Sauropods Then and Now

[mjmurphy <4mjmu@rogers.com>]

A message to a History of Science list I follow asked after examples of 
theories (of this or that subject matter), that were once dominant, then 
went out of fashion for a time, and have since come back into contention as 
the "correct theory".  I am wondering about the changing views of sauropod 
behavior/habitat etc. as an example of this phenomenon.  Perhaps a quick 
trip to the archives is in order, but I'm wondering:

Older books on sauropod behavior treated them as slow moving swamp-dwellers 
whose diet was aquatic vegetation, but this changed about when?  I vaguely 
recall pictures of sauropods (brachiosaurs?) feeding from the tree-tops from 
about the mid-70s.  Is this the right time frame?  And I recall the 
motivation for this new view being the discovery of remains from upland 
environments.  Or not?

More recently, however, there has been much talk on this list of certain 
sauropods (diplodocids? or others as well?) perhaps being designed for a 
semi-aquatic environment after all.  Would it be correct to say that this 
conjecture is based on bio-mechanical studies of neck movement in the 
animals (which show the giraffe analogue to be faulty), as well as the 
discovery of further remains in a coastal setting?

Cheers,

M.J.Murphy