Matt Wedel – SpeedyLook encyclopedia

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Mathew John Wedel , PhD of the University of California, is an American paleontologist, who currently works as a teacher at the School of Natural Sciences of the UC Merced.

It has stood out in the discovery and description of Nourtopodomorphic Dinosaurs. The description of the brachiosaurid stands among them Sauroposeidon Proteles , probably the highest dinosaur, 18 meters high. Among the different areas of study on the Sauropodomorpha subordinate, Wedel has been a contribution in the analysis of the pneumatic properties of the bone system of these dinosaurs, and large thermals, such as Tyrannosaurus rex. Wedel studies have suggested that the volume of air infiltrated in the bones in these large dinosaurs, or pneumatization, could make them much lighter than they appear.

In the case of the thenopod dinosaurs, Wedel postulated that their respiratory systems were probably similar to those of birds, that is, their dynamics were based on airbags. Because the conservation or imprint of the soft tissue of the dinosaurs is rarely given, Wedel’s theory was based on the observation of the configuration of the bone system of dinosaurs, similar to that of birds. Since in birds these characteristics of the skeleton are related to the functionality of an airbag system, if similar patterns were presented in the skeleton, there was the probability that it would be due to the presence of similar respiratory organs. The empirical test of the Wedel postulate would be represented by the discovery of a the terápod specimen called Aerosteon riocoloradensis (“Air bones of the Colorado River”), by the paleontologist Paul Sereno, in 1996, during an expedition on the banks of the Colorado River, Argentina. This dinosaur, officially described on September 29, 2008, has the spongy structure of the bones, described by Wedel, as hollow bones in front and behind the rib Lung system, which turn around the body and enter the stomach ribs. A different system from birds in their anatomy, but very similar in their physiology.

Three theories are currently proposed, from the principles proposed by Wedel, to explain the evolution of the sacks of air in the thermopod dinosaurs: the development of a more efficient lung, the reduction of the upper body mass for two -legged running creatures and the Excessive body heat release.

Some publications by Matthew John Wedel [ To edit ]

  • Wedel, M. J. 2007. Lighting the giants (Lighting the Giants). Fundamental! 12: 1-84. [In Spanish, with English translation
  • Wedel, M. J. 2007. What pneumaticity tells us about ‘prosauropods’, and vice versa. Special Papers in Palaeontology 77:207-222
  • Wedel, M.J. 2006. Origin of postcranial skeletal pneumaticity in dinosaurs. Integrative Zoology 2:80-85
  • Wedel, M.J. 2005. Postcranial skeletal pneumaticity in sauropods and its implications for mass estimates; pp. 201-228 in Wilson, J.A., and Curry-Rogers, K. (eds.), The Sauropods: Evolution and Paleobiology. University of California Press, Berkeley
  • Wedel, M.J., and Cifelli, R.L. 2005. Sauroposeidon: Oklahoma’s native giant. Oklahoma Geology Notes 65(2):40-57
  • Bonnan, M.F., and Wedel, M.J. 2004. First occurrence of Brachiosaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Oklahoma. PaleoBios 24(2):13-21
  • Wedel, M.J. 2003b. The evolution of vertebral pneumaticity in sauropod dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(2):344-357
  • Wedel, M.J. 2003a. Vertebral pneumaticity, air sacs, and the physiology of sauropod dinosaurs. Paleobiology 29(2):243-255
  • Wedel, M.J., and Sanders, R.K. 2002. Osteological correlates of cervical musculature in Aves and Sauropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia), with comments on the cervical ribs of Apatosaurus. PaleoBios 22(3):1-6
  • Wedel, M.J., Cifelli, R.L., and Sanders, R.K. 2000b. Osteology, paleobiology, and relationships of the sauropod dinosaur Sauroposeidon. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 45(4):343-388
  • Wedel, M.J., Cifelli, R.L., and Sanders, R.K. 2000a. Sauroposeidon proteles, a new sauropod from the Early Cretaceous of Oklahoma. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(1):109- 114

external links [ To edit ]

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