CuticleTrace

CuticleTrace streamlines and automates the segmentation and measurement of epidermal pavement cells from leaf cuticle images for paleoecological and paleoclimatological studies.

Key Features:

• Automated Segmentation: Captures cell outlines from leaf cuticle images across a wide range of cell morphologies and image qualities.
• Measurement Accuracy: Achieves approximately 93% statistical agreement with expert hand-traced measurements, outperforming alternate automated methods.
• Modular Architecture: Provides customizable Fiji and R-based functions for flexible analysis workflows.
• Data Integration: Combines image segmentation with data visualization and cell shape measurement.
• High-Throughput Capability: Reduces labor investment required to generate high-quality cell shape data sets.

Scientific Applications:

• Paleoecology: Enables large-scale studies of leaf epidermal cell morphology for reconstructing past plant communities and environments.
• Paleoclimatology: Supports inference of historical growth environments from fossil leaf cuticle cell measurements.
• Plant Evolutionary Biology: Facilitates quantitative analysis of epidermal pavement cell morphology linked to plant evolutionary history.

Methodology:

CuticleTrace uses Fiji and R-based functions for image segmentation and cell measurement. The toolkit was validated against expert and undergraduate hand tracings and alternate automated methods using a 50-image data set of variable image qualities and taxonomically diverse specimens.