The spirit of D'arcy Thompson dwells in empirical morphospace

Abstract

Applications of the concept of a morphological space to the study of biological form during the past three decades are reviewed. Common features of the various types of morphological spaces constructed by morphometricians during this period are identified and used to construct a space of morphological spaces. This semiquantitative analysis reveals that the use of empirical morphospace by contemporary researchers is similar to Thompson's classic method of coordinate grid transformations, in the description of biological form.