Dear Gail, I guess that as long as the resolution of your picture is good enough (which also depends on the method you're using for taking the pics), it's not a bad idea to have larger pics for smaller specimens. Then, to get the right size you just need to have a scale factor in your pics. I think this is the way my friend Diego did it in our paper on the trophi of rotifers: Fontaneto D., Melone G., Cardini A., 2004 - Geometric morphometrics study of the jaws in microscopic aquatic pseudocoelomates: shape diversity in the trophy of different species of Rotaria (Rotifera, Bdelloidea). Italian Journal of Zoology, 71: 63-72. Diego is also in the list and can tell you more.
You can find an interesting paper on a related issue in David Polly's website. It's traditional morphometrics, if I remember well, but it might be interesting for you. Polly, P. D. 1998. Variability in mammalian dentitions: size-related bias in the coefficient of variation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 64: 83-99. [PDF] http://mypage.iu.edu/%7Epdpolly/Papers/ Good luck Andrea Dr. Andrea Cardini Lecturer in Animal Biology Museo di Paleobiologia e dell'Orto Botanico Universitá di Modena e Reggio Emilia via Università 4, 41100, Modena, Italy tel: 0039 059 2056520 fax: 0039 059 2056535 & Hull York Medical School The University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK E-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.york.ac.uk/res/fme/people/andrea.htm http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/cerco_lt_2007/overview.cfm#metadata ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEXGATEMICRO il centralino VoIP multifunzione per l'azienda. Prova gratuita per 4 utenti! Scopri tutte le funzionalita' sul sito Dexgate.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Replies will be sent to the list. For more information visit http://www.morphometrics.org
