title: Opportunities and challenges for digital morphology.
abstract: Advances in digital data acquisition, analysis, and storage have revolutionized the work in many biological disciplines such as genomics, molecular phylogenetics, and structural biology, but have not yet found satisfactory acceptance in morphology. Improvements in non-invasive imaging and three-dimensional visualization techniques, however, permit high-throughput analyses also of whole biological specimens, including museum material. These developments pave the way towards a digital era in morphology. Using sea urchins (Echinodermata: Echinoidea), we provide examples illustrating the power of these techniques. However, remote visualization, the creation of a specialized database, and the implementation of standardized, world-wide accepted data deposition practices prior to publication are essential to cope with the foreseeable exponential increase in digital morphological data.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Immungenetik, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität Berlin, Thielallee 73, 14195 Berlin, Germany. alexander.ziegler@charite.de
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Malte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogurreck
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Steinke
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beckmann
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prohaska
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ziegler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001695:Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology