Shape and scaling
In Biomechanics: A Practical Approach. Vol. 2. Structures. (1992) A. A. Biewener.
Oxford, Oxford University Press. 2: 21-43.
S.M. Swartz and Andrew A. Biewener

Size influences virtually every facet of an organism's biology, including its biomechanical function. Changes in body size occur during growth (ontogeny), as well as during evolution and may range from tenfold to 100-fold during the growth of an individual to as much as one-thousand-fold to one-million-fold (depending on the breadth of taxa considered) during the evolution of a lineage. Frequently, such large differences in body size require that the shapes of structural components of the organism change to maintain their functional integrity. Analysis of the shape of biological structures, therefore, provides an important empirical approach for identifying and interpreting mechanical constraints underlying the form and function of skeletal support systems. Before discussing practical aspects of methodology in the analysis of shape, we discuss both conceptual and statistical issues related to scaling analyses of shape.