You can download Morphometric Methods in Biostratigraphy ebook here.
- Title: Morphometric Methods in Biostratigraphy
- Author: Richard A. Reyment
- Publisher: Jhon Wright & Sons
- Pages: 93
The word morphometrics comes from the Greek words morphe which means “shape, form” and metria which means “measurement”. Morphometric methods are used in a variety of fields, including biology, hydrology, and food and agricultural sciences. Some examples of morphometric methods include:
- Landmark-based morphometrics: Uses the relative position of anatomical landmarks
- Outline-based morphometrics: Uses a sequence of close pseudo-landmarks to capture the contour of forms
- Geometric morphometrics: Uses bony landmarks to capture cranial shape and size.
Morphometric methods can be used for a variety of purposes, such as:
- Analyzing the fossil record of organisms. Refers to the quantitative analysis of form, a concept that encompasses size and shape. Morphometric analyses are commonly performed on organisms, and are useful in analyzing their fossil record, the impact of mutations on shape, developmental changes in form, covariances between ecological factors and shape, as well for estimating quantitative-genetic parameters of shape. Morphometrics can be used to quantify a trait of evolutionary significance, and by detecting changes in the shape, deduce something of their ontogeny, function or evolutionary relationships. A major objective of morphometrics is to statistically test hypotheses about the factors that affect shape.
- Studying the impact of mutations on shape.
- Analyzing developmental changes in form.
- Estimating quantitative-genetic parameters of shape. Morphometric techniques aim at measuring size, shape, and the relation between size and shape (allometry). Before the so-called “morphometric revolution, shape was an abstraction, a residue after scaling for size, and it was not possible to visualize this “residue.” The replacement of initial variables describing a distance between two anatomical points by the coordinates of these points, and the subsequent visualizing techniques, represented a giant step in the direct study of forms.
- Studying livestock anatomy, productivity, growth rate, and performance quality.
- Analyzing drainage basins to plan watersheds.