Morphological characterisation of microbial aggregates by image analysis

Abstract

A program, was accomplished in MATLAB, that allows the morphological characterisation of particles with special emphasis to microbial aggregates. After automatic identification and isolation of different particles in a real image, the program determines several fractal dimensions as the mass dimension, the surface dimension, the area versus perimeter dimension, and the area vs. Feret diameter. The values of many other parameters are also provided, such as: convexity, compactness, roundness, as well as the 0th, 1st, and 2nd moments, whether the 0th moment is the area or the volume of the particle. The program also displays the particle size distribution. The program is easy to operate and all the steps that need decisions from the user are displayed in menus and buttons. As an example of application, the morphological characterisation of different microbial aggregates present in anaerobic wastewater treatment systems has been performed.