Like any tree, the Tree of Life is starting out as a bud, encompassing so for 500 smaller trees from previously published studies. And almost like a real tree, growth isn't happening in hyper speed.

To make this possible, the tree and all its underlying data have been made openly and freely available to both the public and the scientific community, including through the Kew Tree of Life Explorer.

“The tree of life is being reshaped by new data. It is really quite different than even what it was 15 or 20 years ago,” Burki said. “We’re seeing a tree with many more branches than we ...

In the figure below, Mereschkowsky depicted life on Earth as emerging twice. First came bacteria, some of which became the nuclei of other cells, later the chloroplasts and finally spawned fungi.

Genetics of the tree of life Scientists advance genetic understanding of African baobab tree Date: ... 'The Tree of Life'. Scientific Reports, 2020; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68697-6; ...

Filling in the bird tree of life. In this chart, the bird family tree begins at the center (indicated with a star) and branches off to include the more than 10,000 living species.