Tree of Life – biodiversity linked
Posted by Eva Amsen, on 18 October 2010
From Arabidopsis to zebrafish, every species –living and extinct – is linked to every other species. Not just metaphorically, but also literally on the Tree of Life website, which ambitiously aims to create a linked database with information on every species and group of organisms.
(Image from Tree of Life, used under Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license)
Launched in 1995 the site was originally developed for biologists who might need to find phylogenetic information, but got so many requests from students and educators that they expanded their reach and now Tree of Life also provide “treehouse” pages, featuring accessible information for a wider audience.
Incidentally, the educational aspect of Tree of Life reminded me of another project I recently heard about: Phylo is a trading card game of which the cards are produced online by volunteers. The cards can then be used to teach children about biodiversity, much like the treehouse pages on Tree of Life
Like Phylo, content on Tree of Life is also contributed by volunteers. Scientific content is peer reviewed, and contributed by scientists and science educators, but anyone can submit media (such as images) to the site.
There’s a lot to be discovered on the site, so have a look around. It’s a work in progress, as it will be a long time until they’ve filled it with complete pages for every organism!
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