Re: Sauropod inferences

["Jordan Mallon" <j_mallon@hotmail.com>]

> From: Stephan Pickering <stefanpickering2002@yahoo.com>

> Atle Mysterud has, since 1998, been releasing papers investigating >rather 
> thoroughly ungulate social behavior. If one uses a combination >of 
> game/bifurcation theory, and fast-slow dynamics, and supplements >these 
> with Atle's papers, a picture (albeit hazy but rich in >potential) emerges 
> of possible inferred patterns of sauropod >behaviour. His latest paper:
> Atle Mysterud, Tim Coulson, N.C. Stenseth, 2002. The
> role of males in the dynamics of ungulate populations.
> Jour. Animal Ecology 71(6):907-915
> I would also recommend:
> Atle Mysterud, 2000. The relationship between
> ecological segregation and sexual body size dimorphism
> in large herbivores. Oecologia 124(1):40-54

Okay, I'll bite: what's so special about ungulate behaviour with regards to 
that of sauropods?  By the sounds of it, I could just as easily infer 
sauropod behaviours from the herds of trick-or-treaters I saw at my door two 
nights ago.
And what in the world is "game/bifurcation theory and fast-slow dynamics"?
Cheerio,

Jordan Mallon

Undergraduate Student, Carleton University
Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoecology

Website: http://www.geocities.com/paleoportfolio/
AIM: jslice mallon

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