quadrupeds {MASSTIMATE}R Documentation

Body Mass Estimates Using QE, MR, AHR1985, and MCF2004

Description

This function returns body mass estimates for quadrupeds using humeral and/or femoral circumferences (intended for non-avian dinosaurs)

Usage

quadrupeds(HC, FC, QE_MR.eq = "raw", data = NULL)

Arguments

HC

a value or vector representing humeral circumference (in mm)

FC

a value or vector representing femoral circumference (in mm)

QE_MR.eq

desired estimation equations to used by QE and MR. Two possible choices. "raw" is default

data

an optional object of class = "data.frame" or class = "matrix"

Details

This function returns estimates from five equations intented for terrestrial quadrupeds (in particular non-avian dinosaurs): two from Campione and Evans (2012) based on bivariate and multiple regression approaches; a quadratic view of the bivariate regression (Campione in review); Anderson et al. (1985); Mazzetta et al. (2004). For more details please see the specific functions.

If a data object is specified, the mass estiamtes and additional results will be added as columns to the data.frame or matrix within that object.

Value

11 numeric values or columns are returned (all masses are in grams):

QE

A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using QE (bivariate regression)

upper.QE

A numeric value or vector representing the upper prediction error of the QE based on that derived for the specific equation by Campione and Evans (2012)

lower.QE

A numeric value or vector representing the lower prediction error of the QE

qQE

A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using qQE (quadratic equation)

upper.qQE

A numeric value or vector representing the upper prediction error of qQE derived for the specific equation in Campione (in review)

lower.qQE

A numeric value or vector representing the lower prediction error of qQE

MR

A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using MR (multiple regression)

upper.MR

A numeric value or vector representing the upper prediction error of the MR based on that derived for the specific equation by Campione and Evans (2012)

lower.MR

A numeric value or vector representing the lower prediction error of the MR

AHR1985

A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using Anderson et al. (1985)

MCF2004

A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using Mazzetta et al. (2004)

Author(s)

Nicolas E. Campione

References

Anderson, J. F., Hall-Martin, A. and Russell, D. A. (1985) Long-bone circumference and weight in mammals, birds and dinosaurs. Journal of the Zoological Society of London A, 207, 53-61.

Campione, N. E. and Evans, D. C. (2012) A universal scaling relationship between body mass and proximal limb bone dimensions in quadrupedal terrestrial tetrapods. BMC Biology, 10, 60.

Campione, N. E. (2017) Extrapolation of a universal scaling relationship for estimating body masses in extinct terrestrial vertebrates. Paleobiology, 43, 693-699.

Mazzetta, G. V., Christiansen, P. and Farina, R. A. (2004) Giants and bizzares: body size of some southern South American Cretaceous dinosaurs. Historical Biology, 16, 71-83.

See Also

QE MR AHR1985 MCF2004


[Package MASSTIMATE version 2.0-1 Index]