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Latitudinal Zonation In Dinosaurs

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A controversy always surrounds dinosaur regarding it being ectothermic or endothermic. Mammals and birds use their metabolic heat, muscular shivering mechanism, insulating coat in the form of fat deposits, hair or feathers to maintain fairly constant body temperature within a range of ± 2ºC and are endothermic. On the other hand, reptiles, fishes and amphibians exhibit variation in body temperature depending on the ambient temperature and are ectothermic. Dinosaurs have been placed in the subclass Archosauria of the class Reptilia and it has been etched in people’s mind that dinosaurs are ectotherms. However, various fossil records and paleontological evidence provide valuable information about the metabolic rates and thermoregulation of dinosaurs. …show more content…

Paleomagnetic data help to reconstruct the ancient position of continents to within about five degrees of latitude whereas glacial and salt deposits indicate the global latitudinal temperature gradient from poles to the equator. These latitudes and temperature gradient create zones that separate endotherms from ectotherms. Large reptiles cannot survive cold winter conditions existing in the poles because they cannot warm up their body temperature during the short winter day and they are too large to find safe hiding places to hibernate. Small reptiles like small lizards are found as far north as Alberta where they hibernate underground in winter but large reptiles like crocodiles or big lizards do not go beyond northern coast of Gulf of …show more content…

The ratio is a constant that is characteristic of the metabolism of the predator irrespective of the size of the animals involved in predator-prey system. The energy requirement of endothermic animals are many times greater than that of ectothermic animals but the prey tissue yield available to the predator is same for both an ectothermic or an endothermic population. Therefore, a given prey population either ectotherms or endotherms can support a greater biomass of ectothermic predators compared to endothermic predators as the energy requirement of endotherms are many times higher than that of ectotherms. In both ectotherms and endotherms, the energy value of carcasses produced per unit of energy content in the biomass of a population decreases with increasing weight of adult prey. The energy requirement per unit of predator biomass also decreases with increase in weight. Therefore, if the adult size of the prey is roughly equal to its predator, the maximum ratio of predator biomass to prey biomass in a steady-state community is a constant independent of the body size of predator-prey system. Spiders are ectotherms and ratio of spider population’s biomass to its prey biomass reaches a maximum of 40%. Mountain boomer lizard feeding on lizards would exhibit a similar ratio. On the other hand endothermic animals reach a maximum predator-prey biomass ratio of only 1-3%. Thus predator-prey

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In general, all the predators and prey (regardless of habitat) began with the same amount of population. For instance, there are a total of six predators (2 had forks, 2 had spoons, and 2 had knives)—regardless of habitat, Meaning each predator contributed to 33% of the population (Tables 1A, 2A). For prey, each bean contributed 25% of the population (Tables 1B, 2B). However, as generation progressed, differences began to appear.

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The evidence clearly indicates that this theropod had lung and respiratory mechanics similar to that of a crocodile—not a bird. There was evidence of a diaphragm-like muscle separating the lung from the liver, much as you see in modern crocodiles. These observations suggest that this theropod was similar to an ectothermic reptile, not an endothermic bird. Did feathered dinosaurs exist?

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Were dinosaurs warm blooded or cold blooded: Before beginning the argument we have to understand the term endothermy (homeotherms) and ectothermy (poikilotherms) : Endotherms: (endo, “inside”) , animals exhibit endothermy ,when they warm their tissues by the production of metabolic heat. Homeothermy : animals that thermoregulate by physiological means (rather than just by behaviour) Were dinosaurs warm or cold blooded ? Ectotherms : (ecto , “outside”) , animals exhibit ectothermy when thermal conditions outside the bodies of these animals determine their body temperature. Poikilothermy : body temperature of the animal is determined by equilibration with the thermal conditions of the environment and varies as environmental conditions vary.

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In the article, “Rescue in the Rainforest” Mackenzie Carro states, “As a result, all sorts of organisms make their homes on sloths' bodies. One type of algae lives nowhere on the planet except on sloth fur. A kind of moth also makes its home on the sloth. When the moths die, their bodies decompose in the sloth’s fur, providing a meal for the algae.” This text is explaining how the sloths are home to many creatures, and how they can easily die if the sloth population drops down to zero.

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Land organisms have the ability to regulate their body temperatures in order to survive in the environment and scientists are digging deep in research and observation in order to figure out how the honey bees function in different temperatures of their surroundings. Different variations in temperature of the environment are a facing threat to most land animals and more specifically flying organisms. Because there is a zone in which contains the most compatible temperature for them to have maximum ability to function properly, they will not most likely cannot survive in extreme temperatures. However, the structures and their bodily system such as the proteins and enzymes that provide a solution. It has little effect on the drastically changing

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Introduction Predation is a biological interaction between two organisms of different species in a community in which one acts as a predator and captures and feeds on the other, the prey. Predator-prey relationships keep animal populations in balance. When prey populations increase more food is available for predators, and they increase in number as well. An increase in predators triggers a decrease in prey populations. As prey populations decrease predator populations soon follow as their food supply diminishes.

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