RE: Taking the temperature of dinosaurs?

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

John Scanlon wrote:

[snip]

> I think it will be very interesting to apply this 13C:18O method to known
> ectotherms from a range of places and times, as it'll provide a whole
> 'nother dimension to inferences about habitat and behaviour differences
> within local faunas (proxy for terrestrial/aquatic/arboreal,
> diurnal/nocturnal, heliotherm/thigmotherm) as well as testing/validating
> the
> snake-body-size palaeothermometry approach proposed in the case of
> Titanoboa.
>
> Plus one of the coolest things (claimed) in the paper is that the method
> allows assumption-free calculation of the environmental delta18O, and thus
> takes the average temperature of the habitat as well as growth-weighted
> average for the animal concerned. I won't be surprised if it's possible to
> distinguish ectotherms and endotherms in many cases, when multiple taxa
> are
> compared within a fauna.
>

My thoughts exactly!!

-- 
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661

Faculty Director, Earth, Life & Time Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite/
Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA