Ah, I see! The tree of life could definitely be considered a map. That hadn't occurred to me.
I guess my only advice there is: can that map become a part of play rather than an artifact of it? This is a thing all the jam submissions have really made me think about. As far as I remember, you build your map as the game progresses, but there isn't really a mechanical use for the map after it is built. Maybe you are limited in the number of branches? I forget. But doing something like that, or allowing for some kind of evolutionary mechanic where you can steal past traits or steal traits from other trees could be cool. Or each level in the tree adds some mechanic - a progression or leveling up or something. You could thereby encourage or discourage diversification versus specialization. I don't remember seeing anything like that in the cards or mechanics, and it could make the tree more a part of play. Just a thought.