Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 14 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5784, pp. 213 - 217
DOI: 10.1126/science.1125721
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Tyrannosaur Life Tables: An Example of Nonavian Dinosaur Population Biology

Gregory M. Erickson,1* Philip J. Currie,2 Brian D. Inouye,1 Alice A. Winn1

The size and age structures for four assemblages of North American tyrannosaurs—Albertosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Gorgosaurus, and Daspletosaurus—reveal a pronounced, bootstrap-supported pattern of age-specific mortality characterized by relatively high juvenile survivorship and increased mortality at midlife and near the maximum life span. Such patterns are common today in wild populations of long-lived birds and mammals. Factors such as predation and entrance into the breeding population may have influenced tyrannosaur survivorship. This survivorship pattern can explain the rarity of juvenile specimens in museum collections.

1 Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Alberta T6G 2E, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gerickson{at}bio.fsu.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
FACE BITING ON A JUVENILE TYRANNOSAURID AND BEHAVIORAL IMPLICATIONS.
J. E. PETERSON, M. D. HENDERSON, R. P. SCHERER, and C. P. VITTORE (2009)
Palaios 24, 780-784
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Relative growth rates of predator and prey dinosaurs reflect effects of predation.
L. N. Cooper, A. H Lee, M. L Taper, and J. R Horner (2008)
Proc R Soc B 275, 2609-2615
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ontogenetic stages in the long bone histology of sauropod dinosaurs.
N. Klein and M. Sander (2008)
Paleobiology 34, 247-263
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Sexual maturity in growing dinosaurs does not fit reptilian growth models.
A. H. Lee and S. Werning (2008)
PNAS 105, 582-587
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Growth patterns in brooding dinosaurs reveals the timing of sexual maturity in non-avian dinosaurs and genesis of the avian condition.
G. M Erickson, K. Curry Rogers, D. J Varricchio, M. A Norell, and X. Xu (2007)
Biol Lett 3, 558-561
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Tyrannosaur ageing.
R. E Ricklefs (2007)
Biol Lett 3, 214-217
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)