Skeletochronology and isotopic analysis of a captive individual of Alligator mississippiensis Daudin, 1802

Fossil Record

Volumn 12, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 121-131

  Klein, Nicole ^a   Scheyer, Torsten ^b   Tütken, Thomas ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BONN   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

Alligatoridae; Bone histology; Life history; Long bones; Osteoderms

Indexed keywords

EID: 77954674299     PISSN: 10533389     EISSN: 18601014     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/mmng.200900002     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Amiot, R., Lécuyer, C., Buffetaut, E., Escarguel, G., Fluteau, F. & Martineau, F. 2006. Oxygen isotopes from biogenic apatites suggest widespread endothermy in Cretaceous dinosaurs. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 246: 41-54.
2. Amiot, R., Lécuyer, C., Escarguel, G., Billon-Bruyat, J. P., Buffetaut, E., Langlois, C., Martin, S., Martineau, F. & Mazin, J. M. 2007. Oxygen isotope fractionation between crocodilian phosphate and water. Palaeogeography, Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology 243: 412-420.
3. Björndal, K., Bolten, A. B., Bennett, R. A., Jacobson, E. R., Wronski, T. J., Valeski, J. J. & Elizar, P. J. 1998. Age and growth in sea turtles: limitations of skeletochronology for demographic studies. Copeia 1: 23-30.
4. Bryant, J. D., Koch, P. L., Froelich, P. N., Showers, W. J. & Genna, B. J. 1996. Oxygen isotope partitioning between phosphate and carbonate in mammalian apatite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60: 5145-5148.
5. Buffrénil, V. de 1980a. Preliminary data on the structure of growth marks among living and fossil crocodilians. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 105 (2): 355-361.
6. Buffrénil, V. de 1980b. Mise en evidence de l'incidence des conditions de milieu sur la croissance de Crocodylus siamensis Schneider, 1801 et valeur des marques de croissance squelettiques pour l' valuation de l' ge individuel. Archives de Zoologie experimentale et Générale 121 (l): 63-76.
7. Buffrénil, V. de & Buffetaut, E. 1981. Skeletal growth lines in an Eocene crocodilian skull from Wyoming as an indicator of ontogenetic age and paleoclimatic conditions. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 1: 57-66.
8. De Buffrénil V. & Castanet, J. 2000. Age estimation by skeletochronology in the Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus), a highly exploited species. Journal of Herpetology 34: 414-424.
9. Bybee, P. J., Lee, A. H. & Lamm, E. T. 2006. Sizing the Jurassic Theropod Dinosaur Allosaurus: Assessing Growth Strategy and Evolution of Ontogenetic Scaling of Limbs. Journal of Mor-phology 267 (3): 347-359.
10. Castanet, J. 1994. Age estimation and longevity in reptiles. Gerontology 40: 174-192.
11. Castanet, J. & Smirina, E. 1990. Introduction to the skeletochronological method in amphibians and reptiles. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie 11: 191-196.
12. Castanet, J., Newman, D. G. & Saint Girons, H. 1988. Skeletochrono-logical data on the growth, age, and population structure of the tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, on Stephens and Lady Alice is-lands, New Zealand. Herpetologica 44: 25-37.
13. Castanet, J., Francillon-Vieillot, H., Meunier, F. J. & Ricqlés, A. de 1993. Bone and individual aging. In Hall, B. K. (ed.). Bone Volume 7: Bone Growth-B. CRC Press, Boca Raton: pp. 245-283.
14. Cerling, T. E., Harris, J. M., MacFadden, B. J., Leakey, M. G., Quade, J., Eisenmann, V. & Ehleringer, J. R. 1997. Global vegetation change through the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. Nature 389: 153-158.
15. Chinsamy, A. 1990. Physiological implications of the bone histology of Syntarsus rhodesiensis (Saurischia: Theropoda). Palaeontologia africana 27: 77-82.
16. Chinsamy, A. 1993. Bone histology and growth trajectory of the pro-sauropod dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus (Owen). Modern Geology 18: 319-329.
17. Chinsamy, A. & Hillenius, W. J. 2004. Physiology of nonavian dino-saurs. In Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P. & Osmolska, H. (eds). The Dinosauria. Second edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA: pp. 643-659.
