Literaturdatenbank
Literaturdatenbank |
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Walker, R. C. (2011). The development of a cost effective method for measuring the variation of area in contrasting scute pigmentation in chelonians. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 6(1), 51–60.
Added by: Sarina Wunderlich (25 Jun 2011 12:42:20 UTC) |
| Resource type: Journal Article BibTeX citation key: Walker2011 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Morphologie = morphology, Pyxis, Pyxis arachnoides, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises, Testudinidae Creators: Walker Collection: Herpetological Conservation and Biology |
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| Abstract |
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Abstract.—Metapopulations of chelonians often vary widely in the amount of contrasting carapace scute pigment. To date, measurement of such variation has been undertaken using a myriad of techniques from non-quantitative descriptive techniques to the use of expensive image capture techniques and processing software. This paper describes a rigorous, cost effective method using freely available software and a basic digital camera to quantify the comparative area of light and dark patterning for a species supporting high contrast carapace patterning. To validate the method, I used a sample population of Northern Spider Tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides brygooi) to test for age and sex dependent variation in scute color contrast. A reduction of dark pigmentation was correlated with increased age, and females were found to have a greater amount of dark pigmentation than males. This technique provides researchers with an alternative to expensive image capture software and processing techniques in cases where all that is required is a robust method for the quantification of contrasting dark and light area of patterning.
Added by: Sarina Wunderlich |