ABSTRACT
With the steady expansion of phylogenetic data and hypotheses, more attention is now being paid to the synthesis of results from different phylogenetic studies into more comprehensive phylogenetic trees. Such synthesis will be needed to weld the results of disparate phylogenetic studies into a comprehensive Tree of Life, and thereby fulfil the ultimate goal of phylogenetics. On the road to this ultimate goal, ever larger trees will provide frameworks for ever broader comparative studies of evolutionary patterns and processes.
