paleonet NAPC Morphometrics Symposium

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For my sins I am organizing a morphometrics symposium at the upcoming North
American Paleontology Convention, which takes place on 19-26 June at
Dalhousie University, Halifax Nova Scotia. A brief description of the
symposium's concept is provided below. I'd like to get an idea of the
projected program size so, if you are interested in contributing a paper to
this symposium, please contact me. The NAPC is a premier venue for the
presentation of paleontological results, as well as results from other
fields that paleontologists would find interesting/useful. Both types of
contributions are encouraged in this symposium. Morphometrics also has been
on the program at previous NAPC meetings and, of course, there is currently
no lack of interesting morphometric research going on.

The abstract deadline is 31 January. Please mark this deadline on your
calendars and let me know if you intend to submit an abstract.

Season's Greetings,

Norm MacLeod

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Theory and Applications for Quantitative Models of Fossil Form:

This symposium would be focused on techniques using morphometrics to address
applied research issues, the modeling of fossil form,  and automated
approaches for fossil identification. Recent advances in the theoretical
underpinning of geometric morphometrics have clarified underlying
similarities between theoretical and empirical morphospaces, while advanced
digital-image visualization/manipulation techniques has provided tools that
can be used to both create and inspect the geometric models that lie at the
heart of many analyses. These advances, in turn, have opened up new areas of
shape model characterization for systematic investigation. This symposium
will bring together practitioners of both applied and theoretical
morphometric and automated object-recognition research programs for the
purpose of (1) updating the paleontological community on recent developments
in these fields, (2) exploring inter-relations among these topics, (3)
encouraging further interdisciplinary research, and (4) continuing the
process of forging a unified science of form that can be applied to
paleontological objects and that can facilitate the integration of
morphological data with other sources of geological and biological
information.

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Dr. Norman MacLeod
Keeper of Palaeontology
The Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD


(0)207 942-5204 (Office)
(0)207 942-5546 (Fax)
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/palaeontology/a&ss/nm/nm.html (Web Page)

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