Vertebrate Morphology, Phylogeny, and 3D Phyloinformatics

这项工作的目标是为脊椎动物进化提供一个系统的框架。这将通过建立一个三维数据集的数字图书馆来实现，用于更高层次的脊椎动物系统发育分析，使用目前可能的最高质量和分辨率。它将为系统学建立一个三维空间信息学基础设施，并通过二维图像和注释工具将科学信息从体素数据转移到社区数据库。通过将MorphBank的工具与Digimorph和新开发的受控词汇工具相结合，他们将为形态学和系统学创造一个创新的新协作环境。遗产数据将包括一个大约1000个重要化石和最近标本的体积数据库。该项目建立在得克萨斯大学高分辨率X射线计算机断层扫描设备（UTCT）和脊椎动物形态学数字图书馆的基础上，该图书馆测试了高分辨率X射线计算机断层扫描（HRXCT），用于脊椎动物骨骼在中尺度和宏观尺度上的体积成像，从胚胎到成年人，在化石和最近的标本中。它还建立了一个信息学平台，通过网络（DigiMorph.org）和作为传统出版物的CD-ROM补充，传播近TB的3D CT数据集和衍生可视化。CIPRes和Morphbank提供了一个新的3D数据将被集成到其中的信息学平台。共同的目标是将DigiMorph.org转化为一个更强大的资源，以满足系统生物学的严格要求。它还将部署磁共振显微镜（MRM），对各种缺乏矿化的脊椎动物进行比较软组织分析。该提案包括改进的Digimorph.org，其内容显著增加，改进的搜索工具以及操作和查看数据的工具。这个网站，平均每月有30，000名访问者，提供了3000多部电影和动画，代表了近300种植物和动物。生物的范围从3亿年前的化石被囊动物只有几毫米直径的非洲狮子，从郁金香花到最早的已知恐龙化石之一。德克萨斯纪念博物馆，预计今年将有超过10万名K-12参观者，专门举办了一个新的展览，展示3D模型和来自数码影像扫描的电影。这种教育环境提供了一个无与伦比的机会，介绍基本的生物学原理，以观众渴望“看到更多。“这种新的数字管道从研究到公众，通过网站和博物馆，加快了发现的传播，并确保对所有访问数字形态的新影响。该项目将培训研究生和研究人员对体积数据进行机械和解剖学研究。这将是将形态学领域从模拟环境扩展到数字环境的一大步，并且出现了可出口到其他工程师，医生和生物学家社区的信息学基础设施，这些社区在研究中使用3D数据。

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.