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I. Janusch, W. Kropatsch, W. Busch:
"Reeb graph based examination of root development";
in: "Proceedings of the 19th Computer Vision Winter Workshop 2014", Z. Kúkelová, J. Heller (ed.); issued by: Zuzana Kúkelová and Jan Heller, Krtiny, CZ; Proceedings of the 19th Computer Vision Winter Workshop 2014, Zuzana Kúkelová and Jan Heller, Krtiny, CZ, February 2014, 2014, ISBN: 978-80-260-5641-6, 43 - 50.

This paper presents an approach to analyze
plant root development by means of topological image anal-
ysis. For phenotyping of plants their root development, the
architecture of their root systems and thereby root charac-
teristics such as branches and branch endings are analyzed.
In order to simplify the examination of root characteristics
and enable an efficient comparison of roots, a representa-
tion of imaged root data by Reeb graphs is introduced. Reeb
graphs capture the topology of the represented structure -
in this case the locations of branches and branch endings
of the roots - and form a skeletal representation of the un-
derlying image data in this way. As the roots are pictured
as 2D image data, the projection of a 3D structure to a 2D
space might result in an overlap of branches in the image.
One major advantage when analyzing roots based on Reeb
graphs is posed by the ability to immediately distinguish be-
tween branching points and overlaps in the root structure.
This is not as easily possible by an analysis solely based on
contours.