Dinosaur Size Distribution (Reproduction)

This is exercise builds on Size Estimates by Name.

You want reproduce the analysis determining the distribution of body masses was for dinosaurs originally performed by Gorman & Hone 2012. Gorman & Hone (2012) use femur length (FL; the length of the upper leg bone) to estimate mass based on a general power law equation Mass = a * FL ^ b and the parameters vary by group:

  • Ornithischia: a = 0.002 and b = 3.0587
  • Sauropodomorpha: a = 0.509 and b = 2.3459
  • Theropoda: a = 0.0007 and b = 3.1854

Download the data, estimate the mass of each species, and then make a histogram of these masses with a logarithmically scaled size axis to reproduce their Figure 2a.

This should be done in a maximally automated way. The equations listed above should only need be entered once and the code should automatically use the right set of parameters based on the Clade data to estimate the mass of each species.

Expected outputs for Dinosaur Size Distribution: 1