Journal
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 9, Issue 3, Pages 605-612Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12915
Keywords
automated data extraction; bivalves; foraminifera; geometric morphometrics; ichthyoliths; macrofossils; microfossils; patellogastropoda; photogrammetry; virtual palaeontology
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Funding
- American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund [55837-DNI8]
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Large-scale, comparative studies of morphological variation are rare due to the time-intensive nature of shape quantification. This data gap is important to address, as intraspecific and interspecific morphological variation underpins and reflects ecological and evolutionary processes. Here, we detail a novel software package, AutoMorph, for high-throughput object and shape extraction. AutoMorph can batch image many types of organisms (e.g. foraminifera, molluscs and fish teeth), allowing for rapid generation of assemblage-scale morphological data. We used AutoMorph to image and generate 2D and 3D morphological data for >100,000 marine microfossils in about a year. Our collaborators have used AutoMorph to process >12,000 patellogastropod shells and >50,000 fish teeth. AutoMorph allows users to rapidly produce large amounts of morphological data, facilitating community-scale evolutionary and ecological studies. To hasten the adoption of automated approaches, we have made AutoMorph freely available and open source. AutoMorph runs on all UNIX-like systems; future versions will run across all platforms.
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