10.5061/DRYAD.9J92P2B
Gill, Fiona L.
University of Leeds
Hummel, Juergen
University of Göttingen
Sharifi, A. Reza
University of Göttingen
Lee, Alexandra P.
University of Nottingham
Lomax, Barry H.
University of Nottingham
Data from: Diets of giants: the nutritional value of sauropod diet during
the Mesozoic
Dryad
dataset
2019
Sauropod
metabolisable energy
Carrying capacity
2019-06-13T00:00:00Z
2019-06-13T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12385
232323 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
A major uncertainty in estimating energy budgets and population densities
of extinct animals is the carrying capacity of their ecosystems,
constrained by net primary productivity (NPP) and its digestible energy
content. The hypothesis that increases in NPP due to elevated atmospheric
CO2 contributed to the unparalleled size of the sauropods has recently
been rejected, based on modern studies on herbivorous insects that imply a
general, negative correlation of diet quality and increasing CO2. However,
the nutritional value of plants grown under elevated CO2 levels might be
very different for vertebrate megaherbivores than for insects. Here we
show plant species‐specific responses in metabolizable energy and nitrogen
content, equivalent to a two‐fold variation in daily food intake estimates
for a typical sauropod, for dinosaur food plant analogues grown under CO2
concentrations spanning estimates for Mesozoic atmospheric concentrations.
Our results potentially rebut the hypothesis that constraints on sauropod
diet quality were driven by Mesozoic CO2 concentration.
Supporting Information 1Estimated divergence times for orders represented
by experimental taxa.Supporting Information 2.1Figure S.1 Gas production
data from in vitro fermentation experiments with experimental
taxaSupp_info_fig_1.pdfSupporting Information 2.2ANOVA results for maximal
gas production and gas production rateSupporting Information
2.docxSupporting Information 3Comparison of means for taxaSupporting
Information 4Comparison of means for [CO2]Supporting Information 5Effect
of CO2 growth concentration on gas production within taxaSupporting
Information 6Effect of CO2 growth concentration on %N within
taxaSupporting Information 7Regression equations for ME of individual taxa
under varying CO2 growth concentrationsSupporting Information 8Daily food
intake estimatesSupporting Information 9 - Reference listReferences cited
in supplementary informationSupporting Information 9.docx