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  • Journal article
    Chiarenza A, Mannion P, Lunt D, Farnsworth A, Jones L, Kelland S-J, Allison Pet al., 2019,

    Ecological niche modelling does not support climatically-driven dinosaur diversity decline before the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction

    , Nature Communications, Vol: 10, ISSN: 2041-1723

    In the lead-up to the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction, dinosaur diversity is argued to have been either in long-term decline, or thriving until their sudden demise. The latest Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian [83–66 Ma]) of North America provides the best record to address this debate, but even here diversity reconstructions are biased by uneven sampling. Here we combine fossil occurrences with climatic and environmental modelling to quantify latest Cretaceous North American dinosaur habitat. Ecological niche modelling shows a Campanian-to-Maastrichtian habitability decrease in areas with present-day rock-outcrop. However, a continent-wide projection demonstrates habitat stability, or even a Campanian-to-Maastrichtian increase, that is not preserved. This reduction of the spatial sampling window resulted from formation of the proto-Rocky Mountains and sea-level regression. We suggest that Maastrichtian North American dinosaur diversity is therefore likely to be underestimated, with the apparent decline a product of sampling bias, and not due to a climatically-driven decrease in habitability as previously hypothesised.
  • Journal article
    Tennant JP, Mannion PD, Upchurch P, Sutton M, Price Get al., 2016,

    Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

    , Biological Reviews, Vol: 92, Pages: 776-814, ISSN: 1469-185X

    The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval represents a time of environmental upheaval and cataclysmic events, combined with disruptions to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Historically, the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary was classified as one of eight mass extinctions. However, more recent research has largely overturned this view, revealing a much more complex pattern of biotic and abiotic dynamics than has previously been appreciated. Here, we present a synthesis of our current knowledge of Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous events, focusing particularly on events closest to the J/K boundary. We find evidence for a combination of short-term catastrophic events, large-scale tectonic processes and environmental perturbations, and major clade interactions that led to a seemingly dramatic faunal and ecological turnover in both the marine and terrestrial realms. This is coupled with a great reduction in global biodiversity which might in part be explained by poor sampling. Very few groups appear to have been entirely resilient to this J/K boundary ‘event’, which hints at a ‘cascade model’ of ecosystem changes driving faunal dynamics. Within terrestrial ecosystems, larger, more-specialised organisms, such as saurischian dinosaurs, appear to have suffered the most. Medium-sized tetanuran theropods declined, and were replaced by larger-bodied groups, and basal eusauropods were replaced by neosauropod faunas. The ascent of paravian theropods is emphasised by escalated competition with contemporary pterosaur groups, culminating in the explosive radiation of birds, although the timing of this is obfuscated by biases in sampling. Smaller, more ecologically diverse terrestrial non-archosaurs, such as lissamphibians and mammaliaforms, were comparatively resilient to extinctions, instead documenting the origination of many extant groups around the J/K boundary. In the marine realm, extinctions were focused on low-latitude, shallow marine shel
  • Journal article
    Maidment SCR, Brassey C, Barrett PM, 2015,

    The postcranial skeleton of an exceptionally complete individual of the plated dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A.

    , PLOS One, Vol: 10, ISSN: 1932-6203

    Although Stegosaurus is one of the most iconic dinosaurs, well-preservedfossils are rare and as a consequence there is still much that remains unknownabout the taxon. A new, exceptionally complete individual affords theopportunity to describe the anatomy of Stegosaurus in detail for the first time inover a century, and enables additional comparisons with other stegosauriandinosaurs. The new specimen is from the Red Canyon Ranch Quarry, near ShellWyoming, and appears to have been so well preserved because it was buriedrapidly in a pond or body of standing water immediately after death. The quarryis probably located in the middle part of the Morrison Formation, which isbelieved to be Tithonian in age in this area. The specimen is referable toStegosaurus stenops based on the possession of an edentulous anterior portion ofthe dentary and elevated postzygapophyses on the cervical vertebrae. Newinformation provided by the specimen concerns the morphology of thevertebrae, the iliosacral block and dermal armor. Several aspects of itsmorphology indicate the individual was not fully skeletally mature at the time ofdeath, corroborating a previous histological study.
  • Journal article
    Bates K, Maidment SC, Schachner ER, Barrett PMet al., 2015,

    Comments and corrections on 3D modeling studies of locomotor muscle moment arms in archosaurs.