18. Chinsamy-Turan, A. 2005. The microstructure of dinosaur Bone. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
19. Collins, M. J., Nielsen-Marsh, C. M., Hiller, J., Smith, C. I., Roberts, J. P., Prigodich, R. V., Wess, T. J., Csap, J., Millard, A. R. & Turner-Walker, G. 2002. The survival of organic matter in bone: a review. Archaeometry 44: 383-394.
20. Coplen T. B. 1994. Reporting of stable hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopic abundances. Pure Applied Chemistry 66: 273-276.
21. Daudin, F. M. 1802. Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particuli re des Reptiles. Volume 2. Dufart, Paris.
22. DeNiro, M. J. & Epstein, S. 1981. Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 45: 341-351.
23. Enlow, D. H. & Brown, S. O. 1957. A comparative histological study of fossil and Recent bone tissues. Part II. The Texas Journal of Science 9: 186-214.
24. Erickson, G. & Tumanova, T. A. 2000. Growth curve of Psittaco-saurus mongoliensis Osborn (Ceratopsia: Psittacosauridae) inferred from long bone histology. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 130: 551-566.
25. Erickson, G., Makovicky, P. J., Currie, P., Norell, M., Yerby, S. A. & Brochu, C. A. 2004. Gigantism and comparative life-history parameters of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs. Nature 430: 772-775.
26. Erickson, G. M. 2005. Assessing dinosaur growth patterns: a microscopic revolution. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20 (12): 677-684.
27. Farlow, J. O., Hurlburt, G. R., Elsey, R. M., Britton, A. R. C. & Lang-ston J. W. 2005. Femoral dimensions and body size of Alligator mississippiensis: Estimating the size of extinct mesoeurcrocody-lians. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25 (2): 354-369.
28. Francillon-Vieillot, H., Castanet, J., Geraude, J., Meunier, F. J., Sire, J. Y., Zylberberg, L. & Ricqlés, A. de. 1990. Microstructure and mineralization of vertebrate skeletal tissues. In Carter, J. E. (ed.). Skeletal biomineralization: patterns, processes and evolutionary trends. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY: pp. 471-530.
29. Fricke, H. C. & Rogers, R. R. 2000. Multiple taxon-multiple locality approach to providing oxygen isotope evidence for warm-blooded theropod dinosaurs. Geology 28: 799-802.
30. Frye, F. L. 1991. Reptile Care, an Atlas of Diseases and Treatments (Vol. 1 & 2). T. F. H. Publications, Neptune City.
31. Hayashi, S. & Carpenter, K. 2007. Different growth patterns between the body skeleton and osteoderms of Stegosaurus (Ornithischia: Threo-phora). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (Suppl.): 88A.
32. Hill, R. V. & Lucas, S. G. 2006. New data on the anatomy and relation-ships of the Paleocene crocodylian Akanthosuchus langstoni. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51: 455-464.
33. Hobson, K. A., Alisauskas, R. T. & Clark, R. G. 1993. Stable nitrogen isotope enrichment in avian tissues due to fasting and nutritional stress: Implications for isotopic analysis of diet. Condor 95: 388-394
34. Horner, J. R., Ricqlés, A. de & Padian, K. 1999. Variation in dinosaur skeochronololetgy indicators: implications for age assessment and physiology. Paleobiology 25: 295-304.
35. Horner, J. R., Ricqlés, A. de & Padian, K. 2000. Long bone histology of the hadrosaurid dinosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum: growth dy-namics and physiology based on an ontogenetic series of skeletal elements. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20: 115-129.
36. Hua, S. & Buffrénil, V. de. 1996. Bone histology as a clue in the interpretation of functional adaptations in the Thalattosuchia (Reptilia, Crocodylia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16: 703-717.
37. Hutton, J. M. 1986. Age determination of living Nile crocodiles from the cortical stratification of bone. Copeia 2: 332-341.
38. Iacumin, P., Bocherens, H., Mariotti, A. & Longinelli, A. 1996. Oxygen isotope analyses of co-existing carbonate and phosphate in biogenic apatite: a way to monitor diagenetic alteration of bone phosphate. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 142: 1-6.
39. Jacobsen, T. & Kushlan, J. A. 1989. Growth dynamics in the American alligator (Alligator mississipiensis). Journal of Zool-ogy 219: 309-328.
