Open Tree of Life
{{short description|Online phylogenetic tree of life}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Open Tree of Life
| logo =
| screenshot =
| caption =
| url = [http://opentreeoflife.org opentreeoflife.org]
| alexa =
| commercial = no
| type =
| language = English
| registration = not required
| owner =
| launch_date = September 2015
| current_status = active
| license = BSD 2-clause (FreeBSD){{cite web | title = OpenTreeOfLife License | url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenTreeOfLife/opentree/master/LICENSE.txt }}
}}
The Open Tree of Life is an online phylogenetic tree of life – a collaborative effort, funded by the National Science Foundation.{{cite journal | vauthors = Hinchliff CE, Smith SA, Allman JF, Burleigh JG, Chaudhary R, Coghill LM, Crandall KA, Deng J, Drew BT, Gazis R, Gude K, Hibbett DS, Katz LA, Laughinghouse HD, McTavish EJ, Midford PE, Owen CL, Ree RH, Rees JA, Soltis DE, Williams T, Cranston KA | display-authors = 6 | title = Synthesis of phylogeny and taxonomy into a comprehensive tree of life | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 112 | issue = 41 | pages = 12764–9 | date = October 2015 | pmid = 26385966 | pmc = 4611642 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1423041112 | bibcode = 2015PNAS..11212764H | doi-access = free }}{{Cite web|title = Assembling, Visualizing, and Analyzing the Tree of Life | date = 11 March 2011 | publisher = National Science Foundation (NSF) |url = https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503629 |access-date = 2016-02-11}} The first draft, including 2.3 million species, was released in September 2015.{{cite web | url = https://www.science.org/content/article/first-comprehensive-tree-life-shows-how-related-you-are-millions-species | title =First comprehensive tree of life shows how related you are to millions of species | first = Elizabeth | last = Pennisi | author-link=Elizabeth Pennisi | name-list-style = vanc | date = 21 September 2015 | work = Science Magazine }} The Interactive graph allows the user to zoom in to taxonomic classifications, phylogenetic trees, and information about a node. Clicking on a species will return its source and reference taxonomy.File:Treeoflifescreenshot.png
Approach
The project uses a supertree approach to generate a single phylogenetic tree (served at tree.opentreeoflife.org{{cite web|url=https://tree.opentreeoflife.org/|title=opentree|publisher=Open Tree of Life developers}}) from a comprehensive taxonomy and a curated set of published phylogenetic estimates.
The taxonomy is a combination of several large classifications produced by other projects; it is created using a software tool called "smasher".{{cite journal | vauthors = Rees JA, Cranston K | title = Automated assembly of a reference taxonomy for phylogenetic data synthesis | journal = Biodiversity Data Journal | volume = 5 | issue = 5 | pages = e12581 | date = 2017 | pmid = 28765728 | pmc = 5515096 | doi = 10.3897/BDJ.5.e12581 | doi-access = free }} The resulting taxonomy is called an Open Tree Taxonomy (OTT) and can be browsed on-line.{{cite web | url = https://tree.opentreeoflife.org/taxonomy/browse | title = tree.opentreeoflife.org }}
History
The project was started in June 2012 with a three-year NSF award to researchers at ten universities. In 2015, a two-year supplemental award was made to researchers at three institutions.