Mesowear is a method, used in different branches and fields of

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. This method can apply to both

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

and

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

animals, according to the scope of the study. Mesowear is based on studying an animal's tooth wearing fingerprint. In brief, each animal has special feeding habits, which cause unique tooth wearing. Rough feeds cause serious tooth abrasion, while smooth one triggers moderate abrasion, so browsers have teeth with moderate abrasion and grazers have teeth with rough abrasion. Scoring systems can quantify tooth abrasion observations and ease comparisons between individuals.

Mesowear definition

The mesowear method or tooth wear scoring method is a quick and inexpensive process of determining the lifelong

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

of a taxon (

grazer Grazer may refer to: *grazer, an animal that grazes *Grazer, a native or inhabitant of Graz *GRAZER, the shoegaze band GRAZER Astronomy * Earth Grazer, Earth-grazing fireball that enters the Earth's atmosphere and leaves again * Mercury grazer, ...

or browser) and was first introduced in the year 2000. The mesowear technique can be extended to

and also

animals. Mesowear analyses require large sample populations (>20), which can be problematic for some localities, but the method yields an accurate depiction of an animal's average lifelong diet. Mesowear analysis is based on the physical properties of

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...

foods as reflected in the relative amounts of attritive and

abrasive An abrasive is a material, often a mineral, that is used to shape or finish a workpiece through rubbing which leads to part of the workpiece being worn away by friction. While finishing a material often means polishing it to gain a smooth, reflec ...

wear that they cause on the dental enamel of the occlusal surfaces. Mesowear was recorded by examining the buccal apices of

molar tooth The molars or molar teeth are large, flat teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammals. They are used primarily to grind food during chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, ''molaris dens'', meaning "millstone to ...

cusps. Apices were characterized as sharp, rounded, or blunt, and the valleys between them either high or low. The method has been developed only for

selenodont Selenodont teeth are the type of molars and premolars commonly found in ruminant herbivores. They are characterized by low crowns, and crescent-shaped cusps when viewed from above (crown view). The term comes from the Ancient Greek roots (, ' ...

and trilophodont molars, but the principle is readily extendable to other crown types. In collecting the data the teeth are inspected at close range, a hand lens will be used. Mesowear analysis is insensitive to wear stage as long as the very early and very late stages are excluded. Mesowear

analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

follows

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

protocols Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

. Specimens are digitally photographed in

labial The term ''labial'' originates from '' Labium'' (Latin for "lip"), and is the adjective that describes anything of or related to lips, such as lip-like structures. Thus, it may refer to: * the lips ** In linguistics, a labial consonant ** In zoolog ...

view so that cusp shape and occlusal

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

can be scored. this method helps zoologists and nutritionists to prepare proper kind of hay for captive

feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...

herbivores A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

with unknown feed habits in zoos. In collecting the data the teeth are inspected at close range, using a hand lens. Gravity toward lower teeth causes more abrasion on lower teeth than upper teeth. This fact is base of mesowear method

Shape definition

sharp: A sharp cusp terminates to a point and has practically no rounded area between the mesial and distal phase I facets, Round: a rounded cusp has a distinctly rounded tip (apex) without planar facet wear but retains facets on the lower slopes. Blunt: blunt cusp lacks distinct facets altogether.Kaiser. T.M. 2003
Extending the tooth mesowear method to extinct and extant equids"
Image:MESOWEAR1.png, mesowear variate Image:Mesowearshape.png, mesowear shape

Terminology

The

attrition Attrition may refer to *Attrition warfare, the military strategy of wearing down the enemy by continual losses in personnel and material **War of Attrition, fought between Egypt and Israel from 1968 to 1970 **War of attrition (game), a model of agg ...

: this kind of dental wearing is as a result of rubbing tooth to tooth and no external forces cause this enamel abrasion.usually browsers feed contains less food abrasive materials( such as

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

because of feed selecting behavior in this animals so wearing type of browser ungulates will be this type in most cases. The abrasion: rubbing food to tooth triggers this kind of tooth wearing more visible for grazer animals than browsers.

References

{{reflist

External links

Mesowear Equilibrium in Zoo Animals

Tooth wear as a tool of reconstructing diet in fossil ungulates

EMD - Equus Mesowear Datenbase

Biological techniques and tools Dental anatomy Ecology Evolutionary biology