Dinosaur energetics: Setting the bounds on feasible physiologies and ecologies

Clarke, Andrew (2013) Dinosaur energetics: Setting the bounds on feasible physiologies and ecologies. The American Naturalist, 182 (3). pp. 283-297. ISSN 0003-0147

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

The metabolic status of dinosaurs has long been debated but remains unresolved as no consistent picture has emerged from a range of anatomical and isotopic evidence. Quantitative analysis of dinosaur energetics, based on general principles applicable to all vertebrates, shows that many features of dinosaur lifestyle are compatible with a physiology similar to that of extant lizards, scaled up to dinosaur body masses and temperatures. The analysis suggests that sufficient metabolic scope would have been available to support observed dinosaur growth rates and allow considerable locomotor activity, perhaps even migration. Since at least one dinosaur lineage evolved true endothermy, this study emphasizes there was no single dinosaur physiology. Many small theropods were insulated with feathers and appear to have been partial or full endotherms. Uninsulated small taxa, and all juveniles, presumably would have been ectothermic, with consequent diurnal and seasonal variations in body temperature. In larger taxa, inertial homeothermy would have resulted in warm and stable body temperatures but with a basal metabolism significantly below that of extant mammals or birds of the same size. It would appear that dinosaurs exhibited a range of metabolic levels to match the broad spectrum of ecological niches they occupied.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: dinosaur,energetics,growth,metabolism,migration ,size,temperature
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 08 Oct 2013 01:58
Last Modified: 27 Oct 2023 00:59
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/43590
DOI: 10.1086/671259

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item