A life table for Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis: initial insights into ornithischian dinosaur population biology
- PMID:19711482
- DOI: 10.1002/ar.20992
A life table for Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis: initial insights into ornithischian dinosaur population biology
Erratum in
- Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2009 Oct;292(10):1684
Abstract
Very little is known about nonavian dinosaur population biology. Multi-individual sampling and longevity estimation using growth line counts can be used to construct life tables-the foundation for population analyses in ecology. Here we have determined the size and age distribution for a sample consisting of 80 individuals of the small ornithischian, Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis from the early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China. Their ages ranged from less than a year to eleven years and the distribution was strongly right-skewed. This is consistent with taphonomic interpretations that these animals derive from a catastrophic death assemblage. The static life table analysis revealed the same general pattern of survivorship as tyrannosaurs including increased attrition before the attainment of full adult size. This may reflect increased physiological demands and/or predation exposure associated with reproduction. Collectively these findings suggest that most nonavian dinosaurs may have had a similar life history strategy.
(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Comment in
- Problems in Erickson et al. 2009.Myhrvold NP.Myhrvold NP.Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2015 Mar;298(3):489-93. doi: 10.1002/ar.23101. Epub 2014 Nov 22.Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2015.PMID:25403556Free PMC article.No abstract available.
- Flawed Analysis? A Response to Myhrvold.Erickson GM, Makovicky PJ, Inouye BD, Zhou CF, Gao KQ.Erickson GM, et al.Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2015 Oct;298(10):1669-72. doi: 10.1002/ar.23187. Epub 2015 Jul 30.Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2015.PMID:26097068No abstract available.
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