This image is based on a phylogenetic "Tree of Life", a visual device that illustrates the diversity of species on Earth. The various radiating lines depict subcategories of life, beginning with the bacteria and algae and spanning the fungi, the plants, the invertebrates, and the vertebrates, all of the wide spectrum of wonders that inhabit this wet rock. This tree of life, however, is currently a burning bush.
This image is part of an ongoing attempt to create graphic devices that illustrate the contemporary crisis of biodiversity.
