Determining the evolutionary relationships among a group of organisms is one of the major goals of integrative historical biology. In the century following Darwin , morphological structures were almost the sole source of data for a variety of analyses aimed at resolving this problem. Over the past few decades, molecular systematic techniques have taken center stage in the study of extant species, usually supporting but frequently overturning results based on morphology. In paleontology, however, morphological data (the shapes of fossils) remain effectively our only information describing the evolutionary position of extinct organisms. The application of 3D techniques of data collection and analysis, as well as computer-based visualization methods, to data sets including both extant and extinct species will now permit improved levels of interpretation in paleontology. The team will develop new tools in each of these areas, using Old World monkeys as a "test-bed" or model organism, to approach significant problems in both computer science and the broad domain of comparative biology. New advances in the analysis and manipulation of surfaces and volumes in three-dimensions in computer graphics, visualization and computer vision can be applied to these problems. Simultaneously, collecting and interpreting morphological data for paleontology is a novel application for pushing the development of techniques in computer science.
analysis will be based on a large existing database of three-dimensional data (mostly skull surfaces) at the American Museum of Natural History.
The interactive graphics, visualization and statistical analysis tools we propose are ever more widely needed as the amount of three-dimensional morphology data increases. The close interaction of geometric morphometrics and computer graphics will lead to new ideas about the representation of shape. In addition, the project develops new approaches to the problem of integrating morphology with molecular data in the study of evolution, applicable in many parts of the tree of life. In addition, with massive amounts of new data, new processing and analytic software, and new approaches to integrating morphology, answers to specific questions about the evolution of African monkeys might be obtained.
A large part of the project will be done at Lehman College of CUNY, a minority-serving institution in the Bronx, and minority undergraduates are already involved in the research. The software tools we will develop are sorely needed and will become part of the scientific infrastructure. The visualizations will form a basis for sharing research in evolution with the general public.
