a universal scaling relationship between body mass and proximal limb bone dimensions in quadrupedal terrestrial tetrapods通用扩展身体质量和近端肢体骨维度之间的关系有四足的陆地四足动物.pdfVIP

Campione and Evans BMC Biology 2012, 10:60 /1741-7007/10/60 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access A universal scaling relationship between body mass and proximal limb bone dimensions in quadrupedal terrestrial tetrapods Nicolás E Campione1* and David C Evans2 Abstract Background: Body size is intimately related to the physiology and ecology of an organism. Therefore, accurate and consistent body mass estimates are essential for inferring numerous aspects of paleobiology in extinct taxa, and investigating large-scale evolutionary and ecological patterns in the history of life. Scaling relationships between skeletal measurements and body mass in birds and mammals are commonly used to predict body mass in extinct members of these crown clades, but the applicability of these models for predicting mass in more distantly related stem taxa, such as non-avian dinosaurs and non-mammalian synapsids, has been criticized on biomechanical grounds. Here we test the major criticisms of scaling methods for estimating body mass using an extensive dataset of mammalian and non-avian reptilian species derived from individual skeletons with live weights. Results: Significant differences in the limb scaling of mammals and reptiles are noted in comparisons of limb proportions and limb length to body mass. Remarkably, however, the relationship between proximal (stylopodial) limb bone circumference and body mass is highly conserved in extant terrestrial mammals and reptiles, in spite of their disparate limb postures, gaits, and phylogenetic histories. As a result, we are able to conclusively reject the main criticisms of scaling methods that question the applicability of a universal scaling equation for estimating body mass in distantly related taxa. Conclusions: The conserved nature of the relationship between stylopodial circumference and b