Dinosaurian growth patterns and rapid avian growth rates
Dinosaurian growth patterns and rapid avian growth rates
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DOI：
10.1038/35086558
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发表时间：
2001-07-26
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Yerby, SA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Erickson, GM;Rogers, KC;Yerby, SA
恐龙的生长方式与现存的爬行动物、哺乳动物或鸟类相似吗？还是它们是独一无二的？鸟类的快速增长率是鸟类独有的创新，还是从鸟类祖先那里继承来的？我们量化了一组恐龙的生长速度跨越系统发育和大小多样性的分支，并使用回归分析来表征结果。在这里，我们表明，恐龙表现出类似于其他脊椎动物的S形生长曲线，但有独特的增长率相对于身体质量。相对于现存爬行动物的原始条件，所有恐龙的生长速度都加快了。小型恐龙的生长速度与有袋类动物相似，但大型恐龙的生长速度与真兽目哺乳动物和早熟鸟类相当。巨型蜥脚类恐龙的生长与同等大小的鲸鱼相似。非鸟类恐龙没有达到像早期鸟类那样的速度。鸟类的生长速度是在鸟类从侏罗纪的兽脚类祖先分化后逐步实现的。
Did dinosaurs grow in a manner similar to extant reptiles, mammals or birds, or were they unique(1)? Are rapid avian growth rates an innovation unique to birds, or were they inherited from dinosaurian precursors(2)? We quantified growth rates for a group of dinosaurs spanning the phylogenetic and size diversity for the clade and used regression analysis to characterize the results. Here we show that dinosaurs exhibited sigmoidal growth curves similar to those of other vertebrates, but had unique growth rates with respect to body mass. All dinosaurs grew at accelerated rates relative to the primitive condition seen in extant reptiles. Small dinosaurs grew at moderately rapid rates, similar to those of marsupials, but large species attained rates comparable to those of eutherian mammals and precocial birds. Growth in giant sauropods was similar to that of whales of comparable size. Non-avian dinosaurs did not attain rates like those of altricial birds. Avian growth rates were attained in a stepwise fashion after birds diverged from theropod ancestors in the Jurassic period.