Biogeographic provincialism in rodent faunas from the Iberoccitanian Region (southwestern Europe) generates severe diachrony within the Mammalian Neogene (MN) biochronologic scale during the Late Miocene

In order to develop paleoecological studies involving many fossil sites, there is a need to establish a consistent time framework, which enables us to arrange the fossil associations according to a sequence of biotic events and subsequently to test a relationship with paleoenvironmental changes. The...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gómez Cano, Ana Rosa, Hernández Fernández, Manuel, Álvarez Sierra, María De Los Ángeles
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/44280
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44280
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:569
Biochronology
Diachrony
Maximum Likelihood Appearance
Event
Ordination
Rodentia
Vallesian
Turolian
Paleontología
2416 Paleontología
Descripción
Sumario:In order to develop paleoecological studies involving many fossil sites, there is a need to establish a consistent time framework, which enables us to arrange the fossil associations according to a sequence of biotic events and subsequently to test a relationship with paleoenvironmental changes. The nature of the continental fossil record has given rise to much controversy with regard to the establishment of general biostratigraphical scales. Additionally, biochronological scales are sometimes all that can be proposed. The primary goal of the present paper is to present a time arrangement for the Iberoccitanian micromammalian fossil sites from the latest Middle Miocene to the Mio–Pliocene boundary, spanning around 7 million years (approximately 12.61– 4.95 Ma). Herein we study over one hundred faunal lists of rodents from the Iberoccitanian Region, compiled from the literature. Previous research has described two biogeographical provinces in our study area: a northern one (Vallès–Penedès and southeast France) and a southern one (all the Iberian basins, except the Vallès–Penedès). We therefore conducted Alroy's Maximum Likelihood Appearance Event Ordination (ML AEO) methodology, applying it to the database compiled for each province. Finally, using available numerical dates for a quarter of the sites, we obtained a calibrated ordination for all localities. In each analysis, the results obtained are roughly coherent with the Mammalian Neogene units (MN) and allow estimation of the numerical ages for the entire set of fossil sites included in the study. Nevertheless, our results show severe diachrony between the two biogeographic provinces of the Iberoccitanian Region in relation to the MN boundaries, which might be linked to the existence of a refuge area associated with more humid environments in the northern province.