Tyrannosaurus rex can reshape the food chain even in adolescence

New research suggests that the offspring of giant carnivorous dinosaurs may reshape the food chain by defeating smaller competitors.

Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study, mentioned that this study provides real data for things that people have suspected for a while.

Currently, most animal groups have many small species, with slightly fewer medium-sized species and even fewer large species.

Paleontologists want to know whether juvenile dinosaurs have used occupied habitat and food sources to crowd out medium-sized adult dinosaurs.

In most ecosystems, herbivorous dinosaurs vary in size.

Schroeder, UNM paleontologist Felisa Smith and Kathleen Lyons of the University of Nebraska simulated the possible role of carnivores such as juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex in the ecosystem, mainly based on their growth curve and the The relative number of pups and adults found in the fossil bed "dead".

The reason why this effect is stronger in carnivorous dinosaurs is that each carnivorous dinosaur occupies a wide ecological niche.

Mike Benton, a paleontologist at the University of Bristol, said the research focused on how the niches of animals change as they grow and provided new insights.

Related paper information: org/10.