Hi all, this is the repo for AFEC-2022 mini project. Members include Pratibha, Ying & Jiangyue, and our work is under Kyle's supervision.
Our work is mainly about filling the gap of previous research on the reason of significant positive relationship between skull morphology (specifically feeding morphology, i.e. skull morphology related with feeding, muzzle width and masseteric fossa) of grazers in Bovidae & Cervidae and aridity index.
We consider foraging grass traits as driven factor of above trend, and raised 2 hypothesis and corresponding predictions:
H1: Feeding morphology changes because of variation of grass consumption trait within diet.
P1: If feeding morphology varies among grazers, then grazers eating tougher grass will have bigger masseteric fossa, and grazers eating shorter grass will have smaller muzzle width.
H2: Grass consumption traits vary along aridity index because of water availability.
P2: If consumption traits rely on water availability, then in drier area, grass get smaller (shorter) and tougher (harder, more cellulose)
We use all existing unpublished data or secondary data for analysis. Please check here for method&results in hypothesis1, and here for hypothesis 2.