发起的。然而，表型的组织工具和数据库在历史上并没有得到类似的关注。因此，2001年，在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，研究人员启动了MorphoBank (http://www.morphobank.org/)，这是一个开源的网络应用程序和数据库，已成为收集、组织、存储和呈现生命之树表型数据的现代工具。由于软件必须不断变化才能在不断发展的互联网世界中发挥作用，因此该项目是为了维护MorphoBank软件和基础设施，使该工具和数据库能够作为进化生物学社区和公众的强大资源而持续存在。MorphoBank为科学家提供了一个独特的数字工作空间，与世界各地的其他人进行实时合作，并进行与生命之树和进化相关的数据收集。关键数据强调了MorphoBank之前的成功。每个月，科学家都会记录9万次观测，并加载2000张新生成、经过整理和注释的图像。每月有超过2000名访客访问该网站，查看项目3000次，矩阵6000次，媒体75000次。在MorphoBank上发表的项目中，有30%来自美国国家科学基金会资助的地质学、生物学和人类学项目。另外35%的项目拥有由国际科学机构资助的研究成果，这使得MorphoBank成为一个全球性的工具和档案。在MorphoBank之前，包括美国国家科学基金会支持的哺乳动物生命之树（AToL）项目在内的奖学金是不可能的。这项研究发表在《科学》杂志上，其中包括由20多名研究人员组成的团队进行的数十万次科学观察，收集了12,000张图像。这篇论文得到了广泛的报道（《纽约时报》、BBC、《时代》杂志），其中还提到了MorphoBank是一项推动研究的创新。Morphobank代表了美国科学基础设施的一个新元素，为地理位置无关的全球科学合作提供了一个模型平台。当前项目对教育和培训的贡献包括：(1)为纽约石溪大学的少数民族计算机科学专业提供基于网络的生物信息学软件课程；(2)为该课程的选定学生提供两个暑期实习机会；(3)为美国自然历史博物馆的高中生提供两个“形态进化”课程，以学习研究表型的科学实践。

Scientists understand and interpret the evolution of species by studying both phenotypes (anatomy, behavior, physiology) and genotypes. The integration of these data, including fossil species, permits the reconstruction of the Tree of Life, which has been identified by Science magazine as one of the 125 top scientific challenges of the new millennium. By documenting phenotypes for tree-building, researchers test major evolutionary hypotheses such as when did a species develop flowers? Or the ability to fly? With tens of millions of species on the planet, organizing this informatino requires substantial creative computer infrastructure. Such infrastructure has existed for genotypic information for some time, initiated in large part by the Human Genome Project in the 20th century. Organizational tools and databases for phenotypes has not, however, received similar attention historically. Thus in 2001, with support from the National Science Foundation, investigators initiated MorphoBank (http://www.morphobank.org/), an open-source Web application and database that has become a modern tool for collecting, organizing, storing and presenting data on phenotypes across the Tree of Life. Because software must continuously change to function in the ever-evolving world of the Internet, this project is to sustain MorphoBank software and infrastructure such that the tool and database endures as a robust resource for the evolutionary biology community and the public.MorphoBank gives scientists a unique digital workspace to collaborate - in real time - with others worldwide and to conduct data collection relevant to the Tree of Life and evolution. Prior success of MorphoBank is underscored by key statistics. Each month scientists record 90,000 observations and load 2,000 newly-generated, curated and annotated images. Over 2,000 visitors reach the site monthly to view projects 3,000 times, matrices 6,000 times, and media 75,000 times. 30% of published projects on MorphoBank are derived from separate NSF-funded geology, biology and anthropology grants. Another 35% of projects hold the research output funded by scientific agencies internationally making MorphoBank a global destination as a tool and archive. Scholarship that would have been impossible before MorphoBank includes the NSF-supported Assembling the Tree of Life (AToL) project for mammals. This research was published in Science and included 12,000 images tied to hundreds of thousands of scientific observations by a team of over 20 researchers. The paper received wide press (New York Times, BBC, Time Magazine), including mention of MorphoBank as the research-enabling innovation. Morphobank represents a new element in the US scientific infrastructure, providing a model platform for location-independent global scientific collaboration. Proposed contributions to education and training provided by the current project include: (1) a software course in Web-based bioinformatics for ethnic minority computer science majors from Stony Brook University, New York, (2) two summer internships for selected students from that course, and (3) two "Morpholution" courses at the American Museum of Natural History for high school students to learn scientific practices for studying phenotypes.