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The incidence of bilateral nonmetric skeletal traits: A reanalysis of sampling procedures
Author(s) -
Korey Kenneth A.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330530105
Subject(s) - incidence (geometry) , sampling (signal processing) , biology , evolutionary biology , mathematics , computer science , geometry , filter (signal processing) , computer vision
For reporting the incidence of bilateral skeletal traits, the choice between sampling statistics depends upon more than their relative efficiencies. Of overreaching importance are the fundamentally different assumptions about the genetic significance of bilateral asymmetry represented by the two principal sampling approaches. Sampling by side is consistent with the premise that trait expression on each side reflects an additive component of genetic variation. Implicit in sampling by individual, by contrast, is the proposition that asymmetries of expression result chiefly from developmental noise. The pattern of age‐regression indicated for many of these traits, suggesting a transient developmental role for unilateral expression, supports both this latter view and the thesis of stress asymmetry. Given this pattern, furthermore, incorporating unadjusted trait frequencies into divergence statistics would seem injudicious.