Dinosaur fossils provide a wealth of information about the environmental conditions of their time. One significant factor in their extinction was the dramatic changes in climate and sea levels.
Early jurassic palaeoclimate in Southwest China
Shen et al (2021, p. 6245) proposed a research strategy using oxygen isotopes and carbon isotopes to reconstruct the living environment of dinosaur at Early Jurassic of in Lufeng County. Although a large number of large-scale dinosaur fossils have been excavated in Lufeng, the main factor may be that there is a good ecological environment for preserving fossils here, or it was once an excellent habitat.
Neosauropod dinosaur reproduction in a Cretaceous hydrothermal environment
1. A new colonial nesting site was found in Sanagasta, Argentina, associated with a Cretaceous hydrothermal area.
2. This is the first clear evidence of sauropods repeatedly choosing a specific nesting site over time.
3. The site reveals a symbiotic relationship between the dinosaur eggs and the hydrothermal environment, which aided incubation.
4. Analysis of 80 clutches with large, thick-shelled eggs shows that the sauropods used soil moisture and heat from the ground to incubate their eggs.
5. This behavior is compared to that of an extant bird species, the megapode, which lays eggs in volcanically heated ground.