Announcing the Fossil Calibration Series and Database

Fossil calibrations provide the crucial anchor points that allow molecular sequences to be used to date divergences in the Tree of Life. Time-calibrated phylogenies are essential to addressing questions in the biological and geological sciences: When did life and major taxonomic groups originate? What is the rate of genetic mutation? At what pace do genes and genomes evolve? How have rates of speciation and extinction changed through time? How has biodiversity been affected by physiographic and climatic changes in Earth history? Rigorous answers to these questions frequently rely on a combination of molecular phylogenetics and fossil calibrations to place Earth's biodiversity, past and present, into its temporal context. Sound paleontological data provide the lynchpin for sound calibrations.