Yesterday's discussion was a successful one. The paper (cited below) described both the new and old means of determining dinosaur diet. These included morphological assessment (jaw mechanics, among others), finite element analysis, and tooth wear. The main thesis of the paper was that dinosaurs can be used to answer many macroevolutionary questions.
Our discussion focussed largely on the evolution of paleontological methods. The application of quantitative methods in paleontology is openning up new doors and generating new hypotheses. These methods are not limited to dietary analyses of dinosaurs. They have been applied in biomechanical studies of the post-crania, biogeographical studies, and in the illucidation of niche partitioning among co-existing taxa.
Another line of discussion concerned the importance of using the past to understand the present. In essence, the evolution of communities and ecosystems is shaped by their history and often constrained by it. An understanding of the evolution of the community/taxon you are studying can provide you with a deeper understanding and even determine some of the methods used to test hypotheses. It can also help in the prediction of future changes in the same group.
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