Technical note: Comparing dental topography software using platyrrhine molars.
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2019-05
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There remain many idiosyncrasies among the values calculated for varying dental topography metrics arising from differences in software preferences among research groups. The aim of this work is to compare and provide potential conversion formulae for dental topography metrics calculated using differing software platforms.Methods
Three software packages: ArcGIS, Surfer Manipulator, and molaR were used to calculate orientation patch count rotated (OPCR), Dirichlet normal energy (DNE), occlusal relief (OR), slope (m), and angularity (a) on platyrrhine second upper molars. Values derived from the various software packages were compared for distributional consistency and correlation. Where appropriate, formulae for conversion between like measures calculated on different software platforms were developed.Results
When compared with the same measurement across software, OPCR, OR, and slope were all highly correlated. However, only OR demonstrated distributional consistency (i.e., nearly consistent mean, median, max, and min). Slope and OPCR were both higher when calculated by molaR as compared to Surfer Manipulator and ArcGIS calculations, conversion formulae are provided for these measures. DNE is only weakly correlated with angularity; but is correlated with orientation patch count across taxa.Discussion
We explore why there is variation in the dental topography values calculated among the various software packages. The conversion formulae provided in this work will make possible direct comparisons among studies conducted across multiple research groups.Type
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Pampush, James D, Jordan Crowell, Aleksis Karme, Scott A Macrae, Richard F Kay and Peter S Ungar (2019). Technical note: Comparing dental topography software using platyrrhine molars. American journal of physical anthropology, 169(1). pp. 179–185. 10.1002/ajpa.23797 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/35507.
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Richard Frederick Kay
I have two areas of research: 1) the evolution of primates in South America; and 2) the use of primate anatomy to reconstruct the phylogenetic history and adaptations of living and extinct primates, especially monkeys and apes.
1) Evolution of primates and mammalian faunal evolution, especially in South America. For the past 30 years, I have been engaged in research in Argentina, Bolivia The Dominican Republic, Peru, and Colombia with three objectives: a) to reconstruct the evolutionary history and adaptive patterns of South America primates and other mammals; b) to establish a more precise geologic chronology for the mammalian faunas between about 36 and about 15 million years ago; and c) to use anatomy and niche structure of modern mammals as a means to reconstruct the evolution of mammalian niche structure in the Neotropics.
2) Primate Anatomy. I am working to reconstruct the phylogeny of primates based (principally) on anatomical evidence; and to infer the adaptations of extinct primates based mainly on cranial and dental evidence. Recently I published a paper tracing the evolution of the primate neocortex using brain casts of living and fossil primates. We show that vision, not frontal lobe expansion, drove the evolution of large brains in primates, including humans.
Field activities
Current fieldwork is focused on the study of terrestrial biotic change in Patagonia through the 'mid-Miocene Climate Optimum' when global climate was moderate and the subtropical zone, with primates and other typically tropical vertebrates, extended their ranges up to 55 degrees of South latitude.
In this collaborative research undertaking the geochronology of the Santa Cruz Formation at in extreme southern Argentina is being refined using radiometric dating. Stratigraphically-controlled collections have been made of vertebrates and plant macro- and microfossils. Climate change and its impact on the biota is assessed by documenting changes in mammalian community structure (richness, origination and extinction rates, and ecological morphology). This evidence is compared with continental sequences in the Northern Hemisphere and oceanic climatic records to improve our understanding of the timing and character of climatic change in continental high latitudes during this temporal interval.
A second field project is the study of the fossil vertebrates of the Amazon Basin. The hope is to recover primates from the Oligocene through Early Miocene. New material will shed light on the phylogenetic status of African Paleogene anthropoids, one of which may be the platyrrhine sister-taxon. Also, new remains of fossil primates will help to refine hypotheses about the origins of the modern families and subfamilies of platyrrhines, all of which trace back to an Early Miocene (17-21 Ma) common ancestor. Finally, new fossil primates may further constrain the time of entry of platyrrhines into South America.
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