Innovative tools for incorporating continuous data from fossils in phylogenetic tree-building: leveraging the MorphoBank platform

网络应用程序/数据库MorphoBank是一个现代化的工具，为科学家提供了一个数字化的工作空间，可以在世界各地的团队中进行矩阵协作-并且是真实的。在MorphoBank中，科学家可以将注释的数字图像添加到矩阵中，以支持对表型的观察。 所有数据都以高度可重复使用的格式永久存档，研究者无需支付任何费用。 在过去的十年中出现了强大的新算法，使研究人员能够直接使用连续或形态学数据构建系统发育树。该项目将开发新的基于网络的工具，使研究人员能够收集和显示Morphobank系统发育矩阵中的连续数据。在这种情况下，用户可以整合连续和离散变量，可以说明和标记这些信息，并可以在出版后与科学界和公众分享数据。颌骨与头骨的相对长度、绝对身体尺寸）是通常收集的科学实践，并被认为是遗传学信息。然而，在具有图像的在线矩阵中集成连续与离散数据尚不可能。通过引入新的工具，通过稳定的在线平台MorphoBank来组织和绘制连续数据，古生物学家可以更好地研究编码实践如何影响树的构建，并可以对来自化石的连续数据如何为生命之树提供更强大的描述。

The Web application/database MorphoBank is a modern tool giving scientists a digital workspace to collaborate on matrices in teams worldwide - and in real time. In MorphoBank scientists can add annotated digital images to matrices to support observations of phenotypes. All data are permanently archived in a highly reusable format at no cost to the investigator. Powerful new algorithms have emerged in the last decade that allow investigators to use continuous or morphometric data directly in phylogenetic tree-building. This project will develop new web-based tools to allow investigators to collect and display continuous data in phylogenetic matrices in Morphobank. In this context users can integrate both continuous and discrete variables, can illustrate and label this information and can share the data with the scientific community and the public following publication.Continuous and morphometric data (e.g., relative length of jaw to skull, absolute body size) are commonly collected scientific practice and recognized to be phylogenetically informative. However, integrating continuous with discrete data in online matrices with images is not yet possible. By introducing new tools to organize and graph continuous data through the stable online platform, MorphoBank, paleontologists can better examine how coding practices affect tree-building and can present more robust descriptions of how continuous data from fossils inform the Tree of Life.