40. Klein, N. & Sander, P. M. 2007. Bone histology and growth of the prosauropod dinosaur Plateosaurus engelhardti von Meyer, 1837 from the Norian bonebeds of Trossingen (Germany) and Frick (Switzerland). Special Papers in Palaeontology 77: 169-206.
41. Klein, N. & Sander, P. M. 2008. Ontogenetic stages in the long bone histology of sauropod dinosaurs. Paleobiology 34 (2): 247-263.
42. Koch, P. L. 2007. Isotopic study of the biology of modern and fossil vertebrates. In Michener, R. & Lajtha, K. (eds). Stable Isotopes in Ecology and Envrionmental Science, Second edition. Blackwell, Oxford: pp. 99-154.
43. Kohn, M. J. & Cerling, T. E. 2002. Stable isotope compositions of biological apatite. In Kohn, M. J., Rakovan, J. & Hughes, J. M. (eds). Phosphates: Geochemical, Geobiological, and Materials Importance. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 48: 455-488.
44. Krefft, G. 1873. Remarks on Australian crocodiles, and a description of a new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1873: 334-335.
45. Laurenti, J. N. 1768. Specimen Medicum, Exhibens Synopsin Repti-lium Emendatum cum Experimentatis Circa Venena et Antiodota Reptilium Austriacorum. J. T. de Trattern, Vienna.
46. Lee, A. 2004. Histological organization and its relationship to func-tion in the femur of Alligator mississipiensis. Journal of Anatomy 204: 197-207.
47. Lee, A. & Werning, S. 2008. Sexual maturity in growing dinosaurs does not fit reptilian growth models. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (2): 582-587.
48. 15N and animal age. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48: 1135-1140.
49. Neill, W. T. 1971. The Last of the Ruling reptiles-Alligators, Crocodiles and their Kin. Columbia University Press, New York.
50. Padian, K. & Horner, J. R. 2004. Dinosaur Physiology. In Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P. & Osmolska, H. (eds). The Dinosauria. Second edition. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA: pp. 660-671.
51. Padian, K., Horner, J. R., & Ricqlés, A. de. 2004. Growth in small dinosaurs and pterosaurs: The evolution of archosaurian growth strategies. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24 (3): 555-571.
52. Peabody, F. E. 1961. Annual growth zones in living and fossil vertebrates. Journal of Morphology 108: 11-62.
53. Reid, R. E. H. 1984. Primary bone and dinosaurian physiology. Geological Magazine 121: 589-598.
54. Reid, R. E. H. 1997. How dinosaurs grew. In Farlow, J. O. & Brett-Surmann, M. K. (eds). The Complete Dinosaur. Indiana University Press, Bloomington: pp. 403-413.
55. Ricqlés, A. de 1968. Recherches pal ohistologiques sur les os longs des tätrapodes. I. Origine du tissu osseux plexiforme des dino-saurians sauropodes. Annales de Pal ontologie 54: 133-145.
56. Ricqlés, A. de 1976a. Recherches pal ohistologiques sur les os longs des tätrapodes. VII. Sur le classification, la significationfonctio-nelle et l'histoire des tissus osseux des tätrapodes. Annales de Pal ontologie 62: 71-126.
57. Ricqlés, A. de 1976b. On bone histology of fossil and living reptiles, with comments on its functional and evolutionary significance. In Bellairs, A. d'A. & Cox, B. C. (eds). Morphology and Biology ofüreptiles. Academic Press, London: pp. 123-150.
58. Ricqlés, A. de, Padian, K. & Horner, J. R. 2003. On the bone histology of some Triassic pseudosuchian archosaurs and related taxa. Annales de Pal ontologie 89: 67-101.
59. Ricqlés, A. de, Padian, K., Knoll, F. & Horner, J. R. 2008. On the origin of high growth rates in archosaurs and their ancient rela-tives: complementary histological studies on Triassic archosauriforms and the problem of a phylogenetic signal in bone histol-ogy. Annales de Pal ontologie 94 (2): 57-76.
60. Ross, C. A. 2002. Krokodile und Alligatoren. Entwicklung, Biologie und Verbreitung. Bassermann Verlag, München.
61. Rozanski, K. 1995. Climatic control of stable isotopes in precipitation as a basis for palaeoclimatic reconstruction. In Frenzel, B., Stauf-fer, B. & Weiß, M. (eds). Problems of stable isotopes in tree-rings, lake sediments and peat-bogs as climatic evidence for the Holocene. Fischer, Stuttgart, Jena, New York: pp. 171-186.
