News

• Explore the new Mammalia tree of life - December 4, 2019

  In a new study published in the journal PLOS Biology, researchers at Yale University unveil a complete overhaul of the way species data is brought together and analyzed to construct an evolutionary tree of life for mammals. It’s aimed at giving scientists, conservation managers, policymakers, and environmentalists more accurate, comprehensive information about species diversity and relationships, past and present. More info here. Download trees via the phylogeny subsetter tool here.

• Mammal tree figure wins art prize - June 12, 2019

  The winning image summarizes the tempo and relationships of evolutionary history across 5,911 species of living and recently extinct mammals globally, as reconstructed from DNA and fossil information. It forms figure 1 of a forthcoming publication by Upham, Esselstyn, and Jetz, which is currently available as a pre-print on bioRxiv.

• VertLife Phylogeny Subsetter - April 2, 2018

  In addition to the Bird Tree and Shark Tree, a generalized phylogeny subsetter tool is now available for Amphibians, Birds, Sharks, and Squamates! Check it out here and provide us with feedback.

• Human threats to the amphibian tree of life - March 26, 2018

  Jetz of Yale and co-corresponding author Pyron of George Washington constructed the first comprehensive family tree for nearly all amphibious species alive today. The researchers used the data to examine historical diversification patterns of amphibians as well as species’ level of isolation on the family tree, also called evolutionary distinctness.

• New VertLife project will sprout a forest of family trees - September 18, 2014

  A Yale-led effort to bring “big data” to the study of biodiversity has received a $2.5 million boost, courtesy of the National Science Foundation. The grant is part of a new, Genealogy of Life program at the NSF, and will be used to create annotated family trees, computational tools, and a digital database addressing all terrestrial vertebrates.

• NSF awards $7.4 million for research on species’ evolutionary history - September 17, 2014

  First NSF Genealogy of Life (GoLife) awards will provide new window into evolution of tens of thousands of species, foster synthesis of biodiversity data