    , PeerJ, Vol: 3, ISSN: 2167-8359

    In a number of recent studies we used computer modeling to investigate the evolution of muscle leverage (moment arms) and function in extant and extinct archosaur lineages (crocodilians, dinosaurs including birds and pterosaurs). These studies sought to quantify the level of disparity and convergence in muscle moment arms during the evolution of bipedal and quadrupedal posture in various independent archosaur lineages, and in doing so further our understanding of changes in anatomy, locomotion and ecology during the group's >250 million year evolutionary history. Subsequent work by others has led us to re-evaluate our models, which revealed a methodological error that impacted on the results obtained from the abduction-adduction and long-axis rotation moment arms in our published studies. In this paper we present corrected abduction-adduction and long axis rotation moment arms for all our models, and evaluate the impact of this new data on the conclusions of our previous studies. We find that, in general, our newly corrected data differed only slightly from that previously published, with very few qualitative changes in muscle moments (e.g., muscles originally identified as abductors remained abductors). As a result the majority of our previous conclusions regarding the functional evolution of key muscles in these archosaur groups are upheld.
  • Journal article
    Jordan N, Allison PA, Hill J, Sutton MDet al., 2015,

    Not all aragonitic molluscs are missing: taphonomy and significance of a unique shelly lagerstatte from the Jurassic of SW Britain

    , Lethaia, Vol: 48, Pages: 540-548, ISSN: 1502-3931

    The Blue Lias Formation at Lyme Regis (Dorset, UK) includes an exceptional pavement of abundant large ammonites that accumulated during a period of profound sedimentary condensation. Ammonites were originally composed of aragonite, an unstable polymorph of calcium carbonate, and such fossils are typically prone to dissolution; the occurrence of a rich association of aragonitic shells in a condensed bed is highly unusual. Aragonite dissolution occurs when pore-water pH is reduced by the oxidization of hydrogen sulphide close to the sediment-water interface. Evidence suggests that, in this case, the oxygen concentrations in the overlying water column were low during deposition. This inhibited the oxidation of sulphides and the associated lowering of pH, allowing aragonite to survive long enough for the shell to be neomorphosed to calcite. The loss of aragonite impacts upon estimates of past biodiversity and carbonate accumulation rates. The preservational model presented here implies that diagenetic loss of aragonite will be greatest in those areas where dysoxic-anoxic sediment lies beneath an oxic waterbody but least where the sediment and overlying water are oxygen depleted. Unfortunately, this implies that preservational bias through aragonite loss will be greatest in those biotopes which are typically most diverse and least where biodiversity is lowest due to oxygen restriction.
  • Journal article
    Dean CD, Sutton MD, Siveter DJ, Siveter DJet al., 2015,

    A novel respiratory architecture in the Silurian mollusc Acaenoplax

    , PALAEONTOLOGY, Vol: 58, Pages: 839-847, ISSN: 0031-0239
  • Journal article
    Bertazzo S, Maidment S, Kallepitis C, Fearn S, Stevens MM, Xie HNet al., 2015,

    Fibres and cellular structures preserved in 75-million–year-old dinosaur specimens

    , Nature Communications, Vol: 6, ISSN: 2041-1723

    Exceptionally preserved organic remains are known throughout the vertebrate fossil record, and recently, evidence has emerged that such soft tissue might contain original components. We examined samples from eight Cretaceous dinosaur bones using nano-analytical techniques; the bones are not exceptionally preserved and show no external indication of soft tissue. In one sample, we observe structures consistent with endogenous collagen fibre remains displaying ~67 nm banding, indicating the possible preservation of the original quaternary structure. Using ToF-SIMS, we identify amino-acid fragments typical of collagen fibrils. Furthermore, we observe structures consistent with putative erythrocyte remains that exhibit mass spectra similar to emu whole blood. Using advanced material characterization approaches, we find that these putative biological structures can be well preserved over geological timescales, and their preservation is more common than previously thought. The preservation of protein over geological timescales offers the opportunity to investigate relationships, physiology and behaviour of long extinct animals.
  • Journal article
    Bates KT, Falkingham PL, Macaulay S, Brassey C, Maidment SCRet al., 2015,

