Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
1979-7-16
pubmed:abstractText
A long-standing controversy exists about the comparative utility of metric and non-metric traits as biological indicators in population studies. We hypothesize that the underlying scale which determines the presence or absence of a cranial non-metric trait is an expression of general and/or local size variation in the cranium. Therefore metric and non-metric traits will share a common developmental determination. The hypothesis implies that the underlying scale of a non-metric trait will be correlated with measures of cranial size and shape. Forty-eight cranial metric and twenty-five cranial non-metric traits were scored on the left side of adult male crania from four North American Indian populations. New threshold traits were generated for each non-metric trait by dichotomizing discriminant scores produced by discriminant function analysis. The discriminant analysis was performed using metric traits to discriminate between groups formed by non-metric trait presence or absence. Every non-metric trait tested was significantly correlated with its threshold trait in at least one population. The correlations were of moderate to high levels depending on the trait and population sample studied. This implies that metric and non-metric traits share a moderate to high degree of developmental determination. The cause of these correlations may lie in the common effects that growth and development of the soft tissue and functional spaces of the cranium exert on both metric and non-metric traits.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
0002-9483
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
50
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
191-8
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1979
pubmed:articleTitle
Relationships between non-metric skeletal traits and cranial size and shape.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article