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- Title
Use of fractal dimensions to quantify coral shape.
- Authors
Martin-Garin, B.; Lathuilière, B.; Verrecchia, E. P.; Geister, J.
- Abstract
A morphometrical method to quantify and characterize coral corallites using Richardson Plots and Kaye's notion of fractal dimensions is presented. A Jurassic coral species (Aplosmilia spinosa) and five Recent coral species were compared using the Box-Counting Method. This method enables the characterization of their morphologies at calicular and septal levels by their fractal dimensions (structural and textural). Moreover, it is possible to determine differences between species of Montastraea and to tackle the high phenotypic plasticity of Montastraea annularis. The use of fractal dimensions versus conventional methods (e.g., measurements of linear dimensions with a calliper, landmarks, Fourier analyses) to explore a rugged boundary object is discussed. It appears that fractal methods have the potential to considerably simplify the morphometrical and statistical approaches, and be a valuable addition to methods based on Euclidian geometry.
- Subjects
DIMENSION theory (Topology); FRACTALS; CORALS; JURASSIC paleoecology; EUCLID'S elements; GEOMETRY; FOURIER analysis; PHENOTYPIC plasticity; GENOTYPE-environment interaction
- Publication
Coral Reefs, 2007, Vol 26, Issue 3, p541
- ISSN
0722-4028
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00338-007-0256-4