Fig. 3: Reconstructed food webs across the Triassic–Jurassic transition, model for the dinosaurs’ stepwise rise to dominance and key phases of dinosaur evolution in the Polish Basin.
From: Digestive contents and food webs record the advent of dinosaur supremacy
a, Food webs from the mid–late Carnian Krasiejów–Woźniki biota (bottom), the late Norian–earliest Rhaetian Lisowice–Marciszów biota (middle) and the earliest Hettangian Sołtyków–Hucisko biota (top). Black arrows indicate trophic relationships inferred from direct evidence of feeding (bromalites and bite marks). Grey dotted lines indicate trophic relationships inferred from indirect ecological evidence such as comparative anatomy and functional morphology. Vertebrate guilds: light brown, terrestrial top predators; orange, small to medium-sized terrestrial carnivores; brown, small insectivores; green, terrestrial herbivores; purple, near-shore piscivores; and light blue, pelagic carnivores. See Fig. 1 and Supplementary Table 2 for taxon identities. Floras (Supplementary Information) are exemplified by the following: I, Sphenopteris, Glyptolepis and Pterophyllum (Voltzia floral assemblage); II, Brachyphyllum, Podozamites and Lepidopteris (Brachyphyllum floral assemblage); and III, Komlopteris, Nilssonia and Podozamites (Thaumatopteris floral assemblage). b, Model for the stepwise rise of dinosaurs in the Polish Basin (north-central Pangaea) based on the trophic interactions in a and the two intermediate biotas Poręba–Kocury and Gromadzice–Rzuchów (the right column), and other data from the Polish Basin (main text, Extended Data Figs. 1–10 and Supplementary Information).
