ABI: Sustaining - MorphoBank: The Web Tool and Database for Phylogenetic Tree-Building with Phenotypes and the Interpretation of Trait Evolution

Scientists understand and interpret the evolution of species by studying both phenotypes (anatomy, behavior, physiology) and genotypes. The integration of these data, including fossil species, permits the reconstruction of the Tree of Life, which has been identified by Science magazine as one of the 125 top scientific challenges of the new millennium. By documenting phenotypes for tree-building, researchers test major evolutionary hypotheses such as when did a species develop flowers? Or the ability to fly? With tens of millions of species on the planet, organizing this informatino requires substantial creative computer infrastructure. Such infrastructure has existed for genotypic information for some time, initiated in large part by the Human Genome Project in the 20th century. Organizational tools and databases for phenotypes has not, however, received similar attention historically. Thus in 2001, with support from the National Science Foundation, investigators initiated MorphoBank (http://www.morphobank.org/), an open-source Web application and database that has become a modern tool for collecting, organizing, storing and presenting data on phenotypes across the Tree of Life. Because software must continuously change to function in the ever-evolving world of the Internet, this project is to sustain MorphoBank software and infrastructure such that the tool and database endures as a robust resource for the evolutionary biology community and the public. MorphoBank gives scientists a unique digital workspace to collaborate - in real time - with others worldwide and to conduct data collection relevant to the Tree of Life and evolution. Prior success of MorphoBank is underscored by key statistics. Each month scientists record >90,000 observations and load >2,000 newly-generated, curated and annotated images. Over 2,000 visitors reach the site monthly to view projects >3,000 times, matrices >6,000 times, and media >75,000 times. 30% of published projects on MorphoBank are derived from separate NSF-funded geology, biology and anthropology grants. Another >35% of projects hold the research output funded by scientific agencies internationally making MorphoBank a global destination as a tool and archive. Scholarship that would have been impossible before MorphoBank includes the NSF-supported Assembling the Tree of Life (AToL) project for mammals. This research was published in Science and included >12,000 images tied to hundreds of thousands of scientific observations by a team of over 20 researchers. The paper received wide press (New York Times, BBC, Time Magazine), including mention of MorphoBank as the research-enabling innovation. Morphobank represents a new element in the US scientific infrastructure, providing a model platform for location-independent global scientific collaboration. Proposed contributions to education and training provided by the current project include: (1) a software course in Web-based bioinformatics for ethnic minority computer science majors from Stony Brook University, New York, (2) two summer internships for selected students from that course, and (3) two "Morpholution" courses at the American Museum of Natural History for high school students to learn scientific practices for studying phenotypes.