Databases

Biological knowledge is mainly made up of three different types of information: molecular, organismal and ecological. Bioinformatics is an advanced field that deals with the creation and analysis of an ordered system of molecular data. Biodiversity informatics is a rapidly developing new field that develops information ordered systems at the organism level. While bioinformatics typically studies individual model organisms in extreme detail, biodiversity informatics develops information systems that span all branches of the tree of life.

PlutoF, a relational biodiversity information system based on the systematics of wildlife (the so-called taxon tree), is being developed by the UT Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden to display, link and analyse a wide range of traits and descriptions of biological material in the database, from observations to DNA samples. The information system's components, or modules, provide the analysis and data management functionalities needed for cutting-edge research, as well as being useful for officials, amateur researchers and the general public.