62. Sanchez, S., Klembara, J., Castanet, J. & Steyer, J. S. 2008. Salaman-der-like development in a seymouriamorph revealed by palaeohistology. Biology Letters 4: 411-414.
63. Sander, P. M. 1999. Life history of Tendaguru sauropods as inferred from long bone histology. Mitteilungen Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe 2: 103-112.
64. Scheyer, T. M. 2007. Comparative bone histology of the turtle shell (car-apace and plastron): implications for turtle systematics, functional morphology, and turtle origins. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaf-tliche Fakultät, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. PhD Thesis, 343 pp. [URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:5N-12299; URL: http://hss.ulb.uni-bonn.de/diss_online/math_nat_fak/2007/ scheyer_torsten].
65. Scheyer, T. M. & Sander, P. M. 2004. Histology of ankylosaur osteoderms: implications for systematics and function. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24: 874-893.
66. Scheyer, T. M. & Sánchez-Villagra, M. R. 2007. Carapace bone histology in the giant pleurodiran turtle Stupendemys geographicus: phylogeny and function. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 52: 137-154.
67. Schneider, J. G. 1801. Historiae Amphibiorum naturalis et literariae. Fasciculus secundus continens Crocodilos, Scincos, Chamaesauras, Boas. Pseudoboas, Elapes, Angues. Amphisbaenas et Caecilias. Frommani, Jena.
68. Schürch, M., Kozel, R., Schotterer, U. & Tripet, J. P. 2003. Observation of isotopes in the water cycle-the Swiss National Network (NISOT). Environmental Geology 45: 1-11.
69. Starck, J. M. & Chinsamy, A. 2002. Bone microstructure and develop-mental plasticity in birds and other dinosaurs. Journal of Morphology 254: 232-246.
70. Steele, K. W. & Daniel, R. M. 1978. Fractionation of nitrogen isotopes by animals: a further complication to the use of variations in the natural abundance of 15N for tracer studies. Journal of Agricultural Science 90: 7-9.
71. Steyer, J. S., Laurin, M., Castanet, J. & Ricqlés, A. de 2004. First histo-logical and skeletochronological data on temnospondyl growth: pa-laeoecological and palaeoclimatological implications. Palaeogeo-graphy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 206: 193-201.
72. Stoskopf, M. K., Barrick R. E. & Showers, W. J. 2001. Oxygen iso-tope variability in bones of wild caught and constantätemperature reared sub-adult American alligators. Journal of Thermal Biology 26: 183-191.
73. Spoetl, C. & Vennemann, T. W. 2003. Continuous-flow IRMS analysis of carbonate minerals. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectro-metry 17: 1004-1006.
74. Straight, W. H., Barrick, R. E. & Eberth, D. A. 2004. Reflections of surface water, seasonality and climate in stable oxygen isotopes from tyrannosaurid tooth enamel. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 206: 239-256.
75. Suzuki, H. K. 1963. Studies on the osseous system of the slider turtle. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 109 (1): 351-410.
76. Tucker, A. D. 1997. Validation of skeletochronology to determine age of freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni). Marine and Freshwater Research 48: 343-351.
77. Turmarkin-Deratzian, A. R. 2007. Fibrolamellar bone in wild adult Alligator mississippiensis. Journal of Herpetology 41 (2): 341-345.
78. Tütken, T. 2003. Die Bedeutung der Knochenfr hdiagenese für die Erhaltungsf higkeit in vivo erworbener Element-und Isotopenzu-sammensetzungen in fossilen Knochen. PhD Thesis, Universität T bingen, 330 pp.
79. Tütken, T., Pfretzschner, H. U., Vennemann, T. W., Sun, G. & Wang, Y. D. 2004. Paleobiology and Skeletochronology of Jurassic Dinosaurs: Implications from the histology and oxygen isotope compositions of bones. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 206: 217-238.
80. Wink, C. S. & Elsey, R. M. 1986. Changes in femoral morphology during egg-laying in Alligator mississippiensis. Journal of Morphology 189: 183-188.
81. Zug, G. R., Wynn, A. H. & Ruckdeschel, C. 1986. Age determination of loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, by incremental growth marks in the skeleton. Smithonian contributions to Zoology 427: 1-34.