Digital morphology: modelling anatomy and evolution

The morphology and anatomy of a biological structure can be seen as a structural and functional system, the final results of evolutionary pressures and stochastic processes related to the actual physical and physiological environment of its components. The current imaging techniques (digital anthropology) and the multivariate approaches to the study of geometric covariation (geometric morphometrics) provide a quantitative exploration of the extant and extinct human variability. Such tools allow the recognition of morphological relationships within anatomical systems, and their variation within phylogenetic processes. We apply these techniques and principles to the study of the cranial variability and integration, mostly within the framework of the evolution of the human genus. The craniofacial system is investigated in terms of modules and spatial relationships, along ontogenetic and phylogenetic trajectories. The reciprocal influences between the splanchnocranial, basicranial, and neurocranial components, as well as those between the hard (bones) and soft (brain, connectives, muscles) tissues are modelled using geometrical analyses and multivariate ordination methods, trying to localise adaptations and constraints. The main target is a dynamic and visualisation-based interpretation of the evolutionary changes, not grounded on the variation of single traits but on the covariation of the whole system.