Modeling growth rates for sauropod dinosaurs

@inproceedings{Lehman2008ModelingGR,
  title={Modeling growth rates for sauropod dinosaurs},
  author={Thomas M. Lehman and Holly N Woodward},
  booktitle={Paleobiology},
  year={2008}
}
Abstract Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest terrestrial animals and their growth rates remain a subject of debate. By counting growth lines in histologic sections and relating bone length to body mass, it has been estimated that Apatosaurus attained its adult body mass of about 25,000 kg in as little as 15 years, with a maximum growth rate over 5000 kg/yr. This rate exceeds that projected for a precocial bird or eutherian mammal of comparable estimated body mass. An alternative method of… 
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77 Citations

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The bias in the growth coefficient of the von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) is calculated and it is shown that slight deviations in fixed L0 can cause considerable bias in growth estimates in the two-parameter VBGF while providing no benefit even when L0 matches the true value.
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