UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIPLODOCUS POPULATION SIZE AND PLANT ABUNDANCE DURING THE LATE JURASSIC

For an organism to survive, it must possess some method of energy acquisition; in the case of Diplodocus, this energy took the form of the vegetation that was fed upon. Diplodocus is one of the most well-known dinosaur genera, iconic for its immense size and distinctive long neck. The sauropod would have thrived throughout the western United States during the Late Jurassic, adapting and evolving with the changing environment. Previous research shows that massive climate alterations towards the end of the period would have influenced the extinction of Diplodocus, yet a direct link between the abundance of vegetation fed upon by Diplodocus and the extinction of the genus has yet to be established. This project aims to uncover two pieces of information regarding the dinosaur’s diet: Did the abundance of plant life decrease during the Late Jurassic and if so, how did this affect Diplodocus population size? To answer these questions, previous research on the diet of Diplodocus and changing environments of the western United States will be synthesized with quantitative analysis of fossil abundance in the rock record over time. By utilizing data compiled within the Paleobiology Database, a relationship can be plotted between the abundance of Diplodocus fossils as compared to the abundance of the preferred vegetation over time.