Data from: Controlled feeding experiments with diets of different abrasiveness reveal slow development of mesowear signal in goats (Capra aegagrus hircus)

Dental mesowear is applied as a proxy to determine the general diet of
mammalian herbivores based on tooth-cusp shape and occlusal relief. Low,
blunt cusps are considered typical for grazers and high, sharp cusps
typical for browsers. However, how internal or external abrasives impact
mesowear, and the time frame the wear signature takes to develop, still
need to be explored. Four different pelleted diets of increasing
abrasiveness (lucerne, grass, grass and rice husks, grass, rice husks and
sand) were fed to four groups of a total of 28 adult goats in a controlled
feeding experiment over a six-month period. Tooth morphology was captured
by medical CT scans at the beginning and end of the experiment. These
scans, as well as the crania obtained postmortem, were scored using the
mesowear method. Comparisons between diet groups only showed few
significant differences after six months, irrespective of whether CT scans
or the real teeth were scored. Only when assessing the difference in
signal between start and end did relevant, significant diet-specific
effects emerge. Diets containing lower phytolith content caused a more
pronounced change in mesowear towards sharper cusps/higher reliefs, while
the feed containing sand did not result in more extreme changes in
mesowear when compared to the same feed without sand. Our experiment
suggests that the formation of a stable and hence reliable mesowear signal
requires more time to develop than six months.