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A roadmap for global synthesis of the plant tree of life
Author(s) -
Eiserhardt Wolf L.,
Antonelli Alexandre,
Bennett Dominic J.,
Botigué Laura R.,
Burleigh J. Gordon,
Dodsworth Steven,
Enquist Brian J.,
Forest Félix,
Kim Jan T.,
Kozlov Alexey M.,
Leitch Ilia J.,
Maitner Brian S.,
Mirarab Siavash,
Piel William H.,
PérezEscobar Oscar A.,
Pokorny Lisa,
Rahbek Carsten,
Sandel Brody,
Smith Stephen A.,
Stamatakis Alexandros,
Vos Rutger A.,
Warnow Tandy,
Baker William J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/ajb2.1041
Subject(s) - tree (set theory) , metadata , dissemination , pipeline (software) , modular design , data science , phylogenetic tree , computer science , citizen science , biology , world wide web , mathematical analysis , telecommunications , biochemistry , botany , mathematics , gene , programming language , operating system
Abstract Providing science and society with an integrated, up‐to‐date, high quality, open, reproducible and sustainable plant tree of life would be a huge service that is now coming within reach. However, synthesizing the growing body of DNA sequence data in the public domain and disseminating the trees to a diverse audience are often not straightforward due to numerous informatics barriers. While big synthetic plant phylogenies are being built, they remain static and become quickly outdated as new data are published and tree‐building methods improve. Moreover, the body of existing phylogenetic evidence is hard to navigate and access for non‐experts. We propose that our community of botanists, tree builders, and informaticians should converge on a modular framework for data integration and phylogenetic analysis, allowing easy collaboration, updating, data sourcing and flexible analyses. With support from major institutions, this pipeline should be re‐run at regular intervals, storing trees and their metadata long‐term. Providing the trees to a diverse global audience through user‐friendly front ends and application development interfaces should also be a priority. Interactive interfaces could be used to solicit user feedback and thus improve data quality and to coordinate the generation of new data. We conclude by outlining a number of steps that we suggest the scientific community should take to achieve global phylogenetic synthesis.