MASS: An integrative software program for streamlined morphometric analyses of leaves
Analysis of leaf shape and size is a cornerstone of botany, and is crucial in answering a variety of ecological, evolutionary, genetic, and agricultural questions. However, the software packages used to conduct these morphometric analyses can be cumbersome, and sometimes require stringing multiple programs together. This slows the rate of progress in the field, creates higher barriers of entry for newcomers, and introduces unnecessary errors to these calculations. In research presented in a recent issue of Applications in Plant Sciences, Dr. Gillian Ryan and colleagues introduced a new software program, MASS (Morphological Analysis of Size and Shape), that they developed to streamline the process of running geometric morphometric analyses on leaf shape.