Visualizing Biodiversity of Human Navel with Plot.ly

Objective: to build an interactive dashboard to explore the Belly Button Biodiversity dataset, which catalogs the microbes that colonize human navels.

The dataset reveals that a small handful of microbial species (also called operational taxonomic units, or OTUs, in the study) were present in more than 70% of people, while the rest were relatively rare.

Step 1: Plotly

1. Use the D3 library to read in samples.json.

2. Create a horizontal bar chart with a dropdown menu to display the top 10 OTUs found in that individual.

• Use sample_values as the values for the bar chart.

• Use otu_ids as the labels for the bar chart.

• Use otu_labels as the hovertext for the chart.

3. Create a bubble chart that displays each sample.

• Use otu_ids for the x values.

• Use sample_values for the y values.

• Use sample_values for the marker size.

• Use otu_ids for the marker colors.

• Use otu_labels for the text values.

4. Display the sample metadata, i.e., an individual's demographic information.

5. Display each key-value pair from the metadata JSON object somewhere on the page.

6. Update all of the plots any time that a new sample is selected.

Additionally, you are welcome to create any layout that you would like for your dashboard. An example dashboard is shown below:

About the Data

Hulcr, J. et al.(2012) A Jungle in There: Bacteria in Belly Buttons are Highly Diverse, but Predictable. Retrieved from: http://robdunnlab.com/projects/belly-button-biodiversity/results-and-data/