Feeding strategies in sauropodomorphs: The evolution of extreme neck length and very large body size

蜥脚类动物的摄食策略：极端颈部长度和巨大体型的进化

• 批准号: 37087431
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Andreas Christian
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung Biologie und ihre Didaktik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Units
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2006-12-31 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/37087431?language=en
• 关键词: Feeding; strategies; sauropodomorphs; evolution; extreme

The very long neck and its utilization are crucial for understanding the evolution of gigantism in sauropods. Yet, the benefit of the long neck is still discussed controversially. Clearly, the long neck allowed increasing the feeding volume of a standing sauropod. The main benefit, however, might have been the accessibility of food resources in great heights that could not be exploited by other herbivores, though mechanical as well as physiological arguments have been put forward against the idea of high browsing sauropods. In this study, the mobility of some well preserved sauropod necks will be reanalyzed by virtual 3D-models of neck vertebrae. The models will be based on scans of original vertebrae or casts of vertebrae. In the models, deformations will be eliminated, incomplete vertebrae will be reconstructed, and the vertebrae will be arranged to 3D-models of sauropod neck skeletons. Soft tissues will be added. Based on these neck models, refined analyses of sauropod neck mobility and feeding volumes will be conducted. The models will be validated by comparative studies on recent vertebrates with long necks: giraffes, camels, and ostriches. For different hypothetical distributions of food, the energy benefit of hypothetical feeding strategies will be estimated and related to neck length and body size. The results will show whether using a very long neck could have been the trigger or the major driving factor for the evolution of gigantism in sauropods.

很长的脖子及其利用对于理解蜥脚类恐龙的巨型进化至关重要。然而，长脖子的好处仍然存在争议。显然，长脖子可以增加站立蜥脚类恐龙的摄食量。然而，主要的好处可能是在高处可以获得其他食草动物无法利用的食物资源，尽管有人提出了反对高浏览蜥脚类恐龙的机械和生理论据。在这项研究中，一些保存完好的蜥脚类恐龙颈部的活动能力将通过颈椎的虚拟 3D 模型进行重新分析。这些模型将基于原始椎骨或椎骨模型的扫描。在模型中，变形将被消除，不完整的椎骨将被重建，椎骨将被排列成蜥脚类颈部骨骼的 3D 模型。将添加软组织。基于这些颈部模型，将对蜥脚类恐龙颈部活动性和摄食量进行精细分析。这些模型将通过对近期长颈脊椎动物（长颈鹿、骆驼和鸵鸟）的比较研究来验证。对于不同的假设食物分布，将估计假设喂养策略的能量效益，并将其与颈部长度和身体尺寸相关。研究结果将表明，使用很长的脖子是否可能是蜥脚类恐龙进化成巨人症的触发因素或主要驱动因素。