Re: Dinosaur ecology: hermetically sealed?

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/13/00 10:43:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jbois@umd5.umd.edu writes:

>  I'm not sure this addresses my point regarding an actual mechanism, viz,
>  if there were prey available, how come they starved to death?  However, I
>  do agree there were likely many causative factors. 
 
and

>  I was talking about terrestrial species only.  And I'm not arguing that a
>  bolide didn't hit and didn't have global effects.  I just don't think it
>  does a good job--by itself, at least--of explaining dinosaur extinction.  
>  I don't know about marine species. 

One of the talks at the Florida symposium was by Gregory Retallack
"End Cretaceous Acid Rain as a Selective Extinction Mechanism Between
Birds and Dinosaurs."  He proposed that acid rain as a result of the
bolide impact caused pH levels to change dramatically, causing brown 
vegetation for at least a year.   Survivors of the K/T boundary were small,
could eat trash (insects, carcasses, mollusks), and/or could burrow in
the soil.   Dr. Retallack himself said that this research is controversial,
though.

Mary
mkirkaldy@aol.com