For some reason, the link to the article I rec'd was excessively long. After some research, I figured out how to edit the original post, but elected not to since many receive messages as email. I am not sure they would get/see the edit. Hence, I provide a shorter link here:
https://link-springer-com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/journal/13752 -ds [the MORPHMET moderator] On Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 11:01:15 AM UTC-4, MORPHMET wrote: > > [Posted on behalf of Dr. Bookstein] > > Dear MorphMetters, > > I'm happy to announce that my paper "Reflections on a Biometrics of > Organismal Form" has just been posted for open access by the Springer > journal Biological Theory. You can get a free copy by pointing your browser > at > > > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__link.springer.com_journal_13752&d=DwIBAg&c=HPMtquzZjKY31rtkyGRFnQ&r=T8Sxf-U51iRHIXQayyjGAA&m=xOGtb5kpXyYsx7O1ZPeSGHSsh8sLGcIwYOsLoNWTC3I&s=wQclw8xhArX7488PAUkyik6iPqlhj-vA5-el7VYzF-E&e= > > > and clicking on what is, for now, the top entry in the Latest Articles > table on the home page. > > This article is a sequel to my 2015 article in Benedikt Hallgrimsson's > journal Evolutionary Biology that introduced the BE-PwV plot as the best > tool for studying integration in GMM data sets. I trace the basic idea here > back nearly a hundred years, not to D'Arcy Thompson but to a > hitherto-untranslated critique of his ideas by the Vivarium group under > Hans Przibram in Vienna arguing that the only valid way that a biologist > should study organismal form is by direct experimental observation of > transformation grids: "Thompson's holistic deformations can be made > comprehensible if we can visualize a space lattice upon the living form, so > as to assess how each little piece changes its shape under conditions that > vary by species. Here lies open a rich, nearly undeveloped field that > invites a mathematization, one whose erection we hope will begin very > soon." But the timing seems to have slipped a bit, namely, by 97 years. The > new paper argues that BE-PwV is exactly the "mathematization" they were > envisioning, which could not be made empirical until the development of > geometric morphometrics, and further that it is the only morphometric > method consistent with the most fundamental fact in all of biology, "the > repetitive production of organized heterogeneity" (Hotchkiss 1958) or, as > Walter Elsasser put it in 1987, "the transfer of information over finite > intervals of time without an intermediate message." For instance, the new > article demonstrates how to recognize a growth-gradient explicitly even in > the presence of unstructured residual variability. I close with a plea that > others help me build the bridge that we need so urgently between the > arithmetic of today's burgeoning image-based data resources and the > rhetoric of biological explanations of organismal form both over evolution > and over development. > > As always I welcome all comments on these ideas, enthusiastic or > otherwise. > > Fred Bookstein > -- MORPHMET may be accessed via its webpage at http://www.morphometrics.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MORPHMET" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to morphmet+unsubscr...@morphometrics.org.
