Biodiversity and evolution in the light of morphometrics: From patterns to processes

Disparity (shape diversity) is a key aspect of biodiversity, both present and past. The shapes of organisms are usually quantified by means of morphometrics. In this article, after a short review of recent advances and applications of morphometric methods, examples are presented as an overview of morphometric studies undertaken at the Biogeosciences research unit of Burgundy University. They concern both works on shape differentiation and evolution of disparity through time, and work aiming to infer, from the shapes of the organisms, any developmental stresses, constraints or processes which could explain in part the resulting disparity. The objective is to demonstrate how useful morphometrics can be for research in evolutionary and developmental biology. (C) 2010 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.