OPUS: A Synthesis of Geometric Morphometric Methods

该项目将有助于完成一本关于几何形态测量学的书。虽然形态计量学方法(用于研究生物体形状或结构的生物变化的统计方法)是众所周知的，但这本书将使更新的几何方法更容易为生物学家所用。还计划编写一本实验室手册，作为方法和软件的实用手册。它将用于形态计量学的研讨会和课程。这本书将综合国际在分析和开发生物统计方法和软件方面近30年的工作。这个项目将产生广泛的影响，因为它将有助于满足更多的研究人员对使用新的几何形态测量方法进行培训的需求。这些新方法在进化模式的研究、与环境变量变化相关的变异研究以及医学应用中得到了广泛的应用。由于该领域是一个新领域，预计一旦几何形态测量学的方法变得更容易为研究人员所接受，这种方法的使用将变得更加广泛。这是完成这本课本对这一新兴研究领域很重要的另一个原因。

This project will facilitate the completion of a book on geometric morphometrics. While morphometric methods (statistical methods used to study biological variation in shapes of organisms or their structures) are well-known, the book will make the newer geometric methods more accessible to biologists. A lab manual is also planned that would serve as a practical workbook for methods and software. It will be used in workshops and courses on morphometrics. The book will synthesize nearly 30 years of work by the PI on the analysis and development of biostatistical methods and software.This project will have a broad impact because it will help meet the demand by increasing numbers of researchers for training on use of the new geometric morphometric methods. These new methods are finding wide applicability in studies of patterns of evolution, studies of variation in relation to changes in environmental variables, and in medical applications. Because the field is new, it is anticipated that the use of geometric morphometrics will become even more wide-spread once the methods become more accessible to researchers. This is another reason why it is important to complete this text book for this emerging field of study.