Small sample sizes in the study of ontogenetic allometry; implications for palaeobiology

PeerJ
Caleb Marshall Brown, Matthew J Vavrek

Abstract

Quantitative morphometric analyses, particularly ontogenetic allometry, are common methods used in quantifying shape, and changes therein, in both extinct and extant organisms. Due to incompleteness and the potential for restricted sample sizes in the fossil record, palaeobiological analyses of allometry may encounter higher rates of error. Differences in sample size between fossil and extant studies and any resulting effects on allometric analyses have not been thoroughly investigated, and a logical lower threshold to sample size is not clear. Here we show that studies based on fossil datasets have smaller sample sizes than those based on extant taxa. A similar pattern between vertebrates and invertebrates indicates this is not a problem unique to either group, but common to both. We investigate the relationship between sample size, ontogenetic allometric relationship and statistical power using an empirical dataset of skull measurements of modern Alligator mississippiensis. Across a variety of subsampling techniques, used to simulate different taphonomic and/or sampling effects, smaller sample sizes gave less reliable and more variable results, often with the result that allometric relationships will go undetected due to Type...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 27, 2018·Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part A, Ecological and Integrative Physiology·John EmeRuth M Elsey
Jun 20, 2020·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·Ricardo Miguel GodinhoCélia Gonçalves
Jul 28, 2019·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Sarah B ChannonNicola Swann
Mar 23, 2019·Integrative Organismal Biology·Haley D O'BrienPaul M Gignac
Aug 12, 2021·Integrative Organismal Biology·B M WyndS J Nesbitt

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