Promoting gigantism: Costal ventilation model based on quantitative analysis of the respiratory system in recent and fossil amniotes

在第一个资助期的基础上，我们将利用板龙、梁龙、腕龙和Camarasaurus化石椎骨中的肋骨关节点作为个体肋骨运动的平面，扩大和完善蜥脚类动物肋部通气的向量计算机模型。外部肋间肌肉组织的方向将从化石肋骨中的Sharpey纤维中重建，这种方法正在使用来自鸟类、哺乳动物和“爬行动物”的现有材料进行完善。这些数据将与形态学和生理呼吸参数的异速估计结合起来，并辅以研究单位其他研究运动、营养和心血管生理学的小组的结果，以便提供蜥脚类动物呼吸系统结构和功能的完整图像。在此基础上，将评估呼吸系统在蜥脚类动物中促进巨人症的作用。

Based upon groundwork (aid in the first funding period we will amplify and refine the vectorial computer model of costal ventilation in sauropods, using rib articulation points in fossil vertebrae of Plateosaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus and Camarasaurus as the plane of individual rib movement. The orientation of external intercostal musculature will be reconstructed from Sharpey's fibers in fossil ribs, the methods being perfected using extant material from birds, mammals and "reptiles". These data will be converged with allometric estimates of morphological and physiological respiratory parameters, supplemented by the results of other groups in the Research Unit working on locomotion, nutrition and cardiovascular physiology in order to provide a complete picture of the structure and function of the respiratory system in sauropods. On this basis, the role of the respiratory system in promoting gigantism in sauropods will be evaluated.