rotl
is an R package to interact with the Open Tree of Life data APIs. It was
initially developed as part of the
NESCENT/OpenTree/Arbor hackathon.
Client libraries to interact with the Open Tree of Life API also exists for Python and Ruby.
The current stable version is available from CRAN, and can be installed by typing the following at the prompt in R:
install.packages("rotl")
If you want to test the development version, you first need to install
ghit (ghit
is a more lightweight version of
devtools if your sole purpose is to
install packages that are hosted on GitHub).
install.packages("ghit")
Then you can install rotl
using:
library(ghit) # or library(devtools)
install_github("ropensci/rotl")
There are three vignettes:
-
Start by checking out the "How to use
rotl
?" by typing:vignette("how-to-use-rotl", package="rotl")
after installing the package. -
Then explore how you can use
rotl
with other packages to combine your data with trees from the Open Tree of Life project by typing:vignette("data_mashups", package="rotl")
. -
The vignette "Using the Open Tree Synthesis in a comparative analsysis" demonstrates how you can reproduce an analysis of a published paper by downloading the tree they used, and data from the supplementary material:
vignette("meta-analysis", package="rotl")
.
The vignettes are also available from CRAN:
How to use rotl
?,
Data mashups,
and
Using the Open Tree synthesis in a comparative analysis.
Taxonomic names are represented in the Open Tree by numeric identifiers, the
ott_ids
(Open Tree Taxonomy identifiers). To extract a portion of a tree from
the Open Tree, you first need to find ott_ids
for a set of names using the
tnrs_match_names
function:
library(rotl)
apes <- c("Pan", "Pongo", "Pan", "Gorilla", "Hoolock", "Homo")
(resolved_names <- tnrs_match_names(apes))
## search_string unique_name approximate_match ott_id is_synonym flags
## 1 pan Pan FALSE 417957 FALSE
## 2 pongo Pongo FALSE 417949 FALSE
## 3 pan Pan FALSE 417957 FALSE
## 4 gorilla Gorilla FALSE 417969 FALSE
## 5 hoolock Hoolock FALSE 712902 FALSE
## 6 homo Homo FALSE 770309 FALSE
## number_matches
## 1 1
## 2 1
## 3 1
## 4 1
## 5 1
## 6 1
Now we can get the tree with just those tips:
tr <- tol_induced_subtree(ott_ids=ott_id(resolved_names))
plot(tr)
The code above can be summarized in a single pipe:
library(magrittr)
## or expressed as a pipe:
c("Pan", "Pongo", "Pan", "Gorilla", "Hoolock", "Homo") %>%
tnrs_match_names %>%
ott_id %>%
tol_induced_subtree %>%
plot
Starting with v3.0.0 of the package, the major and minor version numbers (the first 2 digits of the version number) will be matched to those of the API. The patch number (the 3rd digit of the version number) will be used to reflect bug fixes and other changes that are independent from changes to the API.
rotl
can be used to access other versions of the API (if they are available)
but most likely the high level functions will not work. Instead, you will need
to parse the output yourself using the "raw" returns from the unexported
low-level functions (all prefixed with a .
). For instance to use the
tnrs/match_names
endpoint for v2
of the API:
rotl:::.tnrs_match_names(c("pan", "pango", "gorilla", "hoolock", "homo"), otl_v="v2")
Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.