bipeds: Body Mass Estimates Using cQE, AHR1985, CF2004, and CM1992

Description

This function returns body mass estimates for bipeds based on minimum femoral circumference using a set of four published equations (in particular those intended for non-avian dinosaurs)

Usage

bipeds(FC, cQE.eq = c("raw","phylocor"), cQE.cor = 2, data = NULL)

Arguments

a value or vector representing femoral circumference (should be in mm)

cQE.eq

desired estimation equation for the cQE. Two possible choices (See cQE)

cQE.cor

correction factor to be used ($\alpha{^2}$). The default is 2, as per Campione et al. (in review)

data

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

Value

Six numeric values or columns are returned (all masses are in grams):
cQEA numeric value or vector of mass estimates using cQE
upper.cQEA numeric value or vector representing the upper prediction error of the cQE based on that derived for the specific equation in Campione and Evans (2012)
lower.cQEA numeric value or vector representing the lower prediction error of the cQE
AHR1985A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using Anderson et al. (1985)
CF2004A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using Christiansen and Farina (2004)
CM1992A numeric value or vector of mass estimates using Campbell and Marcus (1992)

Details

This function returns estimates from four published equations intented for terrestrial bipeds (in particular non-avian dinosaurs): Campione et al. (in review); Anderson et al. (1985); Christiansen and Farina (2004); Campbell and Marcus (1992). 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.

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. Campbell Jr., K.E. and Marcus, L. (1992) The relationships of hindlimb bone dimensions to body weight in birds. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science Series, 36, 395-412. Campione, N. E., Evans, D. C., Brown, C. M. and Carrano, M. T. (in review) Body mass estimation in non-avian bipeds using a theoretical conversion to quadruped stylopodial proportions. Methods in Ecology and Evolution Christiansen, P. and Farina, R. A. (2004) Mass prediction in theropod dinosaurs. Historical Biology, 16, 85-92.