ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2018
The pay-off of hypsodonty - timing and dynamics of crown growth and wear in molars of Soay sheep.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- You Should Look a Gift Ungulate in the Mouth: Using 2D Occlusal Cheek Tooth Morphology to Study the Evolution of Molarization in Ungulates.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal monitoring of hard tissue development reveals unknown features of tooth and bone development.Science advances · 2023Article
- Labelling experiments in red deer provide a general model for early bone growth dynamics in ruminants.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSeveral lineages of herbivorous mammals have evolved hypsodont cheek teeth to increase the functional lifespan of their dentition. While the selective drivers of this trend and the developmental processes involved have been studied in greater detail, thus far no quantitative information is available on the relationship between additional investment into tooth growth and the resulting extension of the functional period of these teeth. To achieve this, we performed a detailed analysis of molar crown growth in known-age Soay sheep repeatedly injected with different fluorochromes.
resultsOur study revealed that in sheep molars especially the formation of the crown base portion is prolonged in comparison with other herbivorous artiodactyl species. Our results demonstrate that growth of the crown base accounted for more than half of the total crown formation time (CFT) of the anterior lobes of the first (approx. 220 days of total CFT of 300 days), second (approx. 260 of 460 days) and third (approx. 300 of at least 520 days) molars, and that the formation of this crown portion occurred largely after the teeth had already reached functional occlusion. By combining data on wear-related changes in crown morphology from the literature with the reconstructed additional investment into the crown base portion, it was possible to relate this additional investment to a prolongation of the functional periods of the molars ranging from 4 years in the M
conclusionsOur results allow to establish a quantitative link between an additional investment into molar crown growth of sheep and the extension of the functional period of these teeth. The reported findings enable an assessment of the adaptive value, in terms of increased longevity, of an additional investment into crown elongation in a mammalian herbivore.
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