Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Introducing molaR: a New R Package for Quantitative Topographic Analysis of Teeth (and Other Topographic Surfaces)

Publication ,  Journal Article
Pampush, JD; Winchester, JM; Morse, PE; Vining, AQ; Boyer, DM; Kay, RF
Published in: Journal of Mammalian Evolution
December 1, 2016

Researchers studying mammalian dentitions from functional and adaptive perspectives increasingly have moved towards using dental topography measures that can be estimated from 3D surface scans, which do not require identification of specific homologous landmarks. Here we present molaR, a new R package designed to assist researchers in calculating four commonly used topographic measures: Dirichlet Normal Energy (DNE), Relief Index (RFI), Orientation Patch Count (OPC), and Orientation Patch Count Rotated (OPCR) from surface scans of teeth, enabling a unified application of these informative new metrics. In addition to providing topographic measuring tools, molaR has complimentary plotting functions enabling highly customizable visualization of results. This article gives a detailed description of the DNE measure, walks researchers through installing, operating, and troubleshooting molaR and its functions, and gives an example of a simple comparison that measured teeth of the primates Alouatta and Pithecia in molaR and other available software packages. molaR is a free and open source software extension, which can be found at the doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3563.4961 (molaR v. 2.0) as well as on the Internet repository CRAN, which stores R packages.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Journal of Mammalian Evolution

DOI

ISSN

1064-7554

Publication Date

December 1, 2016

Volume

23

Issue

4

Start / End Page

397 / 412

Related Subject Headings

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3105 Genetics
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 0608 Zoology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Pampush, J. D., Winchester, J. M., Morse, P. E., Vining, A. Q., Boyer, D. M., & Kay, R. F. (2016). Introducing molaR: a New R Package for Quantitative Topographic Analysis of Teeth (and Other Topographic Surfaces). Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 23(4), 397–412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-016-9326-0
Pampush, J. D., J. M. Winchester, P. E. Morse, A. Q. Vining, D. M. Boyer, and R. F. Kay. “Introducing molaR: a New R Package for Quantitative Topographic Analysis of Teeth (and Other Topographic Surfaces).” Journal of Mammalian Evolution 23, no. 4 (December 1, 2016): 397–412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-016-9326-0.
Pampush JD, Winchester JM, Morse PE, Vining AQ, Boyer DM, Kay RF. Introducing molaR: a New R Package for Quantitative Topographic Analysis of Teeth (and Other Topographic Surfaces). Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 2016 Dec 1;23(4):397–412.
Pampush, J. D., et al. “Introducing molaR: a New R Package for Quantitative Topographic Analysis of Teeth (and Other Topographic Surfaces).” Journal of Mammalian Evolution, vol. 23, no. 4, Dec. 2016, pp. 397–412. Scopus, doi:10.1007/s10914-016-9326-0.
Pampush JD, Winchester JM, Morse PE, Vining AQ, Boyer DM, Kay RF. Introducing molaR: a New R Package for Quantitative Topographic Analysis of Teeth (and Other Topographic Surfaces). Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 2016 Dec 1;23(4):397–412.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of Mammalian Evolution

DOI

ISSN

1064-7554

Publication Date

December 1, 2016

Volume

23

Issue

4

Start / End Page

397 / 412

Related Subject Headings

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3105 Genetics
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 0608 Zoology