Living Rhinocerotids and Their Diets as Tests of Paleontologic Approaches to Herbivore-Plant Interactions

[9318747 . Weishampel]这项提案研究的目的是研究现存犀牛物种与它们赖以为生的植物之间相互作用的生态和进化模式。这种分析将以骨骼形态学为基础，把研究对象当作灭绝物种对待，从而形成与化石记录中可获得的样本非常相似的样本。从这个角度来看，犀牛的咀嚼能力将与与这些犀牛有关的植物叶子的韧性进行比较。使用计算机建模技术评估这种形式-函数关系。如果这些现存食草动物的咀嚼能力与其食物的物理特性（如韧性）相关，那么对化石材料进行类似的分析将成为可能，为了解灭绝动物的生态和行为提供重要的见解。＊＊＊

9318747 Weishampel The proposal research aims at examining the ecological and evolutionary patterns of interactions between living rhinoceros species and the plants they feed upon. This analysis will be based on skeletal morphology treating the subjects as if they were extinct, thus forming samples much like those available from the fossil record. Using this perspective the chewing capability among rhinos will be compared to the toughness of leaves of plants associated with these rhinos. This form-function relationship is evaluated using computer modeling techniques. If the chewing capability of these living herbivores is correlated to physical properties of their food, such as toughness, similar kinds of analyses will be possible on fossil material providing important insights into the ecology and behavior of extinct animals. ***