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Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology: Estimation and Biological Implications

Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology: Estimation and Biological Implications

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Damuth/Macfadden
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Revised ed., 1/12/2008
EAN 9780521019330, ISBN10: 0521019338

Paperback, 412 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
Language: English

There is a growing interest in the biological implications of body size in animals. This parameter is now being used to make inferences and predictions about not only the habits and habitat of a particular species, but also as a way to understand patterns and biases in the fossil record. This valuable collection of essays presents and evaluates techniques of body-mass estimation and reviews current and potential applications of body-size estimates in paleobiology. Coverage is particularly detailed for carnivores, primates and ungulates, but information is also presented on marsupials, rodents and proboscideans. Body Size in Mammalian Paleobiology will prove useful to researchers and graduate students in paleontology, mammalogy, ecology and evolution programmes. It is designed to be both a practical handbook for researchers making and using body-size estimates, and a sourcebook of ideas for applying body size to paleontological problems and directions for future research.

1. Introduction J. Damuth and B. MacFadden
Part I. The Biological Significance of Mammalian Body Size
2. The physiological significance of body size B. K. McNab
3. The behavioral/ecological significance of body size J. F. Eisenberg
4. The functional anatomy of body weight T. Grand
5. Evolutionary strategies and body size in a guild of mammals V. C. Maiorana
6. The cotton rat model R. A. Martin
Part II. The Estimation of Mammalian Body Mass
7. Methods and problems in estimating body size in fossil primates W. Jungers
8. Structural allometry of the lower limb bones in the Anthropoidea C. Ruff
9. Skeletal and dental predictors of body weight in carnivores B. Van Valkenburgh
10. Estimates of body size for insular dwarf mammoths V. L. Roth
11. Skeletal dimensions of ungulates as predictors of body weight K. M. Scott
12. Correlation of body weight in ungulates with cranio-dental variables C. Janis
13. Problems with using tooth size to estimate the body size of fossil mammals M. Fortelius
14. Problems in estimating body masses of archaic fossil ungulates using dental measurements J. Damuth
15. Body-size estimates and size distribution of ungulates (Mammalia) from the Late Miocene Love Bone Bed, Florida B. J. MacFadden and R. C. Hulbert
16. Summary
discussion and recommendations for body-mass estimation J. Damuth and B. J. MacFadden
Appendices
data and equations for body-mass estimation.