Estudio de los macrorrestos vegetales del yacimiento de Lomilla (Aguilar de Campoo, Palencia, España)

The discovery of a site with abundant fossil plant remains in the surroundings of Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia, Spain), dated in the early Holocene, allowed us to obtain new data on the composition of foreste in that área. Two species of Pinus and several broadleaved trees have been identified. A wider distribution than the current one for some of these taxa has been confirmed. The ecological requirements of these species today allow the probable Palaeoecological conditions during the Holocene to be established.El hallazgo en las cercanías de Aguilar de Campoo (Patencia, España) de un yacimiento con abundante material vegetal fósil (maderas, cortezas, frutos), datado en el primer tercio del Holoceno, ha permitido obtener datos de interés acerca de la composición de la vegetación forestal en el área. Se han identificado dos especies del género Pinus y varias frondosas arbóreas. Se ha observado un área de distribución más extensa que la actual para varios de estos táxones. Los requerimientos ecológicos de los táxones encontrados en este yacimiento permiten establecer algunas de las características paleoambientales que probablemente tuvo este territorio durante el período considerado

Survival and long-term maintenance of tertiary trees in the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene. First record of Aesculus L.

The Italian and Balkan peninsulas have been places traditionally highlighted as Pleistocene glacial refuges. The Iberian Peninsula, however, has been a focus of controversy between geobotanists and palaeobotanists as a result of its exclusion from this category on different occasions. In the current paper, we synthesise geological, molecular, palaeobotanical and geobotanical data that show the importance of the Iberian Peninsula in the Western Mediterranean as a refugium area. The presence of Aesculus aff. hippocastanum L. at the Iberian site at Cal Guardiola (Tarrasa, Barcelona, NE Spain) in the Lower– Middle Pleistocene transition helps to consolidate the remarkable role of the Iberian Peninsula in the survival of tertiary species during the Pleistocene. The palaeodistribution of the genus in Europe highlights a model of area abandonment for a widely-distributed species in the Miocene and Pliocene, leading to a diminished and fragmentary presence in the Pleistocene and Holocene on the southern Mediterranean peninsulas. Aesculus fossils are not uncommon within the series of Tertiary taxa. Many appear in the Pliocene and suffer a radical impoverishment in the Lower–Middle Pleistocene transition. Nonetheless some of these tertiary taxa persisted throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene up to the present in the Iberian Peninsula. Locating these refuge areas on the Peninsula is not an easy task, although areas characterised by a sustained level of humidity must have played an predominant role

Contribución al conocimiento de la vegetación pleistocena de la Península Ibérica estudio paleobotánico de macrorrestos vegetales fósiles

Tesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología. Fecha de lectura: 26-09-200

Survival and long-term maintenance of tertiary trees in the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene: first record of Aesculus L. (Hippocastanaceae) in Spain

Abstract The Italian and Balkan peninsulas have been places traditionally highlighted as Pleistocene glacial refuges. The Iberian Peninsula, however, has been a focus of controversy between geobotanists and palaeobotanists as a result of its exclusion from this category on different occasions. In the current paper, we synthesise geological, molecular, palaeobotanical and geobotanical data that show the importance of the Iberian Peninsula in the Western Mediterranean as a refugium area. The presence of Aesculus aff. hippocastanum L. at the Iberian site at Cal Guardiola (Tarrasa, Barcelona, NE Spain) in the LowerMiddle Pleistocene transition helps to consolidate the remarkable role of the Iberian Peninsula in the survival of tertiary species during the Pleistocene. The palaeodistribution of the genus in Europe highlights a model of area abandonment for a widely-distributed species in the Miocene and Pliocene, leading to a diminished and fragmentary presence in the Pleistocene and Holocene on the southern Mediterranean peninsulas. Aesculus fossils are not uncommon within the series of Tertiary taxa. Many appear in the Pliocene and suffer a radical impoverishment in the Lower-Middle Pleistocene transition. Nonetheless some of these tertiary taxa persisted throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene up to the present in the Iberian Peninsula. Locating these refuge areas on the Peninsula is not an easy task, although areas characterised by a sustained level of humidity must have played an predominant role

Occurrence of continuous Holocene pinewoods (Pinus sylvestris L.) in the Eastern Central System (Spain) inferred from macroremains. New data from the Sandria site

The present study of plant macroremains, wood fragments and pine cones from the eastern Central System (Ayllón Massif) for the upper Holocene establishes the presence in the area of Pinus sylvestris, Juniperus sp. and Betula sp. The occurrence of the Scots pine between ca. 4000 and 2000 yr BP allows us to confirm the natural origin of the species in the area at an altitude of 1350 m asl, a fact that clashes with numerous former phytosociological interpretations and which highlights the relevance of the current pine forests, as well as the need to include them within some status of legal protection. Furthermore, for the first time on the Iberian Peninsula, and considering the nearby Valdojos site, we employ only macroremains to demonstrate the presence of a pine forest practically throughout the Holocene, thus evidencing maximum conditions of stability and resilience for this type of plant community. As occurs with other vegetal formations identified by means of pollen analysis, this forest could have undergone radical alterations only in recent historical times as a result of anthropic action, as appears to be indicated by the evolution of the sedimentary basin of the Sandria valley.Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y EvoluciónFac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEpu

Estudio de los macrorrestos vegetales del yacimiento de Lomilla (Aguilar de Campoo, Palencia, España)

The discovery of a site with abundant fossil plant remains in the surroundings of Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia, Spain), dated in the early Holocene, allowed us to obtain new data on the composition of foreste in that área. Two species of <i>Pinus</i> and several broadleaved trees have been identified. A wider distribution than the current one for some of these taxa has been confirmed. The ecological requirements of these species today allow the probable Palaeoecological conditions during the Holocene to be established.<br><br>El hallazgo en las cercanías de Aguilar de Campoo (Patencia, España) de un yacimiento con abundante material vegetal fósil (maderas, cortezas, frutos), datado en el primer tercio del Holoceno, ha permitido obtener datos de interés acerca de la composición de la vegetación forestal en el área. Se han identificado dos especies del género <i>Pinus</i> y varias frondosas arbóreas. Se ha observado un área de distribución más extensa que la actual para varios de estos táxones. Los requerimientos ecológicos de los táxones encontrados en este yacimiento permiten establecer algunas de las características paleoambientales que probablemente tuvo este territorio durante el período considerado