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Re: [dinosaur] How Some Birds Survived When All Other Dinosaurs Died



Stephen L. Brusatte (2016)
Evolution: How Some Birds Survived When All Other Dinosaurs Died.
Current Biology 26(10): pR415–R417,

DOI: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__dx.doi.org_10.1016_j.cub.2016.03.043&d=DQIDaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=3Uz57zDzyjKvlx2fFiUaDvtn8GtsQRbhX5cAuYNDcxU&s=s9jN8XdM8jVlOAoefGn2J-sAXZkkiOaxhj8QxX9ZDLc&e= <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__dx.doi.org_10.1016_j.cub.2016.03.043&d=DQMFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=dUVwLUAqchx_1YgUq9KsFvSs1uqD47kfbpaGKBYEwtw&s=tNPwPggrKJ-8_RM3u8q6wFtxztxNuNEBrexHSxJyZME&e=>
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https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cell.com_current-2Dbiology_fulltext_S0960-2D9822-2816-2930253-2D6&d=DQIDaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=3Uz57zDzyjKvlx2fFiUaDvtn8GtsQRbhX5cAuYNDcxU&s=giOIA2wroXBT7p_EMotzZd4Wz94OjI1PFIampm4sLTM&e= <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cell.com_current-2Dbiology_fulltext_S0960-2D9822-2816-2930253-2D6&d=DQMFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=dUVwLUAqchx_1YgUq9KsFvSs1uqD47kfbpaGKBYEwtw&s=02oHVYFepwR2UNiLs9JPDgcyEfsfj3CT-qofFjvWJJs&e=>

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction wiped out the dinosaurs, including
many birds. But some bird lineages survived. May seed-eating have been
the key?

Approaching this as a layman type, a couple things come to mind...

Relying on seeds for possibly decades in a devastated landscape means that's a LOT of seeds for breeding bird populations to survive on.

We presently have beaked birds that are also predators/carnivores. Curious, did these not exist back then? If nothing else they could have preyed on other birds.

The paper says "terrestrial food webs that relied on photosynthesis
would have collapsed". I understand that plant communities also took a big hit, but surely there would have been areas where that was (very) less severe. It would almost seem then that things for birds would not have changed much.

The comparision with modern times habitat recovery from fires might not scale up to something global.

I'm not saying reliance on seeds was not possible, just that it seems more a part of their survival, possibly a major part, not the only part.