RT Journal Article
T1 Survival and long-term maintenance of tertiary trees in the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene: first record of Aesculus L. (Hippocastanaceae) in Spain
A1 Postigo Mijarra, José
A1 Gómez Manzaneque, Fernando
A1 Morla, Carlos
AB 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.
PB Springer
SN 0939-6314
YR 2007
FD 2007
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/96232
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/96232
LA eng
NO Postigo-Mijarra, J.Mª, Gómez Manzaneque, F. Morla, C., 2008. Survival and long-term maintenance of tertiary trees in the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene. First record of Aesculus L. (Hippocastanaceae) in Spain. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 17, 351–364.
NO AcknowledgmentsWe wish to dedicate this paper to our friend and colleague Javier Maldonado, a palaeobotanist on our team who passed away in August 2004. We also wish to thank Rafael Mora, Salvador Moyà and the Catalonia Regional Government.
NO Generalitat de Catalunya
DS Docta Complutense
RD 30 jul 2025