The latest advances in dinosaur ichnology are showcased in this comprehensive and timely volume, in which leading researchers and research groups cover the most essential topics in the study of dinosaur tracks. Some assess and demonstrate state-of-the-art approaches and techniques, such as experimental ichnology, photogrammetry, biplanar X-rays, and a numerical scale for quantifying the quality of track preservation. The high diversity of these up-to-date studies underlines that dinosaur ichnological research is a vibrant field, that important discoveries are continuously made, and that new methods are being developed, applied, and refined. This indispensable volume unequivocally demonstrates that ichnology has an important contribution to make toward a better understanding of dinosaur paleobiology. Tracks and trackways are one of the best sources of evidence to understand and reconstruct the daily life of dinosaurs. They are windows on past lives, dynamic structures produced by living, breathing, moving animals now long extinct, and they are every bit as exciting and captivating as the skeletons of their makers.
Recenzijos
"This indispensable volume unequivocally demonstrates that ichnology has an important contribution to make toward a better understanding of dinosaur paleobiology."BirdBooker Report "[ This]book is very well produced and is in color throughout with numerous figures and artwork, and the reproduction of the images is generally excellent. In a field so dominated by interpretation of complex and subtle forms this is an important aspect of the volume and adds significantly to its appeal. This book is an excellent compendium and a timely piece on a rapidly expanding and changing area of research."Quarterly Review of Biology "Dinosaur Tracks is a benchmark and a must-have for all researchers working on dinosaur tracks and on dinosaurs in general."Swiss Journal of Palaeontology "Any scientist that considers the study of dinosaur (or other tetrapod) tracks should buy Dinosaur Tracks. For any person, scientifically informed illustrations presented in the book, will give a long-standing positive impression and thus show a value of dinosaur ichnology."Andrej Spiridonov, Priscum, The Newsletter of the Palentological Society
Introduction / Peter L. Falkingham, Daniel Marty, and Annette Richter
Part I. Approaches and Techniques for Studying Dinosaur Tracks
1. Experimental and Comparative Ichnology / Jesper Miląn and Peter L.
Falkingham
2. Close-Range Photogrammetry for 3D Ichnology: The Basics of
Photogrammetric Ichnology / Neffra Matthews, Tommy Noble, and Brent
Breithaupt
3. The Early Cretaceous Dinosaur Trackways in Münchehagen (Lower Saxony,
Germany): 3D Photogrammetry as Basis for Geometric Morphometric Analysis of
Shape Variation and Evaluation of Material Loss during Excavation / Oliver
Wings, Jens N. Lallensack, and Heinrich Mallison
4. Applying Objective Methods to Subjective Track Outlines / Peter L.
Falkingham
5. Beyond Surfaces: A Particle-Based Perspective on Track Formation /
Stephen M. Gatesy and Richard G. Ellis
6. A Numerical Scale for Quantifying the Quality of Preservation of
Vertebrate Tracks / Matteo Belvedere and James O. Farlow
7. Evaluating the Dinosaur Track Record: An Integrative Approach to
Understanding the Regional and Global Distribution, Scientific Importance,
Preservation and Management of Tracksites / Luis Alcalį, Martin G. Lockley,
Alberto Cobos, Luis Mampel, and Rafael Royo-Torres
Part II. Palaeobiology and Evolution from Tracks
8. Iberian Sauropod Tracks through Time: Variations in Sauropod Manus and
Pes Morphologies / Diego Castanera, Vanda F. Santos, Laura Pińuela, Carlos
Pascual, Bernat Vila, José I. Canudo, and José Joaquin Moratalla
9. The Flexion of Sauropod Pedal Unguals and Testing the Substrate Grip
Hypothesis Using the Trackway Fossil Record / Lee E. Hall, Ashley E.
Fragomeni, and Denver W. Fowler
10. Dinosaur Swim Track Assemblages: Characteristics, Contexts, and
Ichnofacies Implications / Andrew R. C. Milner, and Martin G. Lockley
11. Two-Toed Tracks through Time: On the Trail of "Raptors" and their Allies
/ Martin G. Lockley, Jerry D. Harris, Rihui Li, Lida Xing, and Torsten van
der Lubbe
12. Diversity, Ontogeny, or Both? A Morphometric Approach to Iguanodontian
Ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) Track Assemblages from the Berriasian
(Lower Cretaceous) of North Western Germany / Jahn J. Hornung, Annina Böhme,
Nils Schlüter, and Mike Reich
13. Uncertainty and Ambiguity in the Interpretation of Sauropod Trackways /
Kent A. Stevens, Scott Ernst, and Daniel Marty
14. Dinosaur Tracks as "Four-Dimensional Phenomena" Reveal How Different
Species Moved / Alberto Cobos, Francisco Gascó, Rafael Royo-Torres, Martin G.
Lockley, and Luis Alcalį
Part III. Ichnotaxonomy and Trackmaker Identification
15. Analysing and Resolving Cretaceous Avian Ichnotaxonomy Using
Multivariate Statistical Analyses: Approaches and Results / Lisa G. Buckley,
Richard T. McCrea, and Martin G. Lockley
16. Elusive Ornithischian Tracks in the Famous Berriasian (Lower Cretaceous)
"Chicken Yard" Tracksite of Northern Germany: Quantitative Differentiation
between Small Tridactyl Trackmakers / Tom Hübner
Part IV. Depositional Environments and their Influence on the Track Record
17. Too Many Tracks: Preliminary Description and Interpretation of the
Diverse and Heavily Dinoturbated Early Cretaceous "Chicken Yard"
Ichnoassemblage (Obernkirchen Tracksite, Northern Germany) / Annette Richter
and Annina Böhme
18. Dinosaur Tracks in Eolian Strata: New Insights into Track Formation,
Walking Kinetics, and Trackmaker Behaviour / David B. Loope, and Jesper
Miląn
19. Analysis of Desiccation Crack Patterns for Quantitative Interpretation
of Fossil Tracks / Tom Schanz, Maria Datcheva, Hanna Haase, and Daniel Marty
20. A Review of the Dinosaur Track Record from Jurassic and Cretaceous
Shallow Marine Carbonate Depositional Environments / Simone D'Orazi
Porchetti, Massimo Bernardi, Andrea Cinquegranelli, Vanda Faria dos Santos,
Daniel Marty, Fabio Massimo Petti, Paulo Sį Caetano, and Alexander
Wagensommer
Dinosaur Track Terminology: A Glossary of Terms
List of Contributors
Index
Peter L. Falkingham is Lecturer in Vertebrate Biology in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology at Liverpool John Moore's University, United Kingdom. Daniel Marty is a research paleontologist at the "Paleontology A16" (Office de la culture, Canton Jura, Switzerland). Annette Richter is Senior Custodian of Earth Sciences and head of the Natural History Department at the Lower Saxony State Museum at Hannover.