300067 VO Introductory morphometrics (Biometry II) (2008S)

The course (lecture plus demonstration) should represent an introduction to the theoretical principles of morphometrics as well as to methodological, particularly multivariate statistical, handlings of morphometric data, it is mainly intended for advanced students with previous knowledge in biometry and basic statistics. The following topics will be explained in detail: a short history of morphometrics, morphometric characters, landmark points, size vs. shape, 'Gestalt', statistics as a focal auxiliary science of morphometrics, refreshing of basic statistical principles and vector analysis, stereological basics (areas - point counting method, lengths - Buffon's needl and coin problems, fractals and measures), basics of error statistics (repeated measures, propagation of error), binomial, multinomial and normal distribution, central limit theorem, distributional parameters (averages, variational parameters), data transformations (e.g., logarithmic, square root, ranging, z-standardizing), variance, covariance and correlation (e.g., product-moment c., rank c.), chi-square tests, multivariate representation of variance-covariance and correlation (matrices, vectors), simple and multiple linear regression analysis, partial regression and correlation, linear compounds, character space - Euclidean vs. MAHALANOBIS distances, principal components analysis (e.g., eigenvector, eigenvalue, total variance), factor analyses, factor space, ordination techniques - multivariate allometry and isometry, linear discriminant analyses, discriminant space, identification analysis.