This review examines literature that used physiological cross‐sectional area (PCSA) as a representative measure of an individual muscle's maximal isometric force production. PCSA is used to understand the muscle architecture and how a trade‐off between muscle force and muscle contractile velocity reflect adaptations of the musculoskeletal system as a reflection of functional demands. Over the decades, methods have been developed to measure muscle volume, fascicle lengths, and pennation angle to calculate PCSA. The advantages and limitations of these methods (especially the inclusion/elimination of pennation angle) are discussed frequently; however, these method descriptions are scattered throughout the literature. Here, we reviewed and summarised the different approaches to collecting and recording muscle architectural properties to subsequently calculate PCSA. By critically discussing the advantages and limitations of each methodology, we aim to provide readers with an overview of repeatable methods to assess muscle architecture. This review may serve as a guide to facilitate readers searching for the appropriate techniques to calculate PCSA and measure muscle architecture to be applied in ecomorphology research.

中文翻译：

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用于计算生态问题的生理横截面积 (PCSA) 的方法回顾

本综述审查了使用生理横截面积 (PCSA) 作为单个肌肉最大等长力产生的代表性度量的文献。PCSA 用于了解肌肉结构以及肌肉力量和肌肉收缩速度之间的权衡如何反映肌肉骨骼系统的适应性，作为功能需求的反映。几十年来，已经开发出测量肌肉体积、肌束长度和羽状角的方法来计算 PCSA。经常讨论这些方法的优点和局限性（特别是包含/消除羽状角）；然而，这些方法的描述分散在整个文献中。这里，我们回顾并总结了收集和记录肌肉结构特性以随后计算 PCSA 的不同方法。通过批判性地讨论每种方法的优点和局限性，我们旨在为读者提供评估肌肉结构的可重复方法的概述。这篇综述可作为指南，方便读者寻找合适的技术来计算 PCSA 和测量肌肉结构，以应用于生态形态学研究。