Is shape in the eye of the beholder? Assessing landmarking error in geometric morphometric analyses on live fish.

ABSTRACT: Geometric morphometrics is widely used to quantify morphological variation between biological specimens, but the fundamental influence of operator bias on data reproducibility is rarely considered, particularly in studies using photographs of live animals taken under field conditions. We examined this using four independent operators that applied an identical landmarking scheme to replicate photographs of 291 live Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) from two rivers. Using repeated measures tests, we found significant inter-operator differences in mean body shape, suggesting that the operators introduced a systematic error despite following the same landmarking scheme. No significant differences were detected when the landmarking process was repeated by the same operator on a random sub

SUBMITTER: Moccetti P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10440062 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature