AcknowledgEments

My doctoral advisor, H.-U. Pfretzschner of the IFGT, granted me the utmost liberty to pursue my research as I saw fit, and supported me at every step throughout the research presented here, earning my utmost gratitude. The late W.-E. Reif (IFGT) stepped in as main advisor at a critical time and did much to improve my project. B. Ludescher of the University Hospital Tübingen spent many long evenings CT scanning GPIT1, for which I will always be grateful. R. Schoch at the SMNS, W.-D. Heinrich, S. Scheffel. and L. Berner at the MFN earned my thanks by readily granting access to and helping in the handling of specimens in their care, sometimes at extremely short notice. Others too numerous to list aided my work with extensive discussions and helpful comments. K. Stevens (University of Oregon) and A. Christian (University of Flensburg) wrote helpful reviews, which improved the manuscript significantly, for which I am very grateful.

This is contribution number 79 to the Research Group 533 'Sauropod Biology' of the German Science Foundation.