title: Synthesis of phylogeny and taxonomy into a comprehensive tree of life.
abstract: Reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships that unite all lineages (the tree of life) is a grand challenge. The paucity of homologous character data across disparately related lineages currently renders direct phylogenetic inference untenable. To reconstruct a comprehensive tree of life, we therefore synthesized published phylogenies, together with taxonomic classifications for taxa never incorporated into a phylogeny. We present a draft tree containing 2.3 million tips-the Open Tree of Life. Realization of this tree required the assembly of two additional community resources: (i) a comprehensive global reference taxonomy and (ii) a database of published phylogenetic trees mapped to this taxonomy. Our open source framework facilitates community comment and contribution, enabling the tree to be continuously updated when new phylogenetic and taxonomic data become digitally available. Although data coverage and phylogenetic conflict across the Open Tree of Life illuminate gaps in both the underlying data available for phylogenetic reconstruction and the publication of trees as digital objects, the tree provides a compelling starting point for community contribution. This comprehensive tree will fuel fundamental research on the nature of biological diversity, ultimately providing up-to-date phylogenies for downstream applications in comparative biology, ecology, conservation biology, climate change, agriculture, and genomics.
authors.affiliation: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109;
authors.forename: Cody E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Hinchliff
authors.affiliation: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; karen.cranston@gmail.com eebsmith@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Interrobang Corporation, Wake Forest, NC 27587;
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Allman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
authors.forename: J Gordon
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Burleigh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
authors.forename: Ruchi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.affiliation: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605;
authors.forename: Lyndon M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Coghill
authors.affiliation: Computational Biology Institute, George Washington University, Ashburn, VA 20147;
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0836-3389
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Crandall
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
authors.forename: Jiabin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Nebraska-Kearney, Kearney, NE 68849;
authors.forename: Bryan T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Drew
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610;
authors.forename: Romina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gazis
authors.affiliation: School of Journalism, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824;
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gude
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610;
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Hibbett
authors.affiliation: Biological Science, Clark Science Center, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063;
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.affiliation: Biological Science, Clark Science Center, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063;
authors.forename: H Dail
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Laughinghouse
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045;
authors.forename: Emily Jane
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: McTavish
authors.affiliation: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605;
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Midford
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605;
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Ree
authors.affiliation: National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705;
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611; Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
authors.forename: Douglas E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Soltis
authors.affiliation: Computer Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
authors.forename: Tiffani
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705; karen.cranston@gmail.com eebsmith@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4798-9499
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Cranston
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002965:Classification / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: biodiversity; phylogeny; synthesis; taxonomy; tree of life