Cross-Correlation and Fractal Analysis in the Images Diatoms Symmetry

Diatoms are one of the main species of interest due to their possible impact on the maintenance of ecosystems, as well as their photosynthetic capacity and biotechnological applications. Reliable, easy, rapid identification of diatoms remains a highly desirable goal to avoid the difficulty for experts in the visual analysis of frustules; a method commonly used to compare the distinctive traits of diatoms, such as ornaments and the marks from images taken by optical and electronic microscopy for identification. This study proposed three simple morphometric methods based on fractal dimension measurements in conjunction with 2D cross-correlation parameters to analyze diatom images. This novel approach demonstrates the differentiation feasibility between a wide variety of diatom species with heterogeneity in their structures and shapes, which could possibly expand the application of this preprocessing process for the identification of new types of images or other biological species.