    Downsizing a giant: re-evaluating Dreadnoughtus body mass

    , Biology Letters, Vol: 11, ISSN: 1744-957X

    Estimates of body mass often represent the founding assumption on which biomechanicaland macroevolutionary hypotheses are based. Recently, a scalingequation was applied to a newly discovered titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur(Dreadnoughtus), yielding a 59 300 kg body mass estimate for this animal.Herein, we use a modelling approach to examine the plausibility of this massestimate for Dreadnoughtus. We find that 59 300 kg for Dreadnoughtus ishighly implausible and demonstrate that masses above 40 000 kg requirehigh body densities and expansions of soft tissue volume outside the skeletonseveral times greater than found in living quadrupedal mammals. Similarresults from a small sample of other archosaurs suggests that lower-end massestimates derived from scaling equations are most plausible for Dreadnoughtus,based on existing volumetric and density data from extant animals. Althoughvolumetric models appear to more tightly constrain dinosaur body mass, thereremains a clear need to further support these models with more exhaustive datafrom living animals. The relative and absolute discrepancies in mass predictionsbetween volumetric models and scaling equations also indicate aneed to systematically compare predictions across a wide size and taxonomicrange to better inform studies of dinosaur body size.
  • Journal article
    Siveter DJ, Briggs DE, Siveter DJ, Sutton MDet al., 2015,

    A 425-Million-Year-Old Silurian Pentastomid Parasitic on Ostracods.

    , Current Biology, Vol: 25, ISSN: 1879-0445

    Pentastomids (tongue worms) are worm-like arthropods known today from ∼140 species [1]. All but four are parasitic on vertebrates. Their life cycle typically involves larval development in an intermediate host followed by maturation in the respiratory tract of a definitive terrestrial host. Fossil pentastomids are exceedingly rare and are known only from isolated juveniles [2-6]. The identity of the possible hosts of fossil pentastomids and the origin of their lifestyle have generated much debate. A new, exceptionally preserved species, described based on adults from 425-million-year-old marine rocks, is the only known fossil pentastomid associated with a host, in this case a species of ostracod crustacean. The pentastomids are preserved near eggs within the ostracod and also, uniquely for any fossil or living pentastomid, are attached externally to the host. This discovery affirms the origin of pentastomids as ectoparasitic on marine invertebrates. The terrestrialization of pentastomids may have occurred in parallel with the vertebrate invasion of land.
  • Journal article
    Brassey CA, Maidment SCR, Barrett PM, 2015,

    Body mass estimates of an exceptionally complete Stegosaurus (Ornithischia: Thyreophora): comparing volumetric and linear bivariate mass estimation methods

    , Biology Letters, Vol: 11, ISSN: 1744-957X

    Body mass is a key biological variable, but difficult to assess from fossils.Various techniques exist for estimating body mass from skeletal parameters,but few studies have compared outputs from different methods. Here, weapply several mass estimation methods to an exceptionally complete skeletonof the dinosaur Stegosaurus. Applying a volumetric convex-hullingtechnique to a digital model of Stegosaurus, we estimate a mass of 1560 kg(95% prediction interval 1082–2256 kg) for this individual. By contrast,bivariate equations based on limb dimensions predict values between 2355and 3751 kg and require implausible amounts of soft tissue and/or highbody densities. When corrected for ontogenetic scaling, however, volumetricand linear equations are brought into close agreement. Our results raise concernsregarding the application of predictive equations to extinct taxa withno living analogues in terms of overall morphology and highlight the sensitivityof bivariate predictive equations to the ontogenetic status of thespecimen. We emphasize the significance of rare, complete fossil skeletonsin validating widely applied mass estimation equations based on incompleteskeletal material and stress the importance of accurately determiningspecimen age prior to further analyses.
  • Conference paper
    Balikova D, Maidment S, Muxworthy AR, 2015,

    The age of the Morrison Formation (Western Interior, USA): A Magnetostratigraphic Approach (poster)

    , Magnetic Interactions 2015
  • Journal article
    Jacobs CT, Goldin TJ, Collins GS, Piggott MD, Kramer SC, Melosh HJ, Wilson CRG, Allison PAet al., 2015,

    An improved quantitative measure of the tendency for volcanic ash plumes to form in water: implications for the deposition of marine ash beds

    , JOURNAL OF VOLCANOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL RESEARCH, Vol: 290, Pages: 114-124, ISSN: 0377-0273
  • Journal article
    Martin-Short R, Hill J, Kramer SC, Avdis A, Allison PA, Piggott MDet al., 2014,

