To submit a time series to the database, follow the steps below: fill inn the metadata fields and upload a file from your local environment. After submission, your contribution will need to be validated by the PETS team before being accepted into to the database. You will recieve an e-mail notification when your contribution has been assessed.
Do you have a large dataset consisting of many time series, you can also e-mail us directly at pets-team@nhm.uio.no .
If you are stuck, see our help page .
The Phenotypic Evolution Time Series (PETS) database is a public database of data on phenotypic change within lineages. The database is maintained by a group of international evolutionary biologists and paleontologists.
You can explore the data using the web application, which lets you filter the data based on a range of options. It is also easy to download data.
A major part of the time-series data come from parts of compilations originally made by Gene Hunt and Melanie Hopkins, but a lot of additional metadata and new time series have been added.
The database has been developed as part of an European Research Starting Grant to Kjetil Lysne Voje and is hosted by the University of Oslo. The database web application has been developed by Audun Rugstad.
Please reach out if you want to contribute to the development and maintenance of the PETS database.
The database contains data on time series of phenotypic change in ancestor–descendant populations. The database contains time series of both modern and fossil lineages.
The phenotypic traits have been measured in units (e.g., cm, micrometers, inches etc.) in which increments of the units are placed at equal distance from one another and where there is a true zero. These two properties define measurements that are on a ratio scale, and include all measures of lengths, widths, areas, counts etc. The database also includes phenotypic traits on ratio scales that have been log-transformed (e.g., log length in cm). Computing means and averages are meaningful statistical operations of measurements on a ratio scale (or log-transformed ratio scale variables), which is not the case for all scale types (e.g., measures on a nominal or ordinal scales).
Principal components scores are not part of the database as for various reasons. For example, the variables analyzed using principal components may have had different units and/or that variables were standardized before doing the principal component analysis, both of which make the interpretation of the evolution of such scores difficult.
PETS team: pets-team@nhm.uio.no
The PETS database has two main sources of data: the time series themselves, which are used for analysis and visualization using tools such as the R packages evoTS and paleoTS, and the metadata which provides information about the source and characteristics of each time series, including both mathematical and biological/geological properties. The metadata is essential for filtering, comparing, and better understanding the time series.
The purpose of this page is to explain the different fields (columns) in the time series and metadata tables. We strongly recommend reading through this information before submitting any data.
If you have any feedback or questions about the database or the information presented here, please do not hesitate to contact us at pets-team@nhm.uio.no.