New palaeoecological approaches to interpret climatic fluctuations in Holocene sites of the Pampean region of Argentina

The apparently regular and favourable climate that characterizes the Holocene as an interglacial period shows, however, important climatic instability well documented in the Northern Hemisphere. These fluctuations from colder to warmer or wetter to drier affected both biodiversity and human societies in the last 12,000 years, although the impact in Southern America is still poorly known. We are here investigating the biodiversity of small mammal faunas, more sensitive to climatic changes than large mammals, combining taphonomic and palaeoecological data in the Argentine Pampas to better understand the global nature and effect of these Holocene climatic fluctuations. This paper is pioneering…

Early Pliocene continental vertebrate fauna at Puerto de la Cadena (SE Spain) and its bearing on the marine-continental correlation of the Late Neogene of Eastern Betics

In this paper, we synthesize sedimentological, magnetostratigraphic and paleontological data from the continental vertebrate site of Puerto de la Cadena (Murcia, SE Spain), in order to clarify its age. The study site is located on the northern edge of the Carrascoy mountain range, in the upper part of the Cigarrón Unit. The end-Messinian discontinuity has been detected at the base of this unit, which indicates it has an early Pliocene age. Abundant remains of small and large vertebrates, including rodents, lagomorphs, primates, carnivorans, perissodactyls, artiodactyls, proboscideans, testudines, squamats, and crocodiles, have been found in this area. Some of these elements are of African o…

En el presente trabajo se estudian dos nuevos yacimientos descubiertos recientemente en el area de Crevillente (Alicante), los cuales han proporcionado restos de macromamiferos. Ambos afloramientos, denominados Crevillente 15 y Crevillente 16, se encuentran proximos entre si, y sus respectivas asociaciones fosiles son muy semejantes, indicando una edad Turoliense medio (MN12). Desde el punto de vista geologico, se ha precisado la posicion estratigrafica de las localidades con respecto a Crevillente 2, que es el yacimiento mas importante de los conocidos en esta area. Ademas, tambien se ha descrito la estratigrafia de detalle del tramo en que se encuentran los dos niveles estudiados. Por otr…

Une faune très diversifiée du Pléistocène inférieur de la Sierra de Quibas (province de Murcia, Espagne)

The Quaternary karstic site of Sierra de Quibas (Abanilla, province of Murcia, Spain) has provided a wide faunal list with more than 60 species. The assemblage of the taxa Arvicola deucalion, Castillomys rivas rivas, Eliomys intermedius, Equus altidens, Capra sp. aff. C. alba and cf. Praeovibos allows the correlation with other Spanish Lower Pleistocene sites in the Betic Cordillera, as Plines 1, Orce 3 and Venta Micena. Therefore Quibas can be located between 1.3 and 1.0 Ma. The palaeoenvironmental features of the area around the karstic cavity and the palaeoclimatic regime are inferred.

Identification problems of arid environments in the Neogene–Quaternary mammal record of Spain

Abstract In this work, we investigate if broadly used methodologies are adequate to detect periods of aridity based on the Spanish fossil record and try to infer which of them were more or less severe. Thus, we present a qualitative statistical approach to two popular palaeoecological methodologies: ecological diversity and cenograms. Discriminant models, derived from modern localities of known biome, determined the probable biomes of Neogene–Quaternary fossil assemblages. Principal component analyses (PCA) provided additional inference on their ordination within an aridity gradient. While models work adequately with modern faunas, the analyses of the palaeocommunities showed that their eco…