Pollen and charcoal records are developed from Ocate Bog (2905 m, 9530 ft) on Ocate Mesa east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. The records extend from 12,090 to 410 cal yr BP based on 19 radiocarbon dates. The vegetation on the mesa at present is a mixed conifer and ponderosa pine forest. Pollen percentages and accumulation rates show a continuous mixed conifer forest with

Research into phytolith morphology provides essential information for understanding the relationship between phytoliths and vegetation and hence between vegetation and climate, increasing the precision and accuracy of the use of phytolith analysis in paleoenvironmental reconstruction. This study aims to provide an improved basis for the quantitative description and discrimination of the common phytoliths

Here we study a well-preserved petrified palm stem from the latest Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) to earliest Danian (early Paleocene) sediments (c. 66–65 Ma old) of the Deccan Intertrappean Beds of Madhya Pradesh, Central India. We infer its systematic relationships and relevance to palm evolution. The significant anatomical attributes of the fossil include the presence of fibrovascular bundles (fvbs)

A new species of Ginkgo L., G. pediculata sp. nov., is described from the Lower Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, Northeast China, on the basis of a well-preserved ovule-bearing organ. The cuticles of the integument and peduncle are generally similar to those of the lamina and petiole of the associated Ginkgoites manchurica (Yabe et Ôishi) Cao, which is among the most widely distributed Ginkgo-like

We analyzed modern pollen deposition along an altitudinal gradient in the Brazilian southeastern coastal mountains between 1600 and 2200 m elevation in order to investigate the relationship between modern vegetation and pollen rain, within vegetation composed of montane and upper montane forest in a mosaic with campos de altitude (CDA). The results revealed that the CDA pollen assemblage represents

Paleocene leaf floras are rare in high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, where studies have shown higher taxonomic diversity compared to Northern Hemisphere equivalents. The floras provide valuable insights into biodiversity and forest communities during the Paleocene. The Antarctic Peninsula hosts a wealth of Paleocene–Eocene floras which have been used to interpret climates before, during and

The study of the interaction of cicatricose spores, related to the family Anemiaceae, with other botanical groups, in the palynological record, contributes to a better understanding of the paleoecological, paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental aspects of this family through geological times. The present work based on the investigation of Anemiaceae fossil spores, and other contemporary palynomorphs

Choerospondias (Anacardiaceae) is a monospecific genus that is mainly distributed in the subtropics and tropics of eastern Asia today. Fossil records suggest that the genus was widely distributed throughout Eurasia during the Oligocene and Miocene. In this paper, we describe a new species of Choerospondias based on three-dimensionally preserved endocarps from the middle Miocene of Fujian, Southeast

A new araucariaceous pollen cone Callialastrobus sousai gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Early Cretaceous (late Aptian–early Albian) Catefica mesofossil flora in the Lusitanian Basin, Estremadura region, western Portugal. The material comprises a single dispersed pollen cone showing peltate deltoid microsporophylls arranged in a helix. Each microsporophyll bears three pollen sacs with Araucariacites

Three types of charcoalified fossil homoxylous woods are described from the Upper Cretaceous of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin: Podocarpoxylon sp.,?Podocarpoxylon vel Taxodioxylon sp. and Protocupressinoxylon sp. They come from the uppermost part of the Peruc-Korycany Formation, which is mid-Cenomanian in age. Podocarpoxylon sp. shows distinct growth rings, uniseriate rays of medium height, 1–2 podocarpoid

Marattialeans were the most species-rich fern group in the Lopingian (late Permian) Cathaysian floras in the South China Block. However, most previous studies on marattialean ferns focused on their vegetative morphology; in contrast, their reproductive biology has rarely been examined. New compression materials of Zhutheca densata (Gu et Zhi) Liu, Li et Hilton from the Lopingian Xuanwei Formation in

The extinct legume genus Podocarpium first appeared in the middle Eocene of South China and then became widely distributed throughout Eurasia during the Oligocene and Miocene. Fossil records from Central Asia are important for understanding the patterns of floristic change of Podocarpium between Eastern Asia and Europe, but they are relatively rare. Here, we describe well-preserved fossil fruits and

Palynological study of the Upper Triassic Bidestan and Howz-e-Sheikh members of the Nayband Formation of the Tabas Block, Central Iran, revealed relatively diverse and well-preserved assemblages of palynoflora dominated by dinoflagellate cysts and miospores. The two well-known interval dinoflagellate cysts zones of Hebecysta balmei Interval Zone and Rhaetogonyaulax rhaetica Interval Zone were differentiated

