Abstract Detail

Phylogenetic approaches to understanding biodiversity and endemism

Miller, Joseph [1], Varghese, Temi [2], Pirzl, Rebecca [2].

Integrating phylogenies with biodiversity databases.

Rich collections of biodiversity information such as spatial distributions, species descriptions, images, and trait data are now synthesized in publically available online sources such as iDigBio, EOL, ALA, Dryad and GBIF. Also phylogenetic knowledge now provides a sound understanding of the relationships of organisms in the tree of life. The integration of these data types is increasingly becoming the norm in systematic studies, however the integration is done offline and not easily reusable or available for a non-scientific audience. Automated web-based integration of varied data types will spur comparative biology studies including spatial phylogenetic approaches. User-friendly interfaces to the data will allow use of spatial phylogenetics in conservation planning process. PhyloLink is a web-based tool that uses web-services to integrate biodiversity information aggregated from many sources onto phylogenetic tree. PhyloLink is the successor of PhyloJIVE (PhylogenyJavascript Information Visualiser and Explorer). This symposium talk will demonstrate the features of PhyloLink focusing on ways of integrating spatial data with a phylogenetic tree. PhyloLink users can upload their own phylogenies, trait and spatial datasets, or they can access, via webservices, trees, traits, and spatial data from various places such as OpenTree, TreeBase, ALA, iDigBio and GBIF. PhyloLink can map multiple traits, with ancestral character state reconstructions for all nodes, on a tree. Spatial distributions can be mapped for individual species or clades with distributions visualized by individual species or character states. Links to external webpages are available at each terminal. The demonstration will include two new features found in PhyloLink: (1) the ability to map environmental layer attributes on phylogenies, and (2) visualization of phylogenetic diversity metrics among clades and spatial polygons. PhyloLink demonstrates that it is possible and useful to assemble interactive biodiversity data from diverse sources. Viewed through phylogeny, the evolutionary context of morphological, spatial, and ecological data becomes clear and accessible to non-specialists. PhyloJIVE connects biodiversity and phylogeny knowledge bases by providing an integrated evolutionary view of biodiversity data which in turn can improve biodiversity research and the conservation decision making process. Versions of PhyloJIVE are available for creating an instance on any webpage. iDigBio maintains a version that maps data derived from iDigBio and GBIF.

Related Links:
PhyloJIVE at iDigBio

1 - National Science Foundation, Division of Environmental Biology, 4201 Wilson Ave, Arlington, VA, 22204, USA, 703-292-7214
2 - Atlas of Living Australia, CSIRO, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY17
Location: Salon 15/16/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015
Time: 2:45 PM
Number: SY17004
Abstract ID:301
Candidate for Awards:None