Reconstructing the Tree of Life of fossil and living species using modern methods is a central part of paleontological research. To do this, paleontologists study and describe anatomy (morphology), and record their observations in matrices that consist of species and morphological characters. These matrices contain homology statements: hypotheses that similar features found in different species have been inherited from a common ancestor. Matrices are used to generate phylogenetic trees that allow paleontologists to investigate large-scale questions such as the time of origin of major groups. Paleontologists increasingly conduct this kind of research in teams of geographically dispersed collaborators. They have yet, however, to modernize the data collection process for this type of research (morphological systematics) using databasing and web technologies. PIs have developed a prototype web application and collaborative workspace, www.MorphoBank.org, as a tool for paleontologists and other systematists to collaborate over the web from anywhere in the world. MorphoBank is an open source database on the web that archives and displays images of organisms (fossil and living) for systematics and taxonomic research. It provides research tools for scientists (particularly teams) who wish to use the web as 1) a collaborative, password-protected workspace for systematics research, or 2) as an archive for images associated with research in their publications. This includes the ability to upload, edit and download files in many formats, including commonly used formats for systematics research, and to affiliate images and descriptions of fossil organisms with homology statements. PIs propose to develop further the first versions of the MorphoBank software in several ways. First, they intend to optimize the web-based matrix editor by implementing improved navigation, search features, contextual image display for taxa, characters and states, and increased annotation features. Secondly, they plan to build an offline data matrix editor that will work seamlessly with their online tools and enable the transition from the desktop (where paleontologists now collect data), to the web, where the future of data collection will be. They also propose to integrate their image and phylogenetics browsing and archiving features with several geoinformatics initiatives that archive temporal data. With morphology, taxonomy and time integrated over the web, paleontological projects that require data on phylogenetics and time will have greatly enhanced informatics resources.
