Search results for "Paleobiology"

Reproductive Biology and Its Impact on Body Size: Comparative Analysis of Mammalian, Avian and Dinosaurian Reproduction

2011

Janis and Carrano (1992) suggested that large dinosaurs might have faced a lower risk of extinction under ecological changes than similar-sized mammals because large dinosaurs had a higher potential reproductive output than similar-sized mammals (JC hypothesis). First, we tested the assumption underlying the JC hypothesis. We therefore analysed the potential reproductive output (reflected in clutch/litter size and annual offspring number) of extant terrestrial mammals and birds (as "dinosaur analogs") and of extinct dinosaurs. With the exception of rodents, the differences in the reproductive output of similar-sized birds and mammals proposed by Janis and Carrano (1992) existed even at the …

The ecomorphology of southern African rodent incisors: Potential applications to the hominin fossil record.

2018

AbstractThe taxonomic identification of mammalian fauna within fossil assemblages is a well-established component of paleoenvironmental reconstructions. However, many fragmentary specimens recovered from fossil sites are often disregarded as they can be difficult to identify with the precision required for taxonomic methods. For this reason, the large numbers of isolated rodent incisors that are often recovered from hominin fossil bearing sites have generally been seen as offering little interpretive value. Ecomorphological analysis, often referred to as a “taxon-free” method, can potentially circumvent this problem by focusing on the adaptive, rather than the taxonomic significance of rode…

Coastal Evolution in a Mediterranean Microtidal Zone: Mid to Late Holocene Natural Dynamics and Human Management of the Castellò Lagoon, NE Spain

2016

We present a palaeoenvironmental study of the Castelló lagoon (NE Spain), an important archive for understanding long-term interactions between dynamic littoral ecosystems and human management. Combining geochemistry, mineralogy, ostracods, diatoms, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal and archaeo-historical datasets we reconstruct: 1) the transition of the lagoon from a marine to a marginal environment between ~3150 cal BC to the 17th century AD; 2) fluctuations in salinity; and 3) natural and anthropogenic forces contributing to these changes. From the Late Neolithic to the Medieval period the lagoon ecosystem was driven by changing marine influence and the land was mainly exploited …

Paleobiology and paleobiogeography of sclerorhynchid sawfishes (Chondrichthyes, Batomorphii)

2021

Sclerorhynchid sawfishes are a monophyletic group of Cretaceous selachians. They resemble modern sawfishes in the outer morphology and by having a hypertrophic rostral cartilage armed with lateral rows of spines. Generally, sclerorhynchid sawfishes were inhabitants of warm, shallow tropical and subtropical marine environments. Teeth of the oldest sclerorhynchid sawfishes from Spain are presented. They belong to Onchopristis Stromer and come from the lower Barrernian of eastern Spain. The paleobiology and paleogeographic pattern of sclerorhynchid sawfishes is reviewed and discussed.

Paleoecological insight into the straight-tusked elephant population from the late Middle Pleistocene site of Poggetti Vecchi

Il progetto di ricerca s’incentra sullo studio della macrofauna rinvenuta nel sito paleontologico e archeologico di Poggetti Vecchi, scoperto nella località di Roselle situata in provincia di Grosseto. Nello specifico esso è stato focalizzato sulla ricostruzione paleoambientale e paleoecologica dell’area. L’analisi paleobiologica e tafonomica dei resti faunistici è stata perciò inserita all’interno di un progetto multidisciplinare e l’integrazione di tutti i dati paleontologici (relativi a vertebrati, invertebrati, macroresti vegetali e pollini) con quelli stratigrafici ha permesso di ricostruire dettagliatamente l’evoluzione paleoambientale. Nella seconda parte, lo studio paleoecologico è …

Combining ontogenetic and evolutionary scales of morphological disparity: a study of early Jurassic ammonites

2007

SUMMARY Two major research themes in Evolutionary Developmental Biology and in Paleobiology, respectively, have each become central for the analysis and interpretation of morphological changes in evolution: the study of ontogeny/ phylogeny connections, mainly within the widespread and controversial framework of heterochrony; and the study of morphological disparity, the morphological signal of biodiversity, describing secular changes in morphospace occupation during the history of any given clade. Although enriching in their respective fields, these two themes have remained rather isolated to date, despite the potential value of integrating them as some recent studies begin to suggest. Here…

Identification of plant cells in black pigments of prehistoric Spanish Levantine rock art by means of a multi-analytical approach. A new method for s…

2017

We present a new multi-analytical approach to the characterization of black pigments in Spanish Levantine rock art. This new protocol seeks to identify the raw materials that were used, as well as reconstruct the different technical gestures and decision-making processes involved in the obtaining of these black pigments. For the first of these goals, the pictorial mat- ter of the black figurative motifs documented at the Les Dogues rock art shelter (Ares del Maestre, Castello ́ n, Spain) was characterized through the combination of physicochemical and archeobotanical analyses. During the first stage of our research protocol, in situ and non- destructive analyses were carried out by means of…

Land Snails as a Diet Diversification Proxy during the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe

2014

Despite the ubiquity of terrestrial gastropods in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record, it is still unknown when and how this type of invertebrate resource was incorporated into human diets. In this paper, we report the oldest evidence of land snail exploitation as a food resource in Europe dated to 31.3-26.9 ka yr cal BP from the recently discovered site of Cova de la Barriada (eastern Iberian Peninsula). Mono-specific accumulations of large Iberus alonensis land snails (Ferussac 1821) were found in three different archaeological levels in association with combustion structures, along with lithic and faunal assemblages. Using a new analytical protocol based on taphonomic…

Paleobiologia dell'immagine. Sul futuro della cultura visuale

2022

The attention of contemporary visual culture for the immemorial dimensions of our visual experience can begin, symbolically, with the volume that Tom Mitchell, then an established literary theorist but with particular attention to images and their social circulation, dedicates 1998 to the Image of Dinosaurs in Global Pop Culture, The Last Dinosaur Book. Apparently it is a book about a pop icon, conceived on the long wave of the revival inaugurated by Steven Spielberg's film, but in reality it is a text of unsurpassed theoretical and methodological lucidity, worthy of appearing among the masterpieces of contemporary visual culture.

Past aquatic environments in the Levant inferred from stable isotope compositions of carbonate and phosphate in fish teeth

2019

Here we explore the carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of the co-existing carbonate and phosphate fractions of fish tooth enameloid as a tool to reconstruct past aquatic fish environments and harvesting grounds. The enameloid oxygen isotope compositions of the phosphate fraction (δ18OPO4) vary by as much as ~4‰ for migratory marine fish such as gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), predominantly reflecting the different saline habitats it occupies during its life cycle. The offset in enameloid Δ18OCO3-PO4 values of modern marine Sparidae and freshwater Cyprinidae from the Southeast Mediterranean region vary between 8.1 and 11.0‰, similar to values reported for modern sharks. The mean δ13C …