TreeBASE provides a mechanism to discover what is known about phylogenetic relationships through access to published phylogenetic studies and the data and trees that these contain.

TreeBASE can be used:

  • to locate information on the phylogeny of particular groups of interest.
  • to obtain datasets for studies of character evolution, including general patterns across many groups, such as patterns of homoplasy.
  • in studies of biogeography -- to retrieve trees with representatives in particular geographical areas.
  • in studies of coevolution -- to retrieve information on host and parasite phylogenies.
  • in studies of congruence and combination of data -- to retrieve all molecular and morphological phylogenies for particular groups.
  • in studies of phylogenetic methods -- to retrieve all parsimony or maximum likelihood reconstructions, for example, or to download datasets of various sorts to test methods.
  • to link together trees of particular groups into more inclusive phylogenies.
  • to discover understudied groups -- a resource for students, funding agencies, etc.
  • to retrieve phylogenetic information for use in conservation biology and the management of natural resources.