Morphometrics: A Critical Reassessment

形态计量学：批判性的重新评估

• 批准号: 8918630
• 负责人: F. James Rohlf
• 金额: $ 15.71万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1990
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1990-04-01 至 1993-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8918630&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Morphometrics; Critical; Reassessment

Morphometrics is a relatively new family of approaches to the changes in organismal size and shape. Morphometric techniques have been used in the study of individual growth as well as evolutionary change. Its precursor, multivariate biometrics, was based on the statistical analysis of measurements made on sets of component parts of organisms (e.g., leg length, or body weight). In contrast, morphometrics attempts to capture and distill the essential geometric patterns of change by studying discrete landmarks, or whole outlines, or surfaces of biological interest. The past decade has witnessed a profusion of these geometric/statistical techniques, and the advent of microcomputer-based image analysis systems has made their application widespread. Unfortunately, most biologists are ill- equipped to understand the mathematical underpinnings of these techniques, and they are therefore unable to make critical choices between alternate approaches. Dr. F. J. Rohlf has focused on the various strengths and weaknesses of different techniques, and has sought to guide biologists to the technique that is most appropriate for the organisms and hypotheses under study. His software programs have provided access to subtle and complicated approaches, and his continued research into the full spectrum of morphometrics will have benefits for the entire biological research community.

形态计量学是一种相对较新的研究生物大小和形状变化的方法。形态计量学技术已被用于研究个体生长和进化变化。它的前身--多元生物计量学--是基于对生物体各组成部分(如腿长或体重)的测量进行的统计分析。相比之下，形态计量学试图通过研究离散的地标或整个轮廓或生物感兴趣的表面来捕捉和提取变化的基本几何模式。在过去的十年里，这些几何/统计技术层出不穷，基于微型计算机的图像分析系统的出现使它们的应用变得广泛。不幸的是，大多数生物学家没有能力理解这些技术的数学基础，因此他们无法在不同的方法之间做出关键的选择。Rohlf博士专注于不同技术的各种优点和缺点，并试图指导生物学家选择最适合所研究的生物体和假说的技术。他的软件程序提供了获得微妙和复杂方法的途径，他对形态计量学全光谱的持续研究将使整个生物研究界受益。