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Evolutionary Palaeoecology of the Megaherbivorous Dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada

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Evolutionary Palaeoecology of the Megaherbivorous Dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2012-07-30 Evolutionary palaeoecology of the megaherbivorous dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada Mallon, Jordan Mallon, J. (2012). Evolutionary palaeoecology of the megaherbivorous dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26003 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/139 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Evolutionary Palaeoecology of the Megaherbivorous Dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada by Jordan Cole Mallon A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES CALGARY, ALBERTA JULY 2012 © Jordan Cole Mallon 2012 Abstract During the Late Cretaceous, megaherbivorous dinosaurs flourished in the Western Interior of North America (Laramidia). At any one time, there were typically two ankylosaurs (one ankylosaurid plus one nodosaurid), two ceratopsids (one centrosaurine plus one chasmosaurine), and two hadrosaurids (one hadrosaurine plus one lambeosaurine) living in sympatry. This diversity exceeds that of living megaherbivorous mammal communities, and is only rarely observed in the mammalian fossil record. Opinions differ about how this diversity was achieved. Some have argued that megaherbivorous dinosaurs thrived because of their low metabolic rates, or because of high primary productivity during the Late Cretaceous, implying that food resources were not limiting. A similar outcome might have been achieved if predation pressure from theropods was sufficiently high to depress megaherbivore population densities, leading to reduced demand on plant resources. Others have argued that dietary niche partitioning played an important role in the coexistence of these animals, with each species consuming a different plant resource than the next, thereby minimizing interspecific competition. This dissertation uses the megaherbivorous dinosaur assemblage from the upper Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of Alberta, Canada, as a model to test the dietary niche partitioning hypothesis by examining several aspects of ecomorphology known to relate to the procurement and mastication of food. These include feeding height, skull and beak morphology, jaw mechanics, and tooth morphology and wear. iii Evidence is sought for taxonomic separation in ecomorphospace, particularly between coexisting species, which is known to reflect niche relationships with some fidelity. Although sympatric taxa are better discriminated by some features than others, consideration of the total evidence supports the dietary niche partitioning hypothesis, as even the most closely related, sympatric taxa can be statistically distinguished according to their ecomorphology. Whether these dietary niche relationships arose as a result of long-term competition, or whether they evolved allopatrically is not clear. However, the fact that consubfamilial species coexistence was uncommon—and when it did occur, was either short-lived or involved only rare species—implies that the structure of the megaherbivorous dinosaur assemblage from the DPF was at least partly influenced by competitive interactions. iv Acknowledgements I am indebted to a number of people for their help and support over the course of my dissertation. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, J. Anderson, for taking me on as a graduate student, and for his patience and guidance through the whole process. He challenged me to pursue new research avenues that I otherwise would not have tried, and I am a better scientist for it. Thanks also to the rest of my committee for their expert counsel and direction: P. Dodson, K. Ruckstuhl, M. Ryan, J. Theodor, and F. Therrien. I gratefully acknowledge the Department of Biological Sciences graduate program coordinator, K. Baron, for her enduring logistical help. I visited many museums over the course of my research, and I would like to thank those individuals who provided access to specimens in their care: C. Mehling (AMNH); M. Currie, A. McDonald, and K. Shepherd (CMN); W. Simpson (FMNH); P. Barrett and S. Chapman (NHMUK); D. Evans, B. Iwama, and K. Seymour (ROM); T. Courtenay, J. Gardner, F. Hammer, G. Housego, B. Strilisky, and J. Wilke (TMP); P. Currie, A. Locock, and R. Holmes (UALVP); M. Carrano and M. Brett-Surman (USNM); D. Brinkman (YPM). I am also grateful to V. Arbour, N. Campione, D. Evans, R. Holmes and A. Murray, and S. Maidment for accommodating me during my travels. B. Borkovic, N. Campione, D. Evans, and R. Sissons kindly provided measurements for Chapter 3 that I was unable to obtain myself. Many of the ideas expressed in this dissertation resulted from the stimulating work environment at the University of Calgary. I would like to specifically thank my own labmates in this regard: R. Cuthbertson, H. Maddin, T. Meyer, J. Pardo, and S. Wilson. v Thanks also to the A. Russell, J. Theodor, and D. Zelenitsky labs for many interesting discussions. I gratefully acknowledge the expert insight further provided by C. Barron- Ortiz, D. Braman, D. Brinkman, C. Brown, N. Campione, D. Eberth, D. Evans, D. Henderson, C. Holliday, R. Holmes, G. Semprebon, M. Spencer, D. Tanke, K. Tanoue, M. Teaford, and V. Williams. M. Amrein, J. Andrews, Ø. Hammer, N. MacLeod, J. Matyas, M. Schoel, D. Sheets, P. Ungar, and M. Zelditch offered valuable technical assistance. D. Fraser and F. Varriale kindly provided helpful reviews for Chapter 7 of this dissertation, and were always quick to answer my questions. I would also like to express my gratitude to my family for their ongoing love and support. My wife, Angela, and my daughter, Ryleigh, gave me purpose and a reason to go home at the end of the day. My parents, Perry and Wanda, persuaded me to follow my dreams from a young age, and encouraged me to persist through the hard times. My late sister, Marissa, provided an endless source of inspiration, even after her untimely death. My in-laws, John and Debbie, and Patricia and Jordan, were great sports for letting me steal their dear Angela away from them for nearly six years! Finally, I count myself among the many palaeontologists who profess their gratitude to God in calling them to study His bygone creation. It is fitting to echo the words of C. H. Sternberg (1911), probably the most successful collector of Albertan dinosaur fossils, who wrote: I here profess my strong belief In my revealed Lord; I’ve found Him in the rocky leaf, And his inspired word. vi This research was generously supported by an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, a Graduate Student Scholarship from Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, Queen Elizabeth II graduate scholarships, a research grant from the Jurassic Foundation, Dean’s Research Excellence awards from the University of Calgary, René Vandervelde awards from the Dinosaur Research Institute, and a travel grant from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. vii Dedication For Angela, who took this journey with me. viii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................v Dedication .................................................................................................................... viii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiv List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xix List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... xxii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 Palaeoenvironments of the DPF ......................................................................................5 Dinosaur Assemblage of the DPF ..................................................................................11 Ecological Considerations .............................................................................................12 Problems and Hypotheses ..............................................................................................16 Dissertation Organization ..............................................................................................19 CHAPTER 2: MEGAHERBIVOROUS DINOSAUR TURNOVER IN THE DINOSAUR PARK FORMATION (UPPER CAMPANIAN) OF ALBERTA, CANADA .................................................................................................................23
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