Morphometrics

Project resources related to the quantification of biological form.

News, Publications

Lower jaw modularity in the African clawed frog and fire salamander

From CT scans of 100 lower jaws from African clawed frogs and fire salamanders, we answer the question of whether the amphibian lower jaw evolves as a single unit or evolves with different modules evolving in different ways.

Anne-Claire Fabre
September 19, 2023
Evolvability Form-Function Mesh data Morphometrics

Datasets, News, Tutorials

How do we prepare specimens for scanning?

In order to observe the precise morphology of the head bones, we use a micro-computed tomography (micro-CT scanner). This is a 3D imaging technique using x-rays to see inside an object, slice by slice. For our project, we need to…

Morgane Fournier
August 30, 2023
Evolvability Interconnected Datasets Mesh data Morphometrics

Digital rendering of multiple salamander skeletons reconstructed from a micro CT scan

Photo Galleries

CT scanning natural history collections

To collect data on the diversity of shapes and sizes in salamanders, we use micro CT scanning. In this photo gallery we share photos of a recent visit to the CT scanning facility and explain how we create high-resolution meshes from natural history specimens.

A student using calipers to take measurements from a preserved salamander specimen

Photo Galleries

Natural history collections: reference libraries of biodiversity

Natural history collections are vast repositories of biodiversity data. We share photos of a recent visit we made to a natural history museum to collect linear caliper measurements and other data from the specimens.