B.K. McNab, 2009. Resources and energetics determined dinosaur body size. Proc.
National Academy of Sciences IN PRESS. ABSTRACT. Some dinosaurs reached masses
that were ≈8 times those of the largest, ecologically equivalent terrestrial
mammals. The factors most responsible for setting the maximal body size of
vertebrates are resource quality and quantity, as modified by the mobility of
the consumer, and the vertebrate's rate of energy expenditure. If the food
intake of the largest herbivorous mammals defines the maximal rate at which
plant resources can be consumed in terrestrial environments and if that limit
applied to dinosaurs, then the large size of sauropods occurred because they
expended energy in the field at rates extrapolated from those of varanid
lizards, which are ≈22% of the rates in mammals and 3.6 times the rates of
other lizards of equal size. Of 2 species having the same energy income, the
species that uses the most energy for mass-independent maintenance of necessity
has a smaller size. The larger mass found in some marine mammals reflects a
greater resource abundance in marine environments. The presumptively low energy
expenditures of dinosaurs potentially permitted Mesozoic communities to support
dinosaur biomasses that were up to 5 times those found in mammalian herbivores
in Africa today. The maximal size of predatory theropods was ≈8 tons, which if
it reflected the maximal capacity to consume vertebrates in terrestrial
environments, corresponds in predatory mammals to a maximal mass less than a=2
0ton, which is what is observed. Some coelurosaurs may have evolved endothermy
in association with the evolution of feathered insulation and a small mass.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It should be noted that, some weeks ago, I posted here the abstract of this
paper here, and I am pleased Brian's paper has seen print.

cf. B.K. McNab, 2009. Ecological factors affect the level and scaling of avian
BMR. Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology A152(1):22-45


STEPHAN PICKERING / Chofetz Chayim ben-Avraham

THE DINOSAUR FRACTALS PROJECT

2333 Portola Drive # 4


Santa Cruz, California 95062-4250
stephanpickering@...


website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paleo_bio_dinosaur_ontology 

IN PROGRESS: Mutanda Dinosaurologica: in memory of Samuel Paul Welles (9
November 1909--6 August 1997)

IN PROGRESS: Dialects of a synaesthetic heart: poetics for Faline Pickering, 23
January 1949--24 August 2008

IN PROGR ESS: Alfred Russel Wallace's KING KONG: the semioptics of Willis
O'Brien

PARTNER IN THE UNIVERSE TO: FALINE PICKERING, MY BELOVED QUANTUM AQUARIUS

MEMBER 13853: SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

One concept c orrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil
whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite. -- J.L. Borges

You never know what's comin' for you. Queenie in Eric Roth's The curious case of
Benjamin Button

What if G-d didn't say it? -- Bart Ehrman
 

IN PROGRESS: Mutanda Dinosaurologica: in memory of Samuel Paul Welles (9
November 1909--6 August 1997
)

IN PROGRESS: Dialects of a synaesthetic heart: poetics for Faline Pickering, 23
January 1949--24 August 2008

IN PROGR ESS: Alfred Russel Wallace's KING KONG: the semioptics of Willis
O'Brien

PARTNER IN THE UNIVERSE TO: FALINE PICKERING, MY BELOVED QUANTUM AQUARIUS

MEMBER 13853: SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

One concept c orrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil
whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite. -- J.L. Borges

You never know what's comin' for you. Queenie in Eric Roth's The curious case of
Benjamin Button

What if G-d didn't say it? -- Bart Ehrman




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