Synthesizing and databasing fossil calibrations: divergence dating and beyond
Daniel T. Ksepka1,3,*, Michael J. Benton4, Matthew T. Carrano5, Maria A. Gandolfo6, Jason J. Head7, Elizabeth J. Hermsen6, Walter G. Joyce8, Kristin S. Lamm2, José S. L. Patané9, Matthew J. Phillips10, P. David Polly11, Marcel Van Tuinen12, Jessica L. Ware13,14, Rachel C. M. Warnock4 and James F. Parham15
Author Affiliations
1Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
2Bioinformatics Research Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
3Department of Paleontology, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC 27601, USA
4School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK
5Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
6LH Bailey Hortorium, Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
7Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 1C6
8Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
9Laboratorio de Ecologia e Evolucao, Instituto Butantan, Sao Paulo, Brazil
10School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia 4072, Australia
11Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
12Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA
13Department of Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
14Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
15Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 3548, USA
*↵Author for correspondence (daniel_ksepka@ncsu.edu).
Abstract
Divergence dating studies, which combine temporal data from the fossil record with branch length data from molecular phylogenetic trees, represent a rapidly expanding approach to understanding the history of life. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center hosted the first Fossil Calibrations Working Group (3–6 March, 2011, Durham, NC, USA), bringing together palaeontologists, molecular evolutionists and bioinformatics experts to present perspectives from disciplines that generate, model and use fossil calibration data. Presentations and discussions focused on channels for interdisciplinary collaboration, best practices for justifying, reporting and using fossil calibrations and roadblocks to synthesis of palaeontological and molecular data. Bioinformatics solutions were proposed, with the primary objective being a new database for vetted fossil calibrations with linkages to existing resources, targeted for a 2012 launch.
molecular clocks, palaeontology, bioinformatics, database
Received March 28, 2011.
Accepted April 8, 2011.
This Journal is © 2011 The Royal Society
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