Using Dental Mesowear and Microwear for Dietary Inference: A Review of Current Techniques and Applications

Green, Jeremy L.; Croft, Darin A.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-94265-0_5

Cited by 28 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…Tooth wear can be measured on different physiological scales, from the microscopic (2D microwear (Walker, Hoeck & Perez, 1978) and 3D dental microwear texture analysis (Schulz, Calandra & Kaiser, 2013a;Calandra & Merceron, 2016;DeSantis, 2016;Green & Croft, 2018)) to the macroscopic (mesowear, absolute wear Ackermans et al, 2019)), informing us about a specimens', and by definition, a species' diet. Within tooth wear, attrition to the tooth's enamel surface caused by tooth-on tooth contact is generally the main cause of wear in animals with a browsing diet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aim of this review was to therefore create a body of reference with precise definitions and short explanations for each variation of the mesowear technique, to facilitate future application. An overview of current dental wear techniques exists (Green & Croft, 2018), but the current study provides a more detailed and widely understandable overview of the history and progression of the mesowear technique in particular. For this purpose, Table 1 lists all major amendments to the original mesowear technique-including the various versions of mesowear I, II and III-along with a short description and the scoring system used, thus hoping to ease comprehension of the available techniques and promote comparability of studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The history of mesowear: a review

Ackermans¹

2020

PeerJ

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Published mesowear data was reviewed from the year 2000 to November 2019 (211 publications, 707 species, 1,396 data points). Mesowear is a widely applied tooth wear technique that can be used to infer a herbivore’s diet by scoring the height and sharpness of molar tooth cusps with the naked eye. Established as a fast and efficient tool for paleodiet reconstruction, the technique has seen multiple adaptations, simplifications, and extensions since its establishment, which have become complex to follow. The present study reviews all successive changes and adaptations to the mesowear technique in detail, providing a template for the application of each technique to the research question at hand. In addition, the array of species to which mesowear has been applied, along with the equivalent recorded diets have been compiled here in a large dataset. This review provides an insight into the metrics related to mesowear publication since its establishment. The large dataset overviews whether the species to which the various techniques of mesowear are applied are extant or extinct, their phylogenetic classification, their assigned diets and diet stability between studies, as a resource for future research on the topic.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of mesowear: a review

Ackermans¹

2020

PeerJ

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“…Dental microwear analyses have become a standard part of paleodietary reconstruction (see Calandra & Merceron, ; DeSantis, ; Green & Croft, ; Grine, Sponheimer, Ungar, Lee‐Thorp, & Teaford, ; Teaford, ; Ungar & Sponheimer, ; Ungar, Scott, Scott, & Teaford, ; for reviews). Many microwear‐based dietary reconstructions are ultimately based on correlations between patterns of dental microwear in extant taxa and published differences in diet for those taxa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dental microwear of hard‐object feeding in laboratory Sapajus apella and its implications for dental microwear formation

Teaford

Ungar

Taylor

et al. 2020

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: This study seeks to determine if (a) consumption of hard food items or a mixture of food items leads to the formation of premolar or molar microwear in laboratory capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) in one feeding session and (b) rates of microwear formation are associated with the number of food items consumed.Materials and methods: Five adult male capuchins were used in two experiments, one where they were fed unshelled Brazil nuts, and the other where they were fed a mixture of food items. Dental impressions were taken before and after each feeding session. Epoxy casts made from those impressions then were used in SEM analyses of rates of microwear formation. Upper and lower premolars and molars were analyzed. Qualitative comparisons were made and Spearman's rank-order correlations used to examine the relationship between rates of microwear formation and number of Brazil nuts consumed.Results: Premolars and molars generally showed new microwear in the form of pits and scratches. However, the incidence of those features was low (0-6%). Rates of microwear formation were highest during the consumption of Brazil nuts.Discussion: Variations in the rate of microwear formation on the premolars likely reflected patterns of ingestion whereas consistency in the rate of microwear on the molars likely reflected patterns of chewing. While dental microwear formation seemed to be correlated with the number of hard objects consumed, rates did differ between individuals. Differences in results between the two experiments demonstrate some of the limitations in our knowledge of dental microwear formation.

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“…Tooth wear can be measured on different physiological scales, from the microscopic (2D microwear (Walker et al, 1978) and 3D dental microwear texture analysis (Schulz et al, 2013a;Calandra and Merceron, 2016;DeSantis, 2016;Green and Croft, 2018)) to the macroscopic (mesowear, absolute wear (Fortelius and Solounias, 2000;Ackermans et al, 2019)), informing us about a specimens', and by definition, a species' diet. Within tooth wear, attrition to the tooth's enamel surface caused by tooth-on tooth contact is generally the main cause of wear in animals with a browsing diet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aim of this review was to therefore create a body of reference with precise definitions and short explanations for each variation of the mesowear technique, to facilitate future applications. An overview of current dental wear techniques exists (Green and Croft, 2018), but the current study provides a more detailed and widely understandable overview of the history and progression of the mesowear technique in particular. For this purpose, Table 1 lists all major amendments to the original mesowear technique -including the various versions of mesowear I, II and III -along with a short description and the scoring system used, thus hoping to ease comprehension of the available techniques and promote comparability of studies..…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #1 of "The history of mesowear: a review (v0.1)"

Rivals¹

2020

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(211 publications, 707 species, 1396 data points). Mesowear is a widely applied tooth wear technique that can be used to infer a herbivore's diet by scoring the height and sharpness of molar tooth cusps with the naked eye. Established as a fast and efficient tool for paleodiet reconstruction, the technique has seen multiple adaptations, simplifications, and extensions since its establishment, which have become complex to follow. The present study reviews all successive changes and adaptations to the mesowear technique in detail, providing a template for the application of each technique to the research question at hand. In addition, the array of species to which mesowear has been applied, along with the equivalent recorded diets have been compiled here in a large dataset. This review provides an insight into the metrics related to mesowear publication since its establishment. The large dataset overviews whether the species to which the various techniques of mesowear are applied are extant or extinct, their phylogenetic classification, their assigned diets and diet stability between studies, as a resource for future research on the topic.

show abstract

Using Dental Mesowear and Microwear for Dietary Inference: A Review of Current Techniques and Applications

Cited by 28 publications

References 112 publications

The history of mesowear: a review

The history of mesowear: a review

The dental microwear of hard‐object feeding in laboratory Sapajus apella and its implications for dental microwear formation

Peer Review #1 of "The history of mesowear: a review (v0.1)"

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