3D-Reconstruction of Microscopic Translucent Silicate-Based Marine and Freshwater-Organisms

The objective of the presented approach is to develop a 3D-reconstruction method for micro organisms from sequences of microscopic images by varying the level-of-focus. The approach is limited to translucent silicatebased marine and freshwater organisms (e.g. radiolarians). The proposed 3D-reconstruction method exploits the connectivity of similarly oriented and spatially adjacent edge elements in consecutive image layers. This yields a 3D-mesh representing the global shape of the objects together with details of the inner structure. Possible applications can be found in comparative morphology or hydrobiology, where e.g. deficiencies in growth and structure during incubation in toxic water or gravity effects on metabolism have to be determined.