Evolutionary biology is being transformed by increasing access to burgeoning data on variation in genomes, organisms, and the environment.

<p>All this can be connected to the Tree of Life (phylogeny), from populations to entire clades, and is enabled by new protocols and networks in biodiversity informatics.</p

Developing genetic and evolutionary tools for taxa with an extensive fossil record will be an important means of integrating the study of evolutionary pattern and process.

<p>Genomic sequence data for stickleback fish is now providing insight into evolutionary patterns, such as the reduction in the pelvic skeleton, manifest both in the fossil record and in extant populations <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001466#pbio.1001466-Jones1" target="_blank">[83]</a>. Photograph courtesy Peter J. Park.</p