This volume represents an ongoing series entitled Biological Shape Analysis, of which this is the 4th Edition. These proceedings represent state-of-the-art research in the field of biology, broadly-based, that deal with the quantitative analysis of the shape of the biological form. These numerical analyses include Fourier analytic methods, wavelets, neural networks, machine vision, machine learning, median axis transforms, spectral clustering, genome-wide association studies, 3D surface mapping, as well as more traditional morphometric approaches. Studies included are drawn from research in agricultural genetics, anatomy, anthropology, botany, dentistry, entomology, forensics, human evolution, paleontology, primatology, to name a few.The shape of forms can be considered of central importance in terms of identification, comparison, and classification of biological organisms. These proceedings, of which this is the fourth one, are unique in that they deal extensively with a wide range of organisms in biology, including both fauna and flora. They bring together diverse practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines. This represents a major departure from the current emphasis on specialization in the biological sciences. It is of particular importance to note that these issues dealing with shape analysis of biological structures are found to be common across very diverse disciplines and these proceedings are the first ones to highlight this.There are no volumes currently available that are as broadly-based as these proceedings in dealing with the quantification of shape analysis. (1) These volumes are unique in their diversity in covering the biological disciplines; (2) The emphasis on numerical approaches; and (3) the numerous state-of-the-art research papers.
