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[dinosaur] Plant-eating dinosaurs and seed dispersal distance range (free pdf)




Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

A new paper with free pdf:

George L. W. Perry (2021)
How far might plant-eating dinosaurs have moved seeds?
Biology Letters 17(1): 20200689
doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0689
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0689

Free pdf:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0689



Fossilized gut contents suggest that seeds consumed by dinosaurs may have remained intact in their stomachs, and since seed dispersal distance increases with body-mass in extant vertebrates, dinosaurs may have moved seeds long distances. I simulated seed dispersal by dinosaurs across body-masses from 1 Ã 101 to 8 Ã 104 kg using allometric random walk models, informed by relationships between (i) body-mass and movement speed, and (ii) body-mass and seed retention time. Seed dispersal distances showed a hump-shaped relationship with body-mass, reflecting the allometric relationship between maximum movement speed and body-mass. Across a range of assumptions and parameterizations, the simulations suggest that plant-eating dinosaurs could have dispersed seeds long distances.

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News:

How giant dinosaurs may have spread seeds in prehistoric world

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-giant-dinosaurs-seeds-prehistoric-world.html

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dinosaurs-may-have-been-super-spreaders-nz-study-finds/IZWJC3LC6RZQVUBFBZQTC4MTUY/

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/01/06/Triceratops-Stegosaurus-ideal-seed-spreaders-in-prehistoric-world-study-says/9121609939413/


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