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

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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.