A mycological survey from Monti della Tolfa, a volcanic region of central Italy that originated during the Early Pleistocene and remained isolated from the mainland for at least one million years, shows that a thermophilous shrubland dominated by Arbutus unedo preserves fungal species typically associated with conifers. Pinaceae are currently absent from the study area. Palynological data from the

Holocene vegetation changes are good indicators of climate change/and or human impacts. The environmental history in the semi-arid region with Caatinga vegetation in Northeast Brazil has been still little studied. A 420 cm-long sediment core collected in a mire at the Catimbau National Park, State of Pernambuco, has been analyzed for pollen, spores, charcoal, and sedimentological characteristics. The

The pollen morphology of 23 Brazilian native species of Rubiaceae Juss. from forest fragments of a Cerrado area was analyzed using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), in the search for new characters that might increase the knowledge on the pollen morphology of the species, and also aiming to help in the taxonomic characterization of the genera. For LM, the pollen grains were

A new petrified stem from the Middle Triassic Quebrada de los Fósiles Formation (Puesto Viejo Group, San Rafael Basin) in Mendoza Province, central-western Argentina, is described. The specimen shows affinities with fossil and extant Sphenophyta, such as the presence of a medullar cavity and primary xylem with carinal canal. A new genus and species – Neoarthropitys gondwanaensis – is established based

Paleogene non-marine deposits of the Pine Hollow and Claron formations (southwestern Utah, USA) provided a rich microfossil assemblage composed of charophytes, freshwater gastropods and ostracods. Charophytes were extracted from a ca. 450-m-thick section, especially from floodplain deposits belonging to the Claron and the Pine Hollow formations. The samples from the Pine Hollow Formation includes small

Glomeromycotan spores from the Early Devonian Rhynie chert frequently contain evidence of colonization by other fungi. However, relatively few of these relationships have been described and evaluated. Brijax amictus gen. et sp. nov., a probable chytrid (Chytridiomycota) associated with certain thick-walled archaeosporalean acaulospores from the Rhynie chert, develops largely within the host spore wall

Alethopteris ascendens Halle is an endemic element in the Permian Cathaysian floras and is assumed to be a member of the Medullosales based on its alethopterid type foliage. Previous accounts have documented only its pinnae and bipinnate fronds, but other parts of the plant are unknown. Here we describe new specimens from the earliest Permian (Asselian) Wuda Tuff Flora that are identified as A. ascendens

Jurassic flora of the Tibetan Plateau is poorly known, with limited fossil records. The paleobiogeography of terrestrial biota is, however, one of the major evidences to reconstruct the intricate paleogeography of an area. Well-preserved fossil wood is described from the Middle Jurassic Xiali Formation (Callovian) in the South Qiangtang terrane of the Tibetan Plateau, SW China. The wood specimen is

A set of 30 modern pollen samples collected in pine communities of the Gúdar Range (southeastern Iberian System) has been investigated to determine the relationships between pollen percentages and vegetation composition along a ~ 1000 m elevation transect. Pollen representation was estimated by comparing the presence of plant taxa from a recent vegetation survey with pollen spectra. Classification

Phytoliths are microscopic siliceous particles that precipitate within epidermal cells of plant leaves. Phytolith morphology and its carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) are often used to understand the past vegetation composition. To extract phytoliths from modern plants, two different wet-oxidation, dry ashing and microwave digestion techniques have been used. However, the impact of these techniques

The section of São Pedro da Torre (NW Portugal) is relevant because its rich pollen content, chronologically correlated to the late Pliocene assemblages of the reference section of Rio Maior. The purpose of this study was to carry out, for the first time in the area, a taxonomic analysis of the carpological remains and integrate the results with those of the previous palynological studies. Our carpological

Ceratophyllaceae Gray is a cosmopolitan submersed family in angiosperm. The fossil record is mainly composed of fruits ranging in age from the Cretaceous to the Neogene within the Northern Hemisphere. However, its fossil record in Asia is sparse. Here we report on a fossil fruit attributed to Ceratophyllum aff. muricatum Cham. from the early middle Eocene of the Niubao Formation in Bangor County, central

This paper presents a palynological study of the archeological layers from the Neanderthal site Abrigo 3 del Complejo del Humo, in southern Spain (Málaga), with the aim of reconstructing the environmental conditions in the vicinity of this hominin site. The Upper Pleistocene vegetation and its variability are described, revealing a high diversity of thermophilous plant taxa throughout the cold dry

