Resumé
A major unresolved aspect of the rise of dinosaurs is why early dinosaurs and their relatives were rare and species-poor at low paleolatitudes throughout the Late Triassic Period, a pattern persisting 30 million years after their origin and 10-15 million years after they became abundant and speciose at higher latitudes. New palynological, wildfire, organic carbon isotope, and atmospheric pCO 2data from early dinosaur-bearing strata of low paleolatitudes in western North America show that large, high-frequency, tightly correlated variations in δ 13C org and palynomorph ecotypes occurred within a context of elevated and increasing pCO 2 and pervasive wildfires. Whereas pseudosuchian archosaur-dominated communities were able to persist in these same regions under rapidly fluctuating extreme climatic conditions until the end-Triassic, large-bodied, fast-growing tachymetabolic dinosaurian herbivores requiring greater resources were unable to adapt to unstable high CO 2 environmental conditions of the Late Triassic.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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Sider (fra-til) | 7909-7913 |
Antal sider | 5 |
Tidsskrift | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Vol/bind | 112 |
Udgave nummer | 26 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - 30 jun. 2015 |
Programområde
- Programområde 3: Energiressourcer