Dental microwear texture (DMT) analysis is used to differentiate abrasive
dental wear patterns in many species fed different diets. Because DMT
parameters all describe the same surface, they are expected to correlate with
each other distinctively. Here, we explore the data range of, and correlations
between, DMT parameters to increase the understanding of how this group
of proxies records wear within and across species. The analysis was based
on subsets of previously published DMT analyses in guinea pigs, sheep,
and rabbits fed either a natural whole plant diet (lucerne, grass, bamboo)
or pelleted diets with or without added quartz abrasives (guinea pigs and
rabbits: up to 45 days, sheep: 17 months). The normalized DMT parameter
range (P4: 0.69 0.25; M2: 0.83 0.16) and correlation coefficients (P4:
0.50 0.31; M2: 0.63 0.31) increased along the tooth row in guinea pigs,
suggesting that strong correlations may be partially explained by data range.
A comparison between sheep and guinea pigs revealed a higher DMT data
range in sheep (0.93 0.16; guinea pigs: 0.47 0.29), but this did not
translate into more substantial correlation coefficients (sheep: 0.35 0.28;
guinea pigs: 0.55 0.32). Adding rabbits to an interspecies comparison of
low abrasive dental wear (pelleted lucerne diet), the softer enamel of the
hypselodont species showed a smaller data range for DMT parameters (guinea
pigs 0.49 0.32, rabbit 0.19 0.18, sheep 0.78 0.22) but again slightly
higher correlations coefficients compared to the hypsodont teeth (guinea pigs 0.55 0.31, rabbits 0.56 0.30, sheep 0.42 0.27). The findings suggest
that the softer enamel of fast-replaced ever-growing hypselodont cheek teeth
shows a greater inherent wear trace consistency, whereas the harder enamel
of permanent and non-replaced enamel of hypsodont ruminant teeth records
less coherent wear patterns. Because consistent diets were used across taxa,
this effect cannot be ascribed to the random overwriting of individual wear
traces on the more durable hypsodont teeth. This matches literature reports
on reduced DMT pattern consistency on harder materials; possibly, individual
wear events become more random in nature on harder material. Given the
species-specific differences in enamel characteristics, the findings suggest a
certain species-specificity of DMT patterns.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:88330 |
| Date | 28 November 2023 |
| Creators | Martin, Louise Francoise, Winkler, Daniela Eileen, Ackermans, Nicole Lauren, Müller, Jaqueline, Tütken, Thomas, Kaiser, Thomas, Codron, Daryl, Schulz-Kornas, Ellen, Hatt, Jean-Michel, Clauss, Marcus |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 958576 |
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