Collaborative Research: Individual and Taxonomic Discrimination Through Laser Scan Analysis of Joint Congruence in Extant Hominoids

将化石标本分配给一个分类单元，在某些情况下分配给一个个体，是古生物学经常遇到的一个重要问题。当从一个地点找到一个(或多个)物种的多个个体时，为了确定保存的个体数量以及检查比例、功能适应和其他因素，往往至关重要的是将单个个体的要素联系起来。在这个项目中，PI提出了一种相对较新的方法来解决这些问题，将相对关节表面的激光表面扫描与先进的统计分析相结合，以检查如何使用已知个体的现存类人样本来区分分类群并将独特个体的元素关联起来。以前使用激光扫描仪的研究缺乏合适的计算能力和统计方法。Delson和他的同事们将在这项工作的基础上，结合他们自己对高分辨率扫描、几何形态分析和现存和灭绝的卡他目动物类群的关节表面的广泛熟悉。这项工作也对法医和考古学分析多个个体人类遗骸的积累有意义。这项研究将集中在两个重要关节的骨骼成分上：肘关节(尺骨)和踝关节(胫距)。这两个关节都相对“紧密”，显示出高度的一致性，其中建议的方法有更高的成功机会。肘关节比脚踝“紧”，这进一步评估了关节连接的紧密程度对方法效果的影响。最后，这两个关节在人类中都具有功能价值，也在人类化石记录中得到了很好的代表，这是计划中的后续研究阶段的重点。对有限数据的初步分析表明，这种基本方法可以成功地区分不同人类个体的胫距表面和属于不同类人族物种的关节。这项研究将收集更多的数据，并专注于开发统计上强大的分析方法。除了这些问题，这项工作还将产生更广泛的影响，因为它将：1)从科学界代表性较低的群体中招募雷曼学院的本科生担任研究助理；2)通过与其他大学以及英国同事的合作，通过开发和自由分发用于分析一致性模式的算法和软件来加强基础设施；3)在软件和分析方法的开发方面扩大与计算机科学家的合作；以及4)通过开发和自由分发用于教学的三维虚拟模型和关节表面的可视化来整合研究、教学和更广泛的结果传播。

The allocation of fossil specimens to a taxon, and in some cases to an individual, is a frequent and important problem of paleontology. When multiple individuals of one (or more) species are recovered from a site, it is often vital to associate elements of a single individual in order to determine the number of individuals preserved, as well as examine proportions, functional adaptations and other factors. In this project, the PIs propose a relatively new approach to these problems, combining laser surface scans of opposing joint surfaces with advanced statistical analyses to examine ways to differentiate taxa and associate elements of unique individuals using a sample of extant hominoids where individuals are known. Previous studies using a laser scanner suffered from the lack of suitable computational power and statistical methodology. Delson and colleagues will build upon that work in combination with their own extensive familiarity with high-resolution scanning, geometric morphometric analysis and joint surfaces of extant and extinct catarrhine taxa. This work also has implications for analyses of forensic and archaeological accumulations of multiple-individual human remains.This study will focus on the bony components of two important joints: the elbow (humero-ulnar) and ankle (tibio-talar). Both of these joints are relatively "tight" showing a high degree of congruence where the proposed method has a higher chance of success. The elbow joint is "tighter" than the ankle, further allowing some evaluation of how tightly a joint articulates influences how well the method works. Finally, both of these joints are of functional interest among hominoids and are also well-represented in the human fossil record, the planned focus of later phases of research. Preliminary analysis of limited data has demonstrated that this basic approach can successfully discriminate between tibio-talar surfaces of different human individuals and among joints belonging to different hominoid species. The present study will collect additional data and concentrate on development of statistically powerful methods for their analysis.In addition to these questions, this work has broader impacts in that it will: 1) recruit Lehman College undergraduates from groups underrepresented in science to be research assistants; 2) enhance infrastructure through collaboration with other universities as well as British colleagues and by developing and freely distributing algorithms and software with which to analyze congruence patterns; 3) expand collaboration with computer scientists in the development of software and analytical methods; and 4) integrate research, teaching and wider dissemination of results by developing and freely distributing three-dimensional virtual models and visualizations of joint surfaces for use in teaching.