A Life Table for Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis: Initial Insights Into Ornithischian Dinosaur Population Biology
A Life Table for Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis: Initial Insights Into Ornithischian Dinosaur Population Biology
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DOI：
10.1002/ar.20992
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发表时间：
2009-09-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Gao, Ke-Qin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Erickson, Gregory M.;Makovicky, Peter J.;Gao, Ke-Qin
人们对非鸟类恐龙种群生物学知之甚少。多个体抽样和使用生长线计数的寿命估计可用于构建生命表——生态学中种群分析的基础。在这里，我们确定了来自中国早白垩世义县组的 80 只小型鸟臀目鹦鹉嘴龙样本的大小和年龄分布。他们的年龄从不到一岁到十一岁不等，而且分布严重右偏。这与埋藏学的解释一致，即这些动物源自灾难性的死亡组合。静态生命表分析揭示了与霸王龙相同的生存模式，包括在达到成年体型之前消耗增加。这可能反映了与繁殖相关的生理需求和/或捕食暴露的增加。总的来说，这些发现表明大多数非鸟类恐龙可能有类似的生活史策略。 Anat Rec，292:1514-1521，2009。(C)2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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. Anat Rec, 292:1514-1521, 2009. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.