Croton has ca. 1200 species and a pantropical distribution, representing the second largest genus in Euphorbiaceae. In this work, we aim to characterize morphologically the pollen grains of 105 species of Croton, besides other representatives of tribe Crotoneae, to provide palynological data sustaining its current delimitation and classification and understand how pollen grains evolved in the tribe

Pollen retention on clothes, footwear, hair and body has been used to link people to localities with distinctive vegetation, or soils containing distinctive palynomorphs. Little attention has been given to human skin as a possible medium for carrying a forensically important pollen load and whether this might survive attempts to remove it. We report here the results of experiments testing the retention

The striped hyena is the largest living omnivorous scavenger in SW Asia. It generally lives in semi-arid desert steppe regions, often denning in small caves, rock shelters, and burrows close to human settlements. Bone fragments of wild and domestic animals and desiccated scats are frequently found in the hyena dens. In this study, eight striped hyena desiccated scats were subjected to pollen analysis

The adpression fossil record from the Westphalian of the Intrasudetic Basin (Czech Republic) contains diversified medullosan prepollen organs. Langsettian bell-shaped prepollen organs were found in the Lampertice Member in the Žacléř area: Whittleseya elegans Newberry, W. delphinae Stockmans et Willière, W. silesiaca Pacyna et Zdebska and Givesia media (Stockmans) Stockmans et Willière. These fructifications

The identification of Myrtaceae pollen to species level in fossil records has challenged palynologists due to the similarity of pollen grains produced by species in this family. Here, we present a pollen morphological study of the Myrtaceae species found in a specific region of southeastern Australia, the islands of the Furneaux Group in Bass Strait, and apply this to fossil pollen records from the

Staphylea has abundant isolated seeds in the fossil record, but no fossil fruits of this genus have been confirmed before. In this paper, we report a capsular fruit of Staphylea from the Oligocene Renova Formation of Woodworth, western-central Montana, USA. Detailed investigation of this fruit gives new insights on the phylogenetic and biogeographic history of the genus. Morphological comparison with

The exploration of Lateglacial vegetation history in Schleswig-Holstein is elaborate and comprehensive. Despite being one of the most studied areas, regarding to the Lateglacial, no biostratigraphy covering the complete Lateglacial and Early Holocene periods without hiatus have so far been recovered. In this paper we present a biostratigraphy of the Nahe paleolake, therewith intending to deal with

A new anatomical study of the fossil material assigned to Menendoxylon areniensis Lutz 1979 (family Fabaceae) was performed. In this study, new wood anatomical characteristics were observed. These are diagnostic characters present in the family, Combretaceae. Also, its presence suggests an adaptation to environmental variability: numerous vessels (mean 14–52 vessels/mm2), small vessel diameter (mean

Plants and insects are the two most diverse groups among terrestrial macro-organisms. They interact with each other to various extents, and constitute the most significant part of complex terrestrial ecosystems. The early Permian tuff flora in Wuda, China, buried by volcanic ash in its growth position, represents an intricate peat-forming forest in the subtropics of the eastern Tethys. However, the

Six species of Umaltolepis, the female organs of certain Pseudotorellia species, have been described previously from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Iran, China, Central Mongolia and the Russian Far East. Remains of Umaltolepis are here recognized in the Middle Jurassic of Uzbekistan for the first time. Two new species – Umaltolepis sogdianica sp. nov. and U. involuta sp. nov. – are described from the

The Jiuxi Basin is the earliest developed petroleum production area in China, and the Lower Cretaceous strata in this area are the main source rocks in this basin. Although the strata in this area are rich in fossils and have been researched for a long period, different interpretations of their geological age have been proposed. In this study, palynological samples collected from the Chijinbao Formation

The Late Triassic radiation of cyst-forming dinoflagellates in the Southern Hemisphere is investigated in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. This major depocentre, situated on the southern margin of the Tethys Ocean, accumulated extensive deltaic and shallow marine successions at this time, that frequently host early dinoflagellate cyst assemblages. Numerous petroleum exploration wells

A new and exceptionally hairy marattialean fern of an early Permian age having pecopterid sterile pinnules and strongly enrolled fertile pinnules, Scolecopteris minuta sp. nov., is described from the uppermost Taiyuan Formation of the Wuda coalfield in Inner Mongolia. The fertile fronds are at least tripinnate, with lanceolate to linear penultimate pinnae and oblong ultimate pinnae. Each pinnule bearing

A new whole-plant species of a calamitacean, Palaeostachya guanglongii sp. nov., is described in a volcanic ash bed from the Cisuralian (lower Permian) Wuda Coalfield, Inner Mongolia, North China. It was an approximately 2–3 m high shrub-like plant growing in a peat-forming swamp. It is characterized by three-orders of axes. The stem (first-order axis) bifurcates, resulting in two equal-sized major

