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SUMMARY:How organisms shape themselves: using geometric morphometrics for 
 understanding evolution and development - Chris Klingenberg (University of
  Manchester)
DTSTART:20171115T090000Z
DTEND:20171115T094500Z
UID:TALK95077@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:INI IT
DESCRIPTION:Over the last three decades\, geometric morphometrics has seen
  tremendous progress in terms of new techniques for analyzing shape variat
 ion. Statistical shape analysis provides a solid mathematical foundation\,
  and a broad range of sophisticated tools is available for characterizing 
 shapes and for extracting specific information that can answer a variety o
 f biological questions. Biological datasets usually have an inherent struc
 ture that can potentially reveal important insights about the processes an
 d mechanisms responsible for the observed variation. For instance\, many o
 rganisms or their organs are symmetric\, and the usually slight deviations
  from perfect symmetry can be characterized with morphometric methods and 
 provide useful biological insight. Such analyses of fluctuating asymmetry 
 can provide information on the developmental basis of integration among tr
 aits. Likewise\, organisms with modular body plans consisting of repeated 
 parts\, such as most plants\, provide opportuni ties to examine additional
  levels of variation within individuals. Many morphometric studies use sam
 ples of specimens from multiple taxa\, and considering both the variation 
 within taxa and the evolved differences among taxa permits to make inferen
 ces about evolutionary mechanisms. Adopting a multi-level approach that co
 nsiders all the morphological information that can be obtained in a given 
 study design promises rich biological insights\, often for little extra ef
 fort by the investigator. My lecture will illustrate this approach with ex
 amples from animals and plants.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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