Elewa, A.M.T. Ed. 2004. Morphometrics. Applications in biology and paleontology. – Heidelberg, Springer Verlag

Abstract

I found ‘Morphometrics’ an intriguing yet very specialised book, about an intriguing yet very specialised field of morphology. The title is somewhat deceiving, as one is led to assume that the book is either a manual of morphometric techniques, or (as it turns out) a collection of papers in which morphometrics is successfully applied.

The book contains 16 contributions about the use of morphometric analyses in biological and palaeontological studies, and the arrangement of papers is presented in some sort of ‘phylogenetic’ order. We start with ostracods, move through five other papers dealing mostly with arthropods but including a brief modelling of ammonites and an interesting work on the analysis of branching sponges and corals, after which we conclude with vertebrates, with a strong bias towards dinosaurs (including birds) and mammals. The two final contributions are about humans.

I like to emphasize the fact that all papers are written by leading morphometricians, and are well-organised and well-written. My major criticism concerns the scope of the book. It seems that this work is not for the beginner or the scientist who is casually interested in morphometrics. You need a strong and deep background in this subject in order to understand most of the papers in the book. Read more...