A 66 cm thick volcanic ash fall tuff occurring within a thick coal deposit and containing a paleobotanical fossil lagerstätte in the Wuda coal district of North China has been dated as 298.34 ± 0.09 Ma. The fossil flora in the tuff indicates a latest Carboniferous to earliest Permian age and is thus in agreement with the radioisotopic age of earliest Permian, Asselian, age. This bed supplies a well-defined

Pollen morphology of 19 species, 4 subspecies, and 1 variety of Carlina was studied in detail by light and scanning electron microscopy. Qualitative and quantitative pollen morphological characters which vary between taxa are found in the length of the ectocolpi, presence/nature of the echinae, pollen size and shape, lumina area, P/E ratio, polar axis, equatorial diameter, pollen shape, ectocolpi length

The 1.6975–1.965 Ma (MIS 60–MIS 74) portion of the El'gygytgyn Lake record includes two key chronostratigraphic markers in the Calabrian–Gelasian boundary (1.806 Ma) and the Olduvai paleomagnetic excursion (1.77–1.95 Ma). It also provides the first paleovegetation information for these times from the eastern Arctic. Palynological data indicate the dominance of Larix forest and forest-tundra during

Two compressions of fertile Myriotheca anglica Kidston pinnae from Kidston's type collection have been studied for the first time since the publication of its protologue. The specimens came from the Lower Coal Measures Formation (middle Langsettian Substage) of the Central Pennines Basin, UK. SEM observations have shown that this species has pinnules with 17–22 Pecopteris-type sporangia, with an apical

This paper reviews the past distribution of Aleppo pine woodlands in the Ebro Basin, Northeastern Iberia, from the Mesolithic to Modern times based on wood charcoal data. The aim is to detail the chronological timing and the drivers explaining the long-term presence of Aleppo pine woodlands and associated thermophilous flora. The available charcoal data support the early spread of Pinus halepensis

The genus Tingia Halle is one of the most typical taxa of the Cathaysia Flora. However, its affinity, has long been uncertain. Tingia unita Wang 2006 was named based on the discovery of a crown of a tree that shows the organic connection of the simple compound leaves and the strobili with the stem. It is among the very few species of the Noeggerathiales of which both fertile and sterile parts are known

Thin (3–6 cm) arborescent lycopsid axes that conform to the genus Sigillaria have been discovered upright in situ in the Wuda Tuff (Asselian: Inner Mongolia, China). Given that a broad lycopsid tree, Sigillaria cf. ichthyolepis, was the sole arborescent lycopsid taxon previously known from the assemblage, the new fossils were initially assumed to be juveniles of S. cf. ichthyolepis when assessed in

The Mammoth subchron was a significant geomagnetic reversed polarity event within the Gauss normal chron interval; however, the availability of high-resolution climate change records during this period is limited. We reconstructed the vegetation and climate history in the period using high-resolution pollen records from core PL02 (depths from 705.7 to 678.9 m) from the Yinchuan Basin, northwestern

To examine the relationship between plant presence and pollen presence, modern pollen samples were collected and counted from natural moss polsters in the UK uplands. The herbaceous pollen signal is difficult to interpret in paleoecological analysis as pollen presence is often rare for individual herb taxa. Indices of association have previously been used to determine association from over- and under-representation;

Pollen records of a lacustrine sedimentary profile from the Chhattisgarh State, central India revealed that between ~ 22,200 and 18,658 cal yr BP, open vegetation occupied the landscape under a cool and dry climate, probably indicating a reduced monsoon precipitation. This cool and dry climate, influenced by weakening of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM), globally matches with the Last Glacial Maximum

A palynological study of the Upper Cretaceous–lower Paleocene outcrop section at Tattofte (westernmost External Rif, Morocco) has produced a well-preserved palynological assemblage rich in dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts). For the first time, these assemblages have allowed us to determine the age of this section, to highlight a new Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, and to make paleobiogeographic interpretations

The tropical Southeast Asia area is rich in plant diversity, and the current environment conditions, especially the vegetation, were formed through a series of complicated processes, both geological and biological, in the past. One of the most powerful tools to reveal these processes is pollen analysis. However, so far, it is still poorly understood in the modern pollen rain, hindering further palynological

The Red River Delta (RRD), one of the two largest deltas in Vietnam, has been severely affected by natural hazards induced by global climate change. Understanding the Holocene paleