Dinosaur bones: fossils or pseudomorphs? The pitfalls of physiology reconstruction from apatitic fossils

Kolodny, Yehoshua; Luz, Boaz; Sander, Martin; Clemens, William A.

doi:10.1016/s0031-0182(96)00112-5

Cited by 180 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

104

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…of bones are smaller and less densely intergrown than those of enamel (14), even though several case studies have shown that the original oxygen isotope composition can be preserved in Mesozoic reptile remains (7)(8)(9)(15)(16)(17). Although no method is available to demonstrate definitely whether or not the oxygen isotope composition of fossil vertebrate phosphate was modified by diagenetic processes, several ways to assess the preservation state of the primary isotopic record have been proposed [e.g., (14,(18)(19)(20)(21)]. Here the main argument supporting the preservation of the original oxygen isotope composition is the latitudinal variation of the offset observed between the δ 18 O p values of probable endotherms (dinosaurs and trytilodont synapsids) and ectotherms (turtles and crocodilians) that mimics present day variations of the offset observed between the δ 18 O p values of endotherms and ectotherms (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Amiot

Wang

Zhou

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Early Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages from East Asia and particularly the Jehol Biota of northeastern China flourished during a period of highly debated climatic history. While the unique characters of these continental faunas have been the subject of various speculations about their biogeographic history, little attention has been paid to their possible climatic causes. Here we address this question using the oxygen isotope composition of apatite phosphate (δ ) from various reptile remains recovered from China, Thailand, and Japan. δ values indicate that cold terrestrial climates prevailed at least in this part of Asia during the Barremian—early Albian interval. Estimated mean air temperatures of about 10 ± 4 °C at midlatitudes (∼42 °N) correspond to present day cool temperate climatic conditions. Such low temperatures are in agreement with previous reports of cold marine temperatures during this part of the Early Cretaceous, as well as with the widespread occurrence of the temperate fossil wood genus Xenoxylon and the absence of thermophilic reptiles such as crocodilians in northeastern China. The unique character of the Jehol Biota is thus not only the result of its evolutionary and biogeographical history but is also due to rather cold local climatic conditions linked to the paleolatitudinal position of northeastern China and global icehouse climates that prevailed during this part of the Early Cretaceous.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Amiot

Wang

Zhou

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Stability of the mineral composition of bones has a very long history: CaPO 4 were found in dinosaur fossils (Elorza et al 1999;Eagle et al 2010;Haynes 1968;Rensberger and Watabe 2000;Kolodny et al 1996;Trueman and Tuross 2002). Therefore, organisms have had a great deal of time to exploit the feedback between composition and structure in apatite, on the one hand, and benefit from its biological functionality, on the other.…”

Section: Bonementioning

confidence: 99%

Calcium orthophosphates (CaPO 4 ): Occurrence and properties

Dorozhkin¹

2017

Morphologie

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…At the point of burial it is virtually entirely mineral, in effect already "a living fossil" (Robinson et al 1986). During burial, it retains the micro-morphology created during matrix formation over millions of years and is normally indistinguishable microscopically from modern tissue (Boyde et al 1988, Kolodny et al 1996.…”

Section: Assessing the Biogenic Integrity Of Excavated Skeletal Tissuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a large number of biochemical and isotope studies, enamel is considered to be stable and resistant to structural and chemical change over geological (Bocherens et al 1994, Glimcher et al 1990, Horn et al 1994, Kolodny et al 1996, Michel et al 1995, Michel et al 1996, Rink and Schwarcz 1995, Wang and Cerling 1994 as well as archaeological time scales , Elias et al 1982, Ericson 1993, Koch et al 1997, Lee-Thorp and van der Merwe 1991, NielsenMarsh and Hedges 2000, Price et al 2002, Price et al 1994a, Robinson et al 1986, Trickett et al 2003, Vernois et al 1987. Enamel and dentine contain the same carbonate hydroxyapatite mineral phase but their structure, formation process, crystal size and organic content are very different.…”

Section: Assessing the Biogenic Integrity Of Excavated Skeletal Tissuementioning

confidence: 99%

Passports from the past: Investigating human dispersals using strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel

Montgomery

2010

Annals of Human Biology

270

261

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractStrontium isotopes are a powerful tool which provide information about provenance directly from the tissues of humans rather than the grave context and burial goods.Geographical variation in strontium isotopes is primarily controlled by the underlying geology but there are many other factors that need to be considered before migratory individuals can be identified. Consequently, despite many studies which have shown that the method works well, it is clear that much remains to be clarified and it will not work for every question or in every place. It rests on the assumption that people were sourcing their food locally and that there is a measurable strontium isotope difference between the place the person migrated from and the place they migrated to. As migrants may deliberately seek out familiar soil types and terrains in their new homeland, some questions surrounding major migration events may prove intractable for this technique. Other factors that can create heterogeneity or homogeneity leading to false positives or false negatives, such as human choices or coastal subsistence, are explored and the metabolism of strontium into human tooth enamel is discussed.Several models of land use choices by humans are presented to highlight the subtleties inherent in the isotope data and these are used to interpret archaeological human isotope ratios from three studies.

show abstract

Dinosaur bones: fossils or pseudomorphs? The pitfalls of physiology reconstruction from apatitic fossils

Cited by 180 publications

References 46 publications

Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Calcium orthophosphates (CaPO 4 ): Occurrence and properties

Passports from the past: Investigating human dispersals using strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About