Bio Dino Final Study

*Faunas of the Late Triassic through Cretaceous

Triassic faunas were dominated by non-dinosaurian terrestrial vertebrates that went extinct at the end of the period

Dinosaurs became larger and dominated ecosystems during the Jurassic

Early faunas were similar around the world because of Pangaea, but after

the Jurassic they diverged into Gondwanan and Laurasian faunas

*Pattern of extinction at the end of the Triassic

*Faunal differences between Laurasia and Gondwana in the Cretaceous

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*Ancestral features of archosaurs

*Features of birds that may have evolved within non-avian dinosaurs—

*Which biomolecules are known in non-avian dinosaurs

*The evidence for and against endothermy in non-avian dinosaurs

*The evidence for color in feathers and eggshell

*What features are characteristic of large living terrestrial animals

*What kind of evidence indicates diets in dinosaurs

*The pattern of extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous

*Current hypotheses for the cause of the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs

*Vicariance versus dispersal

*Character optimization

*How features that are not preserved are inferred using phylogeny and optimization

*How DNA and amino acid sequences are used to infer phylogeny

*How trackways are used to estimate speed

*How hearing sensitivity and nocturnality can be inferred from ears and eyes

*How LAGs are used to study dinosaur growth rates

*How the sex of a dinosaur can be determined using bone histology

*How surface/volume ratio affected dinosaur thermoregulation, egg size

*Ectothermy, homeothermy and poikilothermy

*How extinctions are studied in the fossil record

*Explain how trackways are used to determine the speed of the trackmaker. If given the equation and graph from McNeil Alexander and relevant data be prepared to calculate the speed.

*What is the evidence for endothermy in non-avian dinosaurs?

*How is color inferred in non-avian dinosaur feathers? In eggs?

*How does surface/volume ratio affect thermoregulation?

*What is the current hypothesis for what caused the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs,and what is the most popular alternative hypothesis?

*List 5 non-skeletal features of living birds that may have evolved in dinosaurs

*Be prepared to optimize characters on a cladogram

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Areas of Endemism

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*Vicariance versus dispersal Pt.2

*Vicariance versus dispersal Pt.3

physiology/Metabolism

*endothermy