Evolutionary informatics: unifying knowledge about the diversity of life

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Biology
• Bioinformatics
• Data Science

Background:

• Exponential growth in evolutionary biology data.
• Current data is scattered, poorly documented, and difficult to integrate.
• Lack of a unified system hinders scientific discovery and knowledge consolidation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the emerging field of evolutionary informatics.
• To highlight the need for an integrated system for evolutionary data.
• To discuss the development of conceptual, infrastructural, and community frameworks for this challenge.

Main Methods:

• Review of the field of evolutionary informatics.
• Analysis of data integration challenges in evolutionary biology.
• Discussion of frameworks for a linked system of evolutionary data.

Main Results:

• Evolutionary informatics has matured into a robust discipline.
• Conceptual, infrastructure, and community frameworks are being developed.
• A linked system organizing data around the Tree of Life is a feasible grand challenge.

Conclusions:

• An integrated system for evolutionary data is essential for future research.
• Evolutionary informatics provides the tools and frameworks to achieve this.
• Consolidating data will create a valuable community resource for understanding life's evolution.