Background:
Body size is one of the most apparent and important features in organismal biology, influencing many aspects of physiology, ecology and life history. Ichthyosaurs were Mesozoic marine reptiles that evolved a body shape very much like modern toothed whales. At Svalbard, 27 ichthyosaur and 30 plesiosaur specimens from the Jurassic age have been excavated, from a time span of approx. 12 million years. One-two master projects will study body size within this assemblage.
Research questions:
What is the range of body sizes in this assemblage?
What controls the body size of these specimens; ontogeny, taxonomy, taphonomy or ecology?
How does the body size composition compare to other assemblages worldwide?
Method:
These projects will use skeletal measurement data for the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs from the Slottsmøya Member. It will be necessary to combine measurements for different body parts, and compare these in a statistically robust way.
The project is part of the research at the Natural History Museum.