PhyloJIVE: Integrating biodiversity data with the Tree of Life

Abstract

Motivation: Rich collections of biodiversity information such as spatial distributions, species descriptions and trait data are now synthesized in publicly available online sources such as GBIF. Also phylogenetic knowledge now provides a sound understanding of the origin of organisms and their place in the tree of life. We demonstrate with PhyloJIVE that any phylogenetic tree can be linked to online biodiversity data in the browser. This evolutionary view of biodiversity data is demonstrated in a case study that suggests that this approach may be useful to scientists and non-experts users. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.