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

古生物数据库是互联网上有关化石记录的主要科学数据来源。它记录了化石生物的名称和分类，以及产生这些化石的地方的年龄、位置和环境。它经常被用来估计在地质时代的不同时间点存在的物种数量。麦格理将容纳这个数据库，因为它被扩展到记录许多物种的进化关系。这些信息将有助于估计哺乳动物和鸟类等主要群体的起源日期。它还将有助于显示，大规模灭绝是否倾向于以几乎没有幸存物种的老群体为目标，这将有助于预测哪些群体将在当前的大规模灭绝中幸存下来。

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.