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。这个项目将产生第一个在线的，全面的180万个已命名物种树的初稿，公众和科学界都可以访问。这棵树的组装将结合以前发表的结果，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方法。这棵最初的生命之树不会是静止的；相反，我们将为科学家开发工具，以便在新数据进入时更新和修改树。尽早发布树和工具将激励数据共享，并促进正在进行的知识综合。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，没有一个单一的资源将生命之树的知识统一起来。相反，只有这棵树的一小部分是单独可用的，通常是在期刊文章中印刷的数字。这个项目将为研究生命之树的全球科学家提供一种分享和结合他们成果的方法，并将使对地球生物多样性的大规模研究成为可能。它还将为学生、教育工作者和市民提供一个探索和了解生命进化史的资源。

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.