    Tidal resource extraction in the Pentland Firth, UK: Potential impacts on flow regime and sediment transport in the Inner Sound of Stroma

    , Renewable Energy, Vol: 76, Pages: 596-607, ISSN: 1879-0682

    Large-scale extraction of power from tidal streams within the Pentland Firth is expected to be underway in the near future. The Inner Sound of Stroma in particular has attracted significant commercial interest. To understand potential environmental impacts of the installation of a tidal turbine array a case study based upon the Inner Sound is considered. A numerical computational fluid dynamics model, Fluidity, is used to conduct a series of depth-averaged simulations to investigate velocity and bed shear stress changes due to the presence of idealised tidal turbine arrays. The number of turbines is increased from zero to 400. It is found that arrays in excess of 85 turbines have the potential to affect bed shear stress distributions in such a way that the most favourable sites for sediment accumulation migrate from the edges of the Inner Sound towards its centre. Deposits of fine gravel and coarse sand are indicated to occur within arrays of greater than 240 turbines with removal of existing deposits in the shallower channel margins also possible. The effects of the turbine array may be seen several kilometres from the site which has implications not only on sediment accumulation, but also on the benthic fauna.
  • Journal article
    Maidment SCR, Henderson DM, Barrett PM, 2014,

    What drove reversions to quadrupedality in ornithischian dinosaurs? Testing hypotheses using centre of mass modelling

    , Naturwissenschaften, Vol: 101, Pages: 989-1001, ISSN: 0028-1042

    The exceptionally rare transition to quadrupedalismfrom bipedal ancestors occurred on three independent occasionsin ornithischian dinosaurs. The possible driving forcesbehind these transitions remain elusive, but several hypotheses—includingthe development of dermal armour and theexpansion of head size and cranial ornamentation—have beenproposed to account for this major shift in stance. Wemodelled the position of the centre of mass (CoM) in severalexemplar ornithischian taxa and demonstrate that the anteriorshifts in CoM position associated with the development of anenlarged skull ornamented with horns and frills for display/defence may have been one of the drivers promoting ceratopsianquadrupedality. A posterior shift in CoM position coincidentwith the development of extensive dermal armour inthyreophorans demonstrates this cannot have been a primarycausative mechanism for quadrupedality in this clade.Quadrupedalism developed in response to different selectivepressures in each ornithischian lineage, indicating differentevolutionary pathways to convergent quadrupedalmorphology.
  • Book chapter
    McDonald AT, Maidment SCR, Barrett PM, You H-L, Dodson Pet al., 2014,

    Osteology of the basal hadrosauroid Equijubus normani (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China

    , Hadrosaurs, Editors: Eberth, Evans, Bloomington, Publisher: Indiana University Press, Pages: 44-72, ISBN: 9780253013903
  • Book chapter
    Maidment SCR, Bates KT, Barrett PM, 2014,

    Three-dimensional computational modeling of pelvic locomotor muscle moment arms in Edmontosaurus (Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae) and comparisons with other archosaurs.

    , Hadrosaurs, Editors: Eberth, Evans, Bloomington, Publisher: Indiana University Press, Pages: 433-448, ISBN: 9780253013903
  • Journal article
    Parkinson SD, Hill J, Piggott MD, Allison PAet al., 2014,

    Direct numerical simulations of particle-laden density currents with adaptive, discontinuous finite elements

    , GEOSCIENTIFIC MODEL DEVELOPMENT, Vol: 7, Pages: 1945-1960, ISSN: 1991-959X
  • Journal article
    Maidment SCR, Bates KT, Falkingham PL, VanBuren C, Arbour V, Barrett PMet al., 2014,

    Locomotion in ornithischian dinosaurs: an assessment using three-dimensional computational modelling

    , BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Vol: 89, Pages: 588-617, ISSN: 1464-7931
  • Journal article
    Siveter DJ, Briggs DEG, Siveter DJ, Sutton MD, Legg D, Joomun Set al., 2014,

    A Silurian short-great-appendage arthropod

    , PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Vol: 281, ISSN: 0962-8452
  • Journal article
    Maidment SCR, Barrett PM, 2014,

    Osteological correlates for quadrupedality in ornithischian dinosaurs

    , ACTA PALAEONTOLOGICA POLONICA, Vol: 59, Pages: 53-70, ISSN: 0567-7920

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