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Sim

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based
on
INSOLE,
A. N. and HUTT, S. 1994. Palaeoecology of the dinosaurs
of the Wessex Formation
(Wealden Group, Early Cretaceous), Isle of Wight,
southern England. Zoological Journal of the Linnean
Society, 112, 135-150.
with alterations based on recent finds
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During
the Barremian age of the Early Cretaceous, the Isle
of Wight was very different to the way it is now.
The temperature was higher, from hot to very warm,
and was semi-arid. The dinosaurs prospered in equable
humid periods, with low climatic variability, but
were constantly living in the area. There was spasmodic
rainfall, nearly 1200 mm per year, although this
would have been in the uplands, but the Wessex Basin
was dryer than the neighbouring Weald Basin, which
covers what is now Sussex and South-East England.
The low-lying lands would have experienced droughts
lasting up to four months, during which forest fires
are known to have occured, but there would also
be occasonal rainstorms, and flash flooding would
happen frequently,
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Clabby 2006
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The
most frequently found dinosaurs on the found on the Isle
of Wight are ornithopods, specifically the common Iguanodon,
Hypsilophodon,and
Mantellisaurus,
with the occasional dryosaurid Valdosaurus.
Iguanodon and Mantellisaurus
were certainly living in the region, as both body and trace
fossils assigned to these genera have been found there.
Iguanodon and Mantellisaurus
would have fed on the leaves of trees, while Hypsilophodon
and Valdosaurus would
have been restricted to browsing on ferns and cycads, although
there is the possibility that they may have eaten plant
debris pulled down by Iguanodon.
The ornithopods were clearly the dominant aspect of the
ecology of the Isle of Wight during the Barremian, evidence
including the large number of Iguanodon
tracks at Hanover Point
and the 100 Hypsilophodon
already extracted from the Hypsilophodon
beds near the upper boundary of the Wessex
Formation.
The relative abundance of Iguanodon
may be attributable to diagenetic bias. As plant debris
beds, the strata that contain Iguanodon
and Mantellisaurus
remains, are the most common of the Wessex
Formation, it may be that Iguanodon
isn't as common as is believed, just more regularly preserved.
mon
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Sauropods
are known from the island, with nearly ten different genera
being described, four of these being brachiosaurs. The high
level of diversity in the sauropod fauna may suggest that
they were seasonal migrants, only being in the area temporarily,
as the slow-growing nature of the vegetation would rule
out a permanent resident population of sauropods, especially
with competition from the ornithopods. Also, the dietary
adaptations of the sauropods, with them mostly being brachiosaurids,
titanosaurids and other titanosauriforms, would rule them
out as being natives, as these were presumed to be browsers,
and so completely unsuited to the low-level foliage, although
there is evidence for conifer forests located upstream and
on the surrounding hills. It is possible that the rare rebbachisaurids,
one of which is known from several teeth, may have fed on
the low foliage, but as this animal is rare on the island,
it may not have been a permanent resident of the region
either.
Sauropods appear to have been preserved in the Wessex
Formation due to a process known as miring. The sauropod
remains from the Isle of Wight that aren't isolated vertabrae
are generally the limbs, which have been observed to have
been preserved in life position, and facing in the same
direction. The explanation given for this is that these
sauropods were part of a group, moving through the area
and crossing infirm ground. The sauropods would get stuck
in this mire, being sucked down and trapped, at the mercy
of any theropods that may come along, which would explain
the lack of other elements
Simon
Clabby 2006 Clabby 2006
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Where
you get herbivores, you get things wanting to eat them.
There were relatively small theropods, such as Calamospondylus,
Aristosuchus, Calamosaurus
and Ornithodesmus,
at about two metres long. There was also Eotyrannus,
which was four metres long, and was related to Tyrannosaurus
rex. These would presumably have fed on the small hypsilophodontids
and other terrestrial organisms, although there would have
been competition with the crocodiles,
of which eight are known.
There is also an unidentified troodontid. There has been
much debate over the diet of troodontids, as they have leaf-shaped
teeth similar to ornithopods, thyreophorans and pachycephalosaurs,
which suggests a herbivorous diet, yet they also show similarities
to Hesperornis, a piscivorous bird add to that possible
insectivory, and it becomes obvious that there was an element
of omnivory in troodontid diet.
There was definitely plenty for small theropods to eat.
Recent study of microfossils has shown there to be a diverse
fauna of small reptiles,
such as skinks and young crocodilians, and amphibians,
including frogs, salamanders and albanerpetontids (a salamander-like
creature), as well as at least five species of small mammal..
Simon
Clabby 2006
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There
are two large predators found in the Wessex Formation, these
being the six and-a-half metre long allosaur Neovenator
and the nine metre-long spinosaurid Baryonyx.
Baryonyx was almost certainly
a local predator, as teeth from adults and juveniles have
been found in abundance. Having said this, Baryonyx
was primarily a piscivore, although it would also scavenge
on carcasses and pterosaurs.
The major predator would therefore be Neovenator,
preying on the Iguanodon,
and maybe on hypsilophodontids as well. Neovenator
may possibly have also been attacking the sauropods that
were occasionally entering the region, although this is
just speculation on this authors part. In addition, if Neovenator
was left to fend for itself as an infant, then it is possible
that the young occupied yet another niche, eating small
lizards and insects, as well as scavenging any carrion.
There is also the seven metre-long Thecocoelurus,
a creature ascribed to the Oviraptorsaura, the diet of which
is currently under much speculation. Although the name does
suggest that they lived on a diet of eggs, this is based
purely on a misidentified nest found being "plundered"
(or protected, as is more likely) by an adult Oviraptor.
There are also two other large theropods, as yet undescribed,
but would be of similar size to Neovenator.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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There
is only one definite pliosaur known from the Isle of Wight,
which is Leptocleidus,
a small freshwater pliosaur from the lagoons of the Vectis
Formation. Leptocleidus
is piscivorous, but would have scavenged from any carcasses
that found their way into the water. There is also a plesiosaur,
but very little is known of this creature, but plesiosaurs
are also piscivorous
Simon
Clabby 2006
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A
Word of Warning...
Please
note that this palaeoecological analysis is based on fossil
evidence, and so is limited to those species that have been
preserved. Although many exciting
new finds have been made through mass screening of sediments,
there does appear to be an element of bias in preservation.
As Denver Fowler put it in his SVP poster "Tentative
evidence supports the hypothesis of taxon preservation bias
between different facies. Sauropod remains, many recognisably
in situ, constitute a higher percentage of the megafauna
within red and purple marls (medium to well drained oxidised
sediment) than other facies. The most productive facies:
plant debris beds (waterlogged reduced sediment, formed
by fire-flood associations), yield an allocthonous megafauna
dominated by the large ornithopod dinosaur
Iguanodon. The Hypsilophodon
bed (mottled sand/mud facies, mudflows) yields a megafauna
almost exclusively composed of small subadult/juvenile Hypsilophodon
very commonly preserved articulated in 3 dimensions. These
morphologically dissimilar taxa were likely susceptible
to different preservation biases, manifested in the fossil
record by their preferential preservation in different facies.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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