Biology’s scattered knowledge, explorable together
Ptree, from the creator of Ptable, connects 11 scientific trees, 41 biological properties and 310 contributing data sources in one immediately explorable interface. Follow relationships, compare organisms, see patterns across whole families, and open the evidence behind the colors.
Public soft launch · First coverage and creator interviews
The work behind a single color
What biologists know about each organism is scattered across specialist databases, each with its own vocabulary, units and scope. Ptree brings those descriptions into a shared visual language through 41 properties: 24 categorical and 17 numerical, with more to come. They span microbes, plants, fungi, animals and extinct life.
A single property can draw on 82 sources, with up to 12 sources contributing to one property value. Setting interprets 1,407 distinct source terms, mapping 1,143 into seven environments. Nutrition interprets 222 terms from 49 sources, mapping 201 into nine feeding categories. A familiar word such as “predatory” connects descriptions of feeding across distant branches of life; the precise source term remains available underneath.
How one three-word description answers five properties
For the orchid Agrostophyllum arabukanum, Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants records “epiphytic rhizomatous subshrub.” Ptree decomposes that phrase into substrate, storage organ and growth form, then asks five separate biological questions. Epiphytic supplies a living-host Setting and attached, elevated Position. Rhizomatous normalizes to a rhizome and supplies clonal Organization. Subshrub supplies Growth form and perennial Persistence. The exact phrase remains attached to its source.
Explore the seven-source interpretation atlas in the methodology, tracing compound descriptions from plants, microbes, fossils, amphibians, fishes and birds into shared properties.
The vocabulary inside one property
Nutrition alone reconciles specialist feeding descriptions from 49 contributing sources. The full vocabulary census below shows both the admitted paths and the descriptions that do not establish one of its nine categories. Repeated delivery of an original authority does not earn another vote.
Normalization goes deeper than names
- Seeds per pound → mass of one seed
- A count becomes a mass through a reciprocal and unit conversion. It belongs with eggs and newborns in Offspring mass. Adult body mass, seed mass and leaf mass cannot be pooled merely because each can be expressed in grams.
- A maximum is not a mean
- A fish’s reported maximum weight can fill missing Mass evidence, but it does not compete equally with an adult mean. Upper-only longevity records remain bounds; an absent lower endpoint does not become zero or an invented midpoint.
- One authority, several delivery routes
- A measurement reaching Ptree directly and through an aggregator is still one authority. Direct measurements precede modeled tree traits; repeated observations combine within their originating authority before authorities are compared.
Some checks expose problems invisible in individual numbers. In the captured tree-trait predictions, 17,092 of 55,779 hydraulic-threshold triples cross their physical order: three plausible predictions make an impossible curve. The methodology explains that audit, the transformations and evidence priorities, including how one developmental measurement can also support a parental-care inference.
The scale behind the exploration
- 13.6 million entries across 11 trees
- Species and groups indexed across scientific classifications and evolutionary trees, from genome-based microbial trees to the fossil record.
- Switch trees, keep your place
- A shared index of 9.4 million records matches organisms and groups across databases. Switch scientific trees and Ptree keeps you at the corresponding organism or branch, with the selected property, photos and evidence still attached.
- 11.1 million biological data records
- Measurements and descriptions brought into a common form, retaining what each record describes and where it came from.
- 24.8 million interaction records
- Evidence about predators, prey, hosts, pollinators and other relationships that lead across the tree.
- 668,404 species and groups with photos
- Ptree assembles photographs from multiple sources and scores their metadata to select the best representative image for each species or group. Identification agreement, subject annotations and curation help guide the choice; photographer credits and licenses stay attached.
- 510,382 encyclopedia articles
- Biological articles indexed for the viewer, with organism links that lead back into the scientific trees.
Tree entries count placements across trees; the shared index brings together names and identifiers for organisms and groups. Sources include originating datasets credited through aggregators. Sources and licenses.
What this makes possible
Move between Linnaean classifications and phylogenetic trees without searching again. Ptree uses both ancestors and descendants to find the corresponding branch when an exact match is absent. Compare a species with an entire family, including subjects drawn from different trees. Add fossils and watch both the branches and their trait distributions change.
The colors show mixtures of traits. Numerical distributions show variation within a group. Coverage remains visible, so a sparsely studied branch looks different from a well-documented one. Maps, ecological relationships and original evidence remain within reach throughout the exploration.
Built to last
Ptable has been accessible from the same URL for 29 years. Its creator, Michael Dayah, has maintained it independently since 1997. Ptree carries the same long-term commitment, so teachers can build lesson plans and classroom curriculum around it with confidence.
A shared link preserves the selected tree, property and exploration state, including comparisons. Prepare an example once, then bring students straight to it. Ptree is created, designed, programmed and maintained by Dayah. More about the creator.
Start with a question
- Were horses always horse-sized? Turn on Fossils to see how extinct relatives change the family’s mass distribution.
- What does it take to live in hot acid? Explore microbial temperature ranges, then switch to pH and inspect the growth evidence.
- How does a carnivorous plant make its living? Explore feeding strategies that cross the familiar boundary between plants and predators.
Looking for the right first coverage
Ptree is in its public soft launch. No media interviews have been given and no launch media partner has been chosen. We are looking for an editor, writer or educator who understands what this makes possible and wants to introduce it properly.
The opportunity is a first in-depth feature and creator interview, with a demonstration tailored to your audience and access to the evidence behind the story. Science, education, design and independent software each offer a different way in. Contact Michael with your publication, audience and the angle you would like to explore.
Images for editors
- One description, five properties · SVG
- Nutrition vocabulary Sankey · SVG
- Ptree logo · SVG
- Ptree share image · PNG, 1200 × 630
- Michael Dayah portrait · JPEG, 600 × 800
Identify the project as Ptree and link to ptree.org. Organism photos, silhouettes and maps carry their own credits and licenses, available in the viewer and on the data sources page.