Network models in anatomical systems.

Network theory has been extensively used to model the underlying structure of biological processes. From genetics to ecology, network thinking is changing our understanding of complex systems, specifically how their internal structure determines their overall behavior. Concepts such as hubs, scale-free or small-world networks, common in the complexity literature, are now used more and more in sociology, neurosciences, as well as other anthropological fields. Even though the use of network models is nowadays so widely applied, few attempts have been carried out to enrich our understanding in the classical morphological sciences such as in comparative anatomy or physical anthropology. The purpose of this article is to introduce the usage of network tools in morphology; specifically by building anatomical networks, dealing with the most common analyses and problems, and interpreting their outcome.