tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161161431451849208.post2656485543691880290..comments2024-03-28T02:45:03.204-07:00Comments on Antediluvian Salad: Life and Death in the California ChaparralDuane Nashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14467779935085970909noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161161431451849208.post-82714370640382912882013-06-27T18:45:05.562-07:002013-06-27T18:45:05.562-07:00Thanks for comment lyuti, Yeah bird crap of course...Thanks for comment lyuti, Yeah bird crap of course is very bad stuff, there are some 80 ft eucalyptid trees near me on the coast that have just outright been killed by nesting cormorants- and ironically I was just scraping bird crap off my truck 15 minutes ago. My main argument as to why large herbivorous dinos put less stress on riparian systems than large mammalian herbivores is that uric acid producing animals "lose" less water than urine producing mammals and hence need to drink less on average and can go longer between drinks than mammals. Granted I am painting with a very large brush here and of course all bets are off on a 1 to 1 basis, a massive 80 tonne sauropod is gonna do a lot more damage than any urine producing mammal of any size. But consider this; imagine you have one 80 tonne sauropod in a seasonally arid ecosystem versus 80 tonnes of lets say wildebeest in a similar ecosystem. Per unit pound of flesh the 80 tonnes of wildebeest are going to be doing a lot more footfalls, eat, crap, piss and drink a lot more than the sauropod. The large sauropod may slate its thirst using its neck without even entering the riparian zone and with minimal footfalls. Sure the footfalls are each impactful, but there are much less of them and the damage is highly localized, compressive in nature rather than shearing in nature like hoofed mammals. In fact all types of dinos had more splaying, soft, and spreading feet than hoofed herbivorous mammals. And after that sauropod has slated its thirst it may go for some time before drinking again- I don't know maybe a week?...., so that during times of water stress it is less beholden to one water source for fear of dying of thirst and its impact is spread out. I don't know how many documentaries of mammals on the African savanna during the dry season depict water stressed mammals staying in the vicinity of a water hole, depleting both the riparian and neighboring vegetation- and not being able to travel away because at best they can do 2-3 days. In short my argument is based on uric acid vs urea in terms of water lost and big, leathery, splaying feet vs sharp, pointy hoofs.<br /><br />I also play the primitive man in the landscape game, usually I think I end up feeling pretty hungry.Duane Nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14467779935085970909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161161431451849208.post-45875254739493710792013-06-27T11:36:42.962-07:002013-06-27T11:36:42.962-07:00Hello, I like your choice of looking for the way m...Hello, I like your choice of looking for the way mesozoic ecosystems could do it, instead of mainly focusing on this or that dinosaur. <br />Though I don´t share your opinions about mammals being more destroyers of watersprings sourrondings than dinos were, well cats crop smells like hell, but pigeon crop is so acid that is able of taking off the painting of a car, i feel im not explaining it very well.<br />There is a game i like to play when i see a landscape, triying to imagine how could primitive man chase and forrage there. Difficult to figure out.<br />sorry for my english. Regards.lyutihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10594824751624532605noreply@blogger.com