Visualizing Evolution in Space and Time

 

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David Kidd and Samantha Price combined their respective research projects at NESCent to generate a poster demonstrating the radiation of the Artiodactyla. Dr. Price specializes in evolution of Artiodactyls which are even toed hoofed mammals, such as antelope and cattle, and are important in many ecosystems and agriculturally. Dr. Kidd has developed GeoPhyloBuilder, a software program which maps phylogenetic data onto geographic information. The program can also include temporal information. The two postdoctoral fellows worked together to map the radiation of artiodactyls across the globe, and through time.

The poster was submitted to the NetSci Visualizing Network Dynamics Competition and placed 3rd in the competition. Here are a few of the judges comments:


"To visualize the flow of evolution over time and space is a daunting challenge, this works because different perspectives can be compared to each other to build an understanding of the ideas; the alternate views support and re-enforce each other. The layout and color scheme is concise and easy to follow, and this model would be applicable to other evolutionary trees."
Daniel Zeller (Visual Artist) , New York


"Novel idea on how to use geo and evolutionary information in order to provide a network that is very original and informational. It also makes it a general method and not just an ad-hoc visualization."
Alessandro Vespignani (Internet Research & Epidemics) School of Informatics, Indiana University


" Elegant, lucid use of graphics."
Peter Christensen (Art Curator)
Museum of Modern Art, New York


"This is the most readable and revealing entry we received: I can imagine using this to do actual work even though it encourages the neophyte to browse and learn; excellent data density."
W. Bradford Paley (Designer)
Digital Image Design Inc


All the submissions, including a high resolution image of the Artiodactyl poster, may be viewed online at
the competition website.


More about Samantha Price’s project:

Project Overview

Bininda-Emonds, O. R. P., Cardillo, M., Jones, K. E., MacPhee, R. D. E., Beck, R. D.M.,Grenyer, R., Price, S. A., Vos, R. A., Gittleman, J. L. & Purvis, A. 2007 The delayed rise of present-day mammals. Nature 446, 507-512

More about David Kidds’ project

Project Overview

GeoPhyloBuilder

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