How did dinosaurs get so big?

[Itoero]

How did dinosaurs get so big? especially the sauropods...

Can it be related to a high % CO2 in the atmosphere?

-CO2 causes plants to grow bigger...this implies more food for dinosaurs which enables size-growth.

[koti]

6 minutes ago, Itoero said:

How did dinosaurs get so big? especially the sauropods...

Can it be related to a high % CO2 in the atmosphere?

-CO2 causes plants to grow bigger...this implies more food for dinosaurs which enables size-growth.

Most probably a combination of a few factors - Lots of vegatation and high temperatures fueled their big size because there was a surplus of food available, their cold blodness was most likely a factor too and an evolutionary race towards size for self defense probably played a role as well.

[dimreepr]

1 minute ago, Itoero said:

How did dinosaurs get so big? especially the sauropods...

Can it be related to a high % CO2 in the atmosphere?

-CO2 causes plants to grow bigger...this implies more food for dinosaurs which enables size-growth.

 

It's probably more to do with the predator-prey relationship, the giraffe didn't grow tall because of more food.

 

[DrP]

It (the giraffe) grew tall to reach the food that other animals couldn't I suspect - that would be more to do with a shortage of food. The sauropods probably grew so big because it gave them a better chance of surviving against the big predators as well as the reasons koti listed.  

I have some sauropod bones   -  the limb bones were solid for extra strength, where as the vertebrae were honeycombed like other dinosaur bones. 

[Itoero]

3 hours ago, dimreepr said:

 

It's probably more to do with the predator-prey relationship, the giraffe didn't grow tall because of more food.

 

A giraffe has a long neck but it's not a heavy animal. They are only 1000kg on average,

Argentinosaurus was one of the biggest sauropods they found and he was estimated at 80.000 kg.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentinosaurus#Size

 

 

[SamCogar]

4 hours ago, Itoero said:

How did dinosaurs get so big? especially the sauropods...

Can it be related to a high % CO2 in the atmosphere?

 

“Yes”, absolutely it can, Itoero, and it is also MLO that the “rise n’ fall” of the dinosaurs, their extreme growth sizes and their long existence on earth is/was directly associated with the Average Global Temperatures and the Average Atmospheric CO2 ppm during the per se “Age of the Dinosaurs”, from 252 mya to 65 mya.  

 

As the atmospheric CO2 increased up to 2,000 ppm by 248 mya, the growth in vegetation follow suite, as did the size and numbers of plant eating dinosaurs (sauropods @ 225 mya) , which in turn “trigger” the growth in size and numbers of meat eating dinosaurs.

 

 And then around 170 mya the atmospheric CO2 had increased up to about 2,800 ppm before it began a steady decline to around 500 ppm @ 65 mya. And as the CO2 declined between 170 mya and 65 mya, so did the growth of plants. And said decrease in plant growth “triggered” a die-off of the plant eating dinosaurs ….. and as the plant eaters died-off, …. so did the meat eating dinosaurs, ……. and thus the “Age of the Dinosaurs” came to an end around 65 mya.

 

And it was a “slow” die-off that occurred over 80+- mya, …… and not a “sudden” die-off as a result of an asteroid collision of the earth’s surface.

 

To wit, a graphical representation of CO2 and temperatures proxies:

 

Global Temperatures and Atmospheric CO2 over Geologic Time

https://i.stack.imgur.com/HxERL.png  

[Moontanman]

As mentioned by DrP dinosaurs had hollow bone structures that also cut down on weight vs size as well as avian like respiratory systems that allowed them use the oxygen in air more effectively.  

Dinosaurs are very bird like although it's probably more proper to say birds are very dinosaur like. Some dinosaurs were endotherms, the theropods especially, but even the sauropods were endotherms or gigantotherms. 

Dinosaurs took away the top spot from mammals and suppressed mammals for 150 million years or so. They were magnificent beasts that used the resources of their habitat very effectively. 

31 minutes ago, SamCogar said:

 

“Yes”, absolutely it can, Itoero, and it is also MLO that the “rise n’ fall” of the dinosaurs, their extreme growth sizes and their long existence on earth is/was directly associated with the Average Global Temperatures and the Average Atmospheric CO2 ppm during the per se “Age of the Dinosaurs”, from 252 mya to 65 mya.  

 

As the atmospheric CO2 increased up to 2,000 ppm by 248 mya, the growth in vegetation follow suite, as did the size and numbers of plant eating dinosaurs (sauropods @ 225 mya) , which in turn “trigger” the growth in size and numbers of meat eating dinosaurs.

 

 And then around 170 mya the atmospheric CO2 had increased up to about 2,800 ppm before it began a steady decline to around 500 ppm @ 65 mya. And as the CO2 declined between 170 mya and 65 mya, so did the growth of plants. And said decrease in plant growth “triggered” a die-off of the plant eating dinosaurs ….. and as the plant eaters died-off, …. so did the meat eating dinosaurs, ……. and thus the “Age of the Dinosaurs” came to an end around 65 mya.

 

And it was a “slow” die-off that occurred over 80+- mya, …… and not a “sudden” die-off as a result of an asteroid collision of the earth’s surface.

 

To wit, a graphical representation of CO2 and temperatures proxies:

 

Global Temperatures and Atmospheric CO2 over Geologic Time

https://i.stack.imgur.com/HxERL.png  

No, in fact you are using the data to support a conclusion that has been falsified, dinosaurs had their ups and downs but they always bounced back but the data that seems to suggest that dinosaurs were dying out has been falsified, it took two concurrent environmental disasters to bring them down, at least one asteroid impact and flood lava flows on nearly opposite sides of the glob did them in.  

[Bender]

7 hours ago, koti said:

their cold blodness was most likely a factor too

Not really. There are many arguments why dinosaurs could very well have been warm blooded to varying degrees. While the argument is still going on, it is almost certainly true for the sauropods, which had their size to stabilise their temperature.