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Fluctuating asymmetry and morphometric variation of hand bones
G Livshits1, K Yakovenko, L Kletselman
1Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel. gregl@ccsg.tau.ac.il
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
|September 18, 1998
Summary
Complex hand traits exhibit lower fluctuating asymmetry (FA) than simple traits. FA strongly correlates with trait variability (CV), but organ-wide concordance between different hand bone FA measures is limited.
Area of Science:
- Human Anatomy
- Developmental Biology
- Biometrics
Background:
- Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) quantifies developmental instability.
- Understanding FA in complex skeletal structures like the hand is crucial for assessing developmental perturbations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between trait complexity and FA in hand bones.
- To determine if FA correlates with trait variability (CV).
- To assess if FA is an organ-wide property, indicated by concordance across different hand bone traits.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 72 bilateral measurements from hand bone radiographs of 365 cadavers.
- Defined complex traits (e.g., finger phalanges + metacarpals) and simple traits (individual bone lengths).
- Calculated FA and coefficient of variation (CV) for each trait.
Main Results:
- Simple traits showed higher FA than complex traits, potentially due to low correlation between FA of constituent simple traits.
- A significant positive correlation was found between FA and CV across all studied traits, irrespective of sex or age.
- Most FA measurements between different hand bone traits showed no significant correlation, though some specific trait pairs exhibited significant concordance.
Conclusions:
- Trait complexity influences FA, with simpler traits being more susceptible to developmental insults.
- FA is a reliable indicator of trait variability, suggesting it reflects developmental instability.
- While not a universal organ-wide property, localized concordance in FA suggests functional and developmental integration of certain hand bone traits.