Collaborative research: Automated and community-driven synthesis of the tree of life

生命之树通过共同的进化史将所有生物多样性联系在一起。该项目将为所有180万个命名物种制作第一棵在线、全面的初稿树，公众和科学界都可以访问。树的组装将结合先前发表的结果，计算生物学家和经验生物学家之间将进行强有力的合作，以开发、测试和改进数据合成的方法。这棵最初的生命树不会是静态的；相反，我们将开发工具，让科学家在新数据到来时更新和修改这棵树。及早发布树和工具将促进数据共享，并促进正在进行的知识合成。各种生物研究，包括对生态健康、环境变化和人类疾病的研究，越来越依赖于了解物种之间的关系。然而，没有一种单一的资源可以统一生命之树的知识。取而代之的是，只有这棵树的一小部分可以单独使用，通常是以期刊文章中打印的图形的形式提供。该项目将为研究生命树的全球科学家社区提供一种分享和结合他们的结果的手段，并将使大规模研究地球的生物多样性成为可能。它还将创建一个资源，学生、教育工作者和公民可以去探索和了解生命的进化史。

The tree of life links all biodiversity through a shared evolutionary history. This project will produce the first online, comprehensive first-draft tree of all 1.8 million named species, accessible to both the public and scientific communities. Assembly of the tree will incorporate previously published results, with strong collaborations between computational and empirical biologists to develop, test and improve methods of data synthesis. This initial tree of life will not be static; instead, we will develop tools for scientists to update and revise the tree as new data come in. Early release of the tree and tools will motivate data sharing and facilitate ongoing synthesis of knowledge.Biological research of all kinds, including studies of ecological health, environmental change, and human disease, increasingly depends on knowing how species are related to each other. Yet there is no single resource that unites knowledge of the tree of life. Instead, only small parts of the tree are individually available, generally as printed figures in journal articles. This project will provide the global community of scientists who study the tree of life with a means to share and combine their results, and will enable large-scale studies of Earth's biodiversity. It will also create a resource where students, educators and citizens can go to explore and learn about life's evolutionary history.