How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompilius

Recent advancements in tomographic techniques allow for detailed morphological analysis of various organisms, which has proved difficult in the past. However, the time and cost required for the post-processing of highly resolved tomographic data are considerable. Cephalopods are an ideal group to st...

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Main Authors: Amane Tajika, Christian Klug
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2020-03-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/8849.pdf
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author Amane Tajika
Christian Klug
author_facet Amane Tajika
Christian Klug
author_sort Amane Tajika
collection DOAJ
description Recent advancements in tomographic techniques allow for detailed morphological analysis of various organisms, which has proved difficult in the past. However, the time and cost required for the post-processing of highly resolved tomographic data are considerable. Cephalopods are an ideal group to study ontogeny using tomography as the entire life history is preserved within a conch. Although an increasing number of studies apply tomography to cephalopod conchs, the number of conch measurements needed to adequately characterize ontogeny remains unknown. Therefore, the effect of different ontogenetic sampling densities on the accuracy of the resultant growth trajectories needs to be investigated. Here, we reconstruct ontogenetic trajectories of a single conch of Nautilus pompilius using different numbers of ontogenetic points to assess the resulting accuracies. To this end, conch parameters were measured every 10°, 30°, 45°, 90°, and 180°. Results reveal that the overall patterns of reconstructed growth trajectories are nearly identical. Relatively large errors appear to occur where growth changes occur, such as the points of hatching and the onset of morphogenetic countdown before the attainment of maturity. In addition, a previously undocumented growth change before hatching was detected when measurements were taken every 10°, 30°, and 45°, though this growth change was obscured when fewer measurements were used (90° and 180°). The lower number of measurements also masks the subtle fluctuating patterns of conch parameters in middle ontogeny. We conclude that the measurements of a conch every 30° and 45° permit a reasonably precise description of conch ontogeny in nautilids. Since ammonoids were likely more responsive to external stimuli than to nautilids, a much denser sampling may be required for ammonoids.
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spelling doaj.art-d8094796f0bc4d1dbe267e897222a2822023-12-03T10:40:56ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592020-03-018e884910.7717/peerj.8849How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompiliusAmane Tajika0Christian Klug1Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, New York, United States of AmericaPaläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Zurich, SwitzerlandRecent advancements in tomographic techniques allow for detailed morphological analysis of various organisms, which has proved difficult in the past. However, the time and cost required for the post-processing of highly resolved tomographic data are considerable. Cephalopods are an ideal group to study ontogeny using tomography as the entire life history is preserved within a conch. Although an increasing number of studies apply tomography to cephalopod conchs, the number of conch measurements needed to adequately characterize ontogeny remains unknown. Therefore, the effect of different ontogenetic sampling densities on the accuracy of the resultant growth trajectories needs to be investigated. Here, we reconstruct ontogenetic trajectories of a single conch of Nautilus pompilius using different numbers of ontogenetic points to assess the resulting accuracies. To this end, conch parameters were measured every 10°, 30°, 45°, 90°, and 180°. Results reveal that the overall patterns of reconstructed growth trajectories are nearly identical. Relatively large errors appear to occur where growth changes occur, such as the points of hatching and the onset of morphogenetic countdown before the attainment of maturity. In addition, a previously undocumented growth change before hatching was detected when measurements were taken every 10°, 30°, and 45°, though this growth change was obscured when fewer measurements were used (90° and 180°). The lower number of measurements also masks the subtle fluctuating patterns of conch parameters in middle ontogeny. We conclude that the measurements of a conch every 30° and 45° permit a reasonably precise description of conch ontogeny in nautilids. Since ammonoids were likely more responsive to external stimuli than to nautilids, a much denser sampling may be required for ammonoids.https://peerj.com/articles/8849.pdfCephalopodsNautiloideaMorphometricsOntogenyConchTomography
spellingShingle Amane Tajika
Christian Klug
How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompilius
PeerJ
Cephalopods
Nautiloidea
Morphometrics
Ontogeny
Conch
Tomography
title How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompilius
title_full How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompilius
title_fullStr How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompilius
title_full_unstemmed How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompilius
title_short How many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch? A case study of the modern nautilid Nautilus pompilius
title_sort how many ontogenetic points are needed to accurately describe the ontogeny of a cephalopod conch a case study of the modern nautilid nautilus pompilius
topic Cephalopods
Nautiloidea
Morphometrics
Ontogeny
Conch
Tomography
url https://peerj.com/articles/8849.pdf
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