Re: 2Late night thoughts: Pathetica and Interspersal

[Anthony Docimo <keenir@hotmail.com>]

> No, it calms it. You make reasoned points, and make detailed statements 
> about the record that are credible. Here's what I don't understand about 
> the 'take'.
>
> Lineages 1,2,3,4,... through time. Each gets big, hits an apparent 
> overarching size limit, then sputters, dies.

and the point is...?  (why did Indricotherium get so big?  so wolves can't 
bite its neck?)

> How does that negate predation as driver, and 'predators won" if the size 
> limit is real?  L1,2,3,4 cannot demonstrate an overarching size trend under 
> those conditions.

I'm confused....are you suggesting that Supersaurus and Seismeosaurus were 
running away from Troodons and the like?

(I trust my analogy works well enough)

> The "little" guys found refugia, possibly because large bipeds don't like 
> soft ground. "I fell and I (blub, blub)..." The 'sputterers' can also be 
> explained by refugia. Prolificity, fortuitous predator population decline, 
> etc. I guess I should note I use refugia in the broadest sense, as opposed 
> to the more classical geographical sense.

by that logic, maybe the biggest ones  were also the result of refugia.  
(they could get big, because they didn't have to worry about the 
neck-biters)

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