Gutenberg Open Science: Dinosaurian survivorship schedules revisited : new insights from an age-structured population model

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-8033

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DC Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Griebeler, Eva Maria	-
dc.date.accessioned	2022-10-27T07:47:53Z	-
dc.date.available	2022-10-27T07:47:53Z	-
dc.date.issued	2021	-
dc.identifier.uri	https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/8048	-
dc.description.abstract	Little is known of dinosaur population biology due to insufficient information on age-dependent fecundities and mortalities. So far, survivorship curves (SC) of only six dinosaurs (four tyrannosaurs, one ceratopsian, one hadrosaur) have been erected from bone assemblages of aged specimens. They indicate high survival throughout most of their life with presumably higher mortalities after hatching and increasing mortalities towards its end. However, none of these studies recognized that to infer a reliable SC for a taxon, the assemblage must preserve a stationary age distribution (i.e. one which is stable, with constant population size over time as overall fecundities match mortalities, hereafter SAD population). To assess SCs of these dinosaurs, I built a simple population model with age-dependent fecundities and survival rates. Its three input parameters are maximum longevity, age at sexual maturation and maximum annual offspring number, for which information exists on these dinosaurs. As bone histological studies and scaling relationships provide estimates on these parameters, my model is also applicable to other extinct taxa. Modelling suggests that bone assemblages did not preserve SAD populations. SCs determined for SAD populations of Albertosaurus sarcophagus, Gorgosaurus libratus, Dasplatosaurus torosus and Tyrannosaurus rex indicated that low mortalities followed high mortalities in early life or that mortality rates were rather constant throughout their life. In Psittacosaurus lujiatuensis, modelling suggests low mortalities throughout most of its life that increase towards its end. Due to its simplicity, my model was unable to render composite SCs, specifically the sigmoidal shape previously predicted for Maiasaura peeblesorum.	en_GB
dc.language.iso	eng	de
dc.rights	CC BY	*
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.subject.ddc	560 Paläontologie	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	560 Paleontology	en_GB
dc.title	Dinosaurian survivorship schedules revisited : new insights from an age-structured population model	en_GB
dc.type	Zeitschriftenaufsatz	de
dc.identifier.doi	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-8033	-
jgu.type.dinitype	article	en_GB
jgu.type.version	Published version	de
jgu.type.resource	Text	de
jgu.organisation.department	FB 10 Biologie	de
jgu.organisation.number	7970	-
jgu.organisation.name	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz	-
jgu.rights.accessrights	openAccess	-
jgu.journal.title	Palaeontology	de
jgu.journal.volume	64	de
jgu.journal.issue	6	de
jgu.pages.start	839	de
jgu.pages.end	854	de
jgu.publisher.year	2021	-
jgu.publisher.name	Wiley	de
jgu.publisher.place	London u.a.	de
jgu.publisher.issn	1475-4983	de
jgu.organisation.place	Mainz	-
jgu.subject.ddccode	560	de
jgu.publisher.doi	10.1111/pala.12576	de
jgu.organisation.ror	https://ror.org/023b0x485	-
Appears in collections:	JGU-Publikationen

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