Late Holocene Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Miller) woodlands in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean): Investigation of their distribution and the role of human management based on anthracological, dendro-anthracological and archaeopalynological data

Phyto-archaeological data based on macro-remains studies, especially prehistoric charcoal, provide evidence concerning the changes in western Mediterranean vegetation during the last millennia. Comparisons are based on present vegetation levels as defined by Ozenda. From the last glacial period to the present time, differences between warm and cool vegetation were of about 8 °C in the south of France but less extreme in more southern regions. The late Pleistocene and early Holocene (Late Palaeolithic and part of Mesolithic) were a period of transition with pines and junipers. Then, the late Mesolithic and the early Neolithic are typically periods of good forestation. During the Neolithic period deciduous and holm oaks had a role of varying importance in all the present Mediterranean levels (thermomeso- and supramediterranean). Man’s influence on the vegetation became significant in the middle Neolithic (south of France) or earlier (south of Spain) and may be characterized by plants such as Buxus sempervirens, Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis and heaths. The Chalcolithic, the Roman period and the Middle Ages are also periods during which Man’s influence was important.

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Tree ring to climate relationships of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.) in Greece

Ecologia mediterranea ◽

10.3406/ecmed.2001.1908 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 89-98 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Andreas Papadopoulos ◽

Françoise Serre-Bachet ◽

Lucien Tessier

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

Pinus Halepensis ◽

Aleppo Pine

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A captorhinid-dominated assemblage from the palaeoequatorial Permian of Menorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean)

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ◽

10.1017/s1755691021000268 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Rafel MATAMALES-ANDREU ◽

Francesc X. ROIG-MUNAR ◽

Oriol OMS ◽

Àngel GALOBART ◽

Josep FORTUNY

Keyword(s):

Western Mediterranean ◽

Balearic Islands ◽

Distribution Area ◽

Lower Permian ◽

Incertae Sedis ◽

The North ◽

Low Latitudes ◽

High Fibre ◽

Successful Group ◽

Neighbouring Island

ABSTRACT Moradisaurine captorhinid eureptiles were a successful group of high-fibre herbivores that lived in the arid low latitudes of Pangaea during the Permian. Here we describe a palaeoassemblage from the Permian of Menorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean), consisting of ichnites of small captorhinomorph eureptiles, probably moradisaurines (Hyloidichnus), and parareptiles (cf. Erpetopus), and bones of two different taxa of moradisaurines. The smallest of the two is not diagnostic beyond Moradisaurinae incertae sedis. The largest one, on the other hand, shows characters that are not present in any other known species of moradisaurine (densely ornamented maxillar teeth), and it is therefore described as Balearosaurus bombardensis gen. et sp. nov. Other remains found in the same outcrop are identified as cf. Balearosaurus bombardensis gen. et sp. nov., as they could also belong to the newly described taxon. This species is sister to the moradisaurine from the lower Permian of the neighbouring island of Mallorca, and is also closely related to the North American genus Rothianiscus. This makes it possible to suggest the hypothesis that the Variscan mountains, which separated North America from southern Europe during the Permian, were not a very important palaeobiogeographical barrier to the dispersion of moradisaurines. In fact, mapping all moradisaurine occurrences known so far, it is shown that their distribution area encompassed both sides of the Variscan mountains, essentially being restricted to the arid belt of palaeoequatorial Pangaea, where they probably outcompeted other herbivorous clades until they died out in the late Permian.

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Mid- and late Holocene fluvial dynamics in the tropical Guapi-Macacu catchment, Southeast Brazil: The role of climate change and human impact

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology ◽

10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.03.015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 426 ◽

pp. 308-318 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

André Kirchner ◽

Udo Nehren ◽

Hermann Behling ◽

Jürgen Heinrich

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Impact ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Southeast Brazil ◽

Fluvial Dynamics

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When Density Matters: The Spatial Balance between Early and Latewood

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12070818 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 818

Author(s):

Maria Royo-Navascues ◽

Edurne Martinez del Castillo ◽

Roberto Serrano-Notivoli ◽

Ernesto Tejedor ◽

Klemen Novak ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Distribution ◽

Pinus Halepensis ◽

Environmental Gradients ◽

Temporal Variations ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Growth Patterns ◽

Distribution Area ◽

Mediterranean Forests ◽

Climatic Influence

Understanding the influence of the current climate on the distribution, composition, and carbon storage capacity of Mediterranean tree species is key to determining future pathways under a warmer and drier climate scenario. Here, we evaluated the influence of biotic and environmental factors on earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) growth in Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.). Our investigation was based on a dense dendrochronological network (71 sites), which covered the entire distribution area of the species in the Iberian Peninsula (around 119.652 km2), and a high-resolution climate dataset of the Western Mediterranean area. We used generalized linear-mixed models to determine the spatial and temporal variations of EW and LW across the species distribution. Our results showed an intense but differentiated climatic influence on both EW and LW growth components. The climatic influence explained significant variations across the environmental gradients in the study area, which suggested an important adaptation through phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation to varying climatic conditions. In addition, we detected a clear spatial trade-off between efficiency and safety strategy in the growth patterns across the species distribution. Additionally, in more productive areas, the trees presented a higher proportion of EW (more efficient to water transport), while, in more xeric conditions, the LW proportion increased (more safety to avoid embolisms), implying an adaptation to more frequent drought episodes and a higher capacity of carbon depletion. We therefore concluded that Mediterranean forests adapted to dryer conditions might be more efficient as carbon reservoirs than forests growing in wetter areas. Finally, we advocated for the need to consider wood density (EW/LW proportion) when modeling current and future forest carbon sequestrations.

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