Modern Morphometrics in Physical Anthropology

392 Pages·2010·6.35 MB·English

by  Dennis E. Slice

MODERN MORPHOMETRICS IN PHYSICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
DEVELOPMENTSINPRIMATOLOGY:PROGRESSANDPROSPECTS
SeriesEditor:
RussellH.Tuttle
UniversityofChicago,Chicago,Illinois
This peer-reviewed book series will meld the facts of organic diversity with the continuity
of the evolutionary process. The volumes in this series will exemplify the diversity of the-
oreticalperspectivesandmethodologicalapproachescurrentlyemployedbyprimatologists
andphysicalanthropologists.Specificcoverageincludes:primatebehaviorinnaturalhabitats
andcaptivesettings:primateecologyandconservation;functionalmorphologyanddevelop-
mentalbiologyofprimates;primatesystematics;geneticandphenotypicdifferencesamong
livingprimates;andpaleoprimatology.
ALLAPESGREATANDSMALL
VOLUME1:AFRICANAPES
EditedbyBiruteM.F.Galdikas,NancyEricksonBriggs,LoriK.Sheeran,GaryL.Shapiro
andJaneGoodall
THEGUENONS:DIVERSITYANDADAPTATIONINAFRICANMONKEYS
EditedbyMaryE.GlennandMarinaCords
ANIMALBODIES,HUMANMINDS:APE,DOLPHIN,AND
PARROTLANGUAGESKILLS
WilliamA.HillixandDuaneM.Rumbaugh
COMPARATIVEVERTEBRATECOGNITION:AREPRIMATES
SUPERIORTONON-PRIMATES
LesleyJ.RogersandGiselaKaplan
ANTHROPOIDORIGINS:NEWVISIONS
CallumF.RossandRichardF.Kay
MODERNMORPHOMETRICSINPHYSICALANTHROPOLOGY
EditedbyDennisE.Slice
MODERN
MORPHOMETRICS IN
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Edited by
Dennis E. Slice
InstituteforAnthropology
UniversityofVienna
Vienna,Austria
KLUWER ACADEMIC / PLENUM PUBLISHERS
New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
DennisE.Slice.
Modernmorphometricsinphysicalanthropology/editedby
DennisE.Slice.
p. cm.—(Developmentsinprimatology)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-306-48697-0(hardback)—ISBN0-306-48698-9(ebook)
1.Physicalanthropology—Methodology.
2.Physicalanthropology—Mathematics.
3.Physicalanthropology—Computersimulation.
4.Morphology—Mathematics.5.Morphology—Statisticalmethods.
6.Morphology—Computersimulation.7.Anthropometry.
8.Craniometry. I.Slice,DennisE. II.Series.
GN50.8.M632005
599.9—dc22
2004054594
ISBN:0-306-48697-0(hardback)
ISBN:0-306-48698-9(ebook)
©2005KluwerAcademic/PlenumPublishers,NewYork
233SpringStreet,NewYork,NewYork10013
http://www.wkap.nl/
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PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LeslieF.Marcus(1930–2002)
OnFebruary22,2002,thefieldofmorphometricslostagreatfriend,teacher,
andcolleaguewiththedeathofDr.LeslieF.Marcus.Atthetimeofhisdeath,
LeswasaresearchassociateinpaleontologyattheAmericanMuseumofNatural
HistoryandProfessorofBiologyEmeritusatQueensCollegeandtheGradu-
ateSchooloftheCityUniversityofNewYork.Fromthestartofhiscareer,he
workedattheleadingedgeofquantitativebiology,asevidencedbyhisearning
anM.A.inStatisticsin1959priortostartingworkonhisPh.D.inpaleontology
thatwascompletedin1962.Intheensuingyears,heworkedtointegratecom-
putersintobiologicalresearchinareassuchasdatabasedevelopment,museum
cataloging, and data acquisition, and he was commited to the proper use of
multivariate statistical techniques in ecological, evolutionary, and systematic
research. Generations of scientists benefited from his teaching and his always
constructivelycriticaleye.
Leswasparticularlyconcernedwithmethodsforthequantificationofbiolo-
gical shape. This led him to continuously evaluate the most recent techniques
in this area and, ultimately, to the modern morphometric methods that are
the foundation of the work presented here. Having identified state-of-the-art
approaches that would benefit so many researchers, he used his considerable
international reputation and extensive collegial network to introduce these
methods to scientists and students throughout the world. Every chapter in
this volume has been influenced in one way or another by his contributions,
and as the field continues to grow in the years to come, his absence will be
felt even more greatly. For these and so many other reasons, we dedicate this
volumetothelastingcontributionsandmemoryofDr.LeslieF.Marcus.
PREFACE
The explosive growth in computing capability and accessibility in recent years
has had a profound impact on all areas of biology concerned with the analysis
of shape variation. Today, almost every student has easy access to computing
resources that exceed those availableintheentireworldjustafewdecadesago.
Suchcomputationalcapacityhasenabledmathematicians,statisticians,andoth-
erstonotonlyreassesstheanalysesthatcouldbeappliedtolinearandangular
measurementsthatwouldhavebeenfamiliartogenerationsofanthropologists,
but also to reexamine the nature of the data being analyzed. As described in
more detail in the introductory chapter, traditional sets of measurement data
that completely encode their relative spatial relationships are difficult to con-
struct.TheCartesiancoordinatesoftheindividualpointsthatdefinetraditional
measurements,ontheotherhand,conciselyencodealltheavailablegeometric
informationinthosepoints.Itisthedevelopmentofnewmethodsofcollection,
processing, analysis, and visualization based on Cartesian coordinates, made
possiblebyrelativelyrecenttechnologicalandtheoreticaladvances,thathasled
toamajorshiftinthewaybiologicalshapeanalysis—thatis,morphometrics—
isconducted.
Physicalanthropologistsandtheircolleaguesinrelatedfieldshavebeenearly
adopters of this new approach to shape analysis, and a number of investig-
ators quickly grasped the potential of the modern morphometric methods to
addressshape-relatedquestionsinsuchareasasgrowthanddevelopment,evol-
ution,ecology,andfunctionalmorphology.Asaresult,evermorepublications
and meeting presentations in anthropology incorporate modern morphomet-
ric techniques into their research methods. The relatively new and somewhat
specializednatureoftheseanalyses,however,has,toadegree,limitedtheiruse
toresearchgroupswithtrainingfromspecializedmorphometricsworkshopsor
withsourcesoflocalexpertise.
To address this situation, a symposium dedicated to modern morphomet-
rics in physical anthropology was proposed and accepted for the 2002 AAPA
meeting in Buffalo, New York. The goal of the symposium was to introduce
vii
viii Preface
researchers to the fundamental elements of modern morphometric analysis,
illustrate how these methods compare with traditional approaches and how
theyhavecontributedtomajorresearchprojects,andprovideaglimpseofnew
ideasandmethodsthatmayfurthercontributetoresearchinthenot-too-distant
future.Thesymposiumwaswellattendedandjudgedtobeagreatsuccess.The
next step seemed obvious, and that was to provide the same in book form to
reachamuchlargeraudience.
This is that book. Most of the chapters in this volume are derived directly
from presentations in the AAPA symposium. A few participants were not able
tocontributeastheirmaterialwasalreadyscheduledforpublicationelsewhere,
but we were able to invite other contributors who could not present in the
original symposium. The introductory chapter is designed to expose readers
new to the field to most of the terms, concepts, and methods and provide
references through which they can gain the prerequisite knowledge to apply
thesemethodsintheirownwork.Subsequentchaptersspeculateastothefuture
of morphometric analysis and extend basic methods to embrace even more
sophisticatedanalysesanddatasets.Somecontributionscomparetheresultsof
modern and traditional analyses in an applied context, while others focus on
specificresearchquestionsaddressedthroughtheuseofmodernmorphometric
methods. It is hoped that at least some part of this book will appeal and be of
usetomostresearchersinterestedinproblemsofshapeanalysis.
This book is obviously the product of the efforts of a great many people.
I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to all of the contributors for
their hard work in providing such outstanding material, their encouragement
throughouttheproject,andtheirpatienceinexplainingtomeunfamiliaraspects
oftheirownresearch.Allcontributionswerecriticallyexaminedbyatleasttwo
reviewers—one experienced in morphometrics and the other in the particular
subject matter of the chapter, and their efforts are gratefully acknowledged.
Philip L. Walker provided suggestions and support for the organization of
the original symposium for the American Association of Physical Anthropo-
logists, and Andrea Macaluso, Krista Zimmer, and Felix Portnoy of Kluwer
Academic Publishers were sources of limitless encouragement and technical
help from the start of this undertaking. The series editor, Russell H. Tuttle,
played an important role in identifying and addressing some of the rough
edges. To all of these individuals, I extend my sincerest thanks. My own work
on this project would not have been possible without the generous support
of Dr. Edward G. Hill and members of the Winston-Salem community and
Preface ix
Prof. Dr. Horst Seidler and the faculty and students of the Institute for
AnthropologyattheUniversityofVienna.
And finally, I would like to express my appreciation for the mentorship,
encouragement, and friendship offered to me by the late Leslie F. Marcus to
whomthisvolumeisdedicated.Thanks,Les!
DennisE.Slice
Winston-Salem,NorthCarolina,2004
CONTENTS
Contributors xix
1. Modern Morphometrics 1
DennisE.Slice
Introduction 1
Definitions 3
MorphometricData 5
Distances,Ratios,andAngles 6
LandmarkCoordinates 8
Outlines 10
Surfaces 10
TraditionalMethods 11
Superimposition-BasedMorphometrics 11
Two-PointRegistration 12
ProcrustesSuperimposition 16
ResistantFit 19
ShapeSpaces 21
MultivariateAnalysis 23
Visualization 25
VectorPlots 25
Thin-PlateSplines 27
Warps,Warps,andmoreWarps 32
ExtensionstoProcrustesAnalysis 33
Coordinate-FreeMethods 35
OutlineMethods 37
Fractals 38
FinalComments 39
Acknowledgments 39
References 40
xi