Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 278, Issue 1712, Pages 1742-1747Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1939
Keywords
phytolith; grit; abrasiveness; hypsodonty
Categories
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft' (DFG, German Research Foundation) [SU 124/16-1]
- DFG Research Unit [771]
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The circumstances of the evolution of hypsodonty (high-crowned teeth) are a bone of contention. Hypsodonty is usually linked to diet abrasiveness, either from siliceous phytoliths (monocotyledons) or from grit (dusty environments). However, any empirical quantitative approach testing the relation of ingested silica and hypsodonty is lacking. In this study, faecal silica content was quantified as acid detergent insoluble ash and used as proxy for silica ingested by large African herbivores of different digestive types, feeding strategies and hypsodonty levels. Separate sample sets were used for the dry (n = 15 species) and wet (n = 13 species) season. Average faecal silica contents were 17-46 g kg(-1) dry matter (DM) for browsing and 52-163 g kg(-1) DM for grazing herbivores. No difference was detected between the wet (97.5 +/- 14.4 g kg(-1) DM) and dry season (93.5 +/- 13.7 g kg(-1) DM) faecal silica. In a phylogenetically controlled analysis, a strong positive correlation (dry season r = 0.80, p < 0.0005; wet season r = 0.74, p < 0.005) was found between hypsodonty index and faecal silica levels. While surprisingly our results do not indicate major seasonal changes in silica ingested, the correlation of faecal silica and hypsodonty supports a scenario of a dominant role of abrasive silica in the evolution of high-crowned teeth.
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