3D visualization processes for recreating and studying organismal form

Duncan J Irschick; Fredrik Christiansen; Neil Hammerschlag; Johnson Martin; Peter T Madsen; Jeanette Wyneken; Annabelle Brooks; Adrian Gleiss; Sabrina Fossette; Cameron Siler; Tony Gamble; Frank Fish; Ursula Siebert; Jaymin Patel; Zhan Xu; Evangelos Kalogerakis; Joshua Medina; Atreyi Mukherji; Mark Mandica; Savvas Zotos; Jared Detwiler; Blair Perot; George Lauder

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104867

3D visualization processes for recreating and studying organismal form

iScience. 2022 Aug 4;25(9):104867. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104867. eCollection 2022 Sep 16.

Authors

Duncan J Irschick¹, Fredrik Christiansen², Neil Hammerschlag^{3

4

5}, Johnson Martin⁶, Peter T Madsen^{7

2}, Jeanette Wyneken⁸, Annabelle Brooks⁹, Adrian Gleiss^{10

11}, Sabrina Fossette¹², Cameron Siler¹³, Tony Gamble^{14

15

16}, Frank Fish¹⁷, Ursula Siebert¹⁸, Jaymin Patel¹⁹, Zhan Xu²⁰, Evangelos Kalogerakis²⁰, Joshua Medina¹, Atreyi Mukherji²¹, Mark Mandica²², Savvas Zotos^{23

24}, Jared Detwiler²⁵, Blair Perot²⁶, George Lauder²⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, 221 Morrill Science Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
² Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B, Aarhus C, Denmark.
³ Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
⁴ Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
⁵ Shark Research and Conservation Program, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
⁶ 329 E Main Street, Wilmore, KY 40390, USA.
⁷ Zoophysiology, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁸ Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USA.
⁹ Cape Eleuthera Institute, PO Box EL-26029, Rock Sound, Eleuthera, The Bahamas.
¹⁰ Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
¹¹ College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, 90 South St, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
¹² Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, 17 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia.
¹³ Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, 2401 Chautauqua Avenue, Norman, OK 73072-7029, USA.
¹⁴ Marquette University, Wehr Life Sciences 109, 1428 W. Clybourn Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA.
¹⁵ Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 W. Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA.
¹⁶ Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota 551088, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Biology, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383, USA.
¹⁸ Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Werftstrasse 6, 25761 Buesum, Germany.
¹⁹ Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry, 3223 North Broad Street Philadelphia, PE 19140, USA.
²⁰ College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts, 140 Governors Dr., Amherst, MA, USA.
²¹ University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
²² Amphibian Foundation, 4055 Roswell Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30342, USA.
²³ Terra Cypria-the Cyprus Conservation Foundation, Agiou Andreou 341, 3035 Limassol, Cyprus.
²⁴ School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, PO Box 12794, 2252 Nicosia, Cyprus.
²⁵ 22 Hooker Avenue Unit 1, Northampton, MA 01060, USA.
²⁶ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-2210, USA.
²⁷ Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Abstract

The study of biological form is a vital goal of evolutionary biology and functional morphology. We review an emerging set of methods that allow scientists to create and study accurate 3D models of living organisms and animate those models for biomechanical and fluid dynamic analyses. The methods for creating such models include 3D photogrammetry, laser and CT scanning, and 3D software. New multi-camera devices can be used to create accurate 3D models of living animals in the wild and captivity. New websites and virtual reality/augmented reality devices now enable the visualization and sharing of these data. We provide examples of these approaches for animals ranging from large whales to lizards and show applications for several areas: Natural history collections; body condition/scaling, bioinspired robotics, computational fluids dynamics (CFD), machine learning, and education. We provide two datasets to demonstrate the efficacy of CFD and machine learning approaches and conclude with a prospectus.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Ecology; Evolutionary biology; Zoology.

Publication types

Review