Dietary reconstruction in vertebrates often relies on dental wear-based proxies. Although these proxies are widely applied, the contributions of physical and mechanical processes leading to meso- and microwear are still unclear. We tested their correlation using sheep (Ovis aries, n = 39) fed diets of varying abrasiveness for 17 months as a model. Volumetric crown tissue loss, mesowear change and dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) were all applied to the same teeth. We hereby correlate: (i) 46 DMTA parameters with each other, for the maxillary molars (M1, M2, M3), and the second mandibular molar (m2); (ii) 10 mesowear variables to each other and to DMTA for M1, M2, M3 and m2; and (iii) volumetric crown tissue loss to mesowear and DMTA for M2. As expected, many DMTA parameters correlated strongly with each other, supporting the application of reduced parameter sets in future studies. Correlation results showed only few DMTA parameters correlated with volumetric tissue change and even less so with mesowear variables, with no correlation between mesowear and volumetric tissue change. These findings caution against interpreting DMTA and mesowear patterns in terms of actual tissue removal until these dental wear processes can be better understood at microscopic and macroscopic levels.

脊椎动物的饮食重建通常依赖于基于牙齿磨损的代理。尽管这些代理被广泛应用，但导致细观和微磨损的物理和机械过程的贡献仍不清楚。我们使用绵羊 ( Ovis aries , n= 39) 作为模型喂养 17 个月不同磨蚀性的日粮。体积冠组织损失、细观磨损变化和牙齿微磨损纹理分析 (DMTA) 都应用于相同的牙齿。我们特此关联： (i) 上颌磨牙（M1、M2、M3）和下颌第二磨牙（m2）的 46 个 DMTA 参数；(ii) M1、M2、M3 和 m2 的 10 个相互间以及与 DMTA 的中间磨损变量；(iii) M2 的中层磨损和 DMTA 的体积冠组织损失。正如预期的那样，许多 DMTA 参数彼此密切相关，支持在未来研究中应用减少的参数集。相关性结果表明，只有少数 DMTA 参数与体积组织变化相关，与细观磨损变量的相关性更小，细观磨损和体积组织变化之间没有相关性。