Abstract
Abstract. Foraminifera are one of the few taxa that preserve their
entire ontogeny in their fossilised remains. Revealing this ontogeny through
micro-computed tomography (CT) of fossil planktonic foraminifera has greatly
improved our understanding of their life history and allows accurate
quantification of total shell volume, growth rates and developmental
constraints throughout an individual's life. Studies using CT scans
currently mainly focus on chamber size, but the wealth of three-dimensional
data generated by CT scans has the potential to reconstruct complete growth
trajectories. Here we present an open-source R package to analyse growth in
three-dimensional space. Using only the centroid xyz coordinates of every
chamber, the functions determine the growth sequence and check that chambers
are in the correct order. Once the order of growth has been verified, the
functions calculate distances and angles between subsequent chambers,
determine the total number of whorls and the number of chambers in the final
whorl at the time each chamber was built, and, for the first time, quantify
trochospirality. The applications of this package will enable repeatable
analysis of large data sets and quantification of key taxonomic traits and
ultimately provide new insights into the effects of ontogeny on evolution.
Funder
Natural Environment Research Council
Cited by
1 articles.
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