Mobility Report: Ankica Oros Sršen at the University of Pisa

I conducted my short-term mobility at the University of Pisa, Department of Biology, from March 20th till April 8th. My supervisors and hosts Prof. Damiano Marchi and Prof. Giovanni Boschian made all necessary arrangements for me to come to Pisa.

During my three-week long stay at the Unit for Zoology and Anthropology I learnt basic principles of Geometrics morphometrics (GM) method and I was introduced into various softwares for computing the data. I was integrated into Prof. Marchi’s group of MSc students that are conducting theirs diploma thesis related to GM. First week, I was familiarizing with basic concepts and geometric principles fundamental for GM method. Lorenzo Galletta, MSc in Biology, gave me two introductory lectures on this thematic. On the second week, I was introduced to the free data analysis software R (R studio) and its package Geomorph, developed for GM analysis. Lorenzo showed me the use of the Geomorph on the example of primates’ metacarpal bones.

I had opportunity to attended CT scanning of the fossil horse metapodials from the Croatia, since Prof. Marchi arranged it with Prof. Caramella at the University Hospital of Pisa. On these 3D images I practiced positioning the landmarks by free software IDAV Landmark Editor, during the last week.

Beside these activities, I also prepare and gave a seminar lecture in duration of one hour, entitled Late Pleistocene and Holocene Avifauna from the Eastern Adriatic Coast (Croatia), on the palaeontological methods and current findings of the eastern Adriatic fossil avifauna, for the students of the Evolution and Conservation program at the Department of Biology, and attended a lecture given by Prof. Damiano Marchi entitled Basic Concepts in Biomechanics and its Use for Understanding Fossil Hominin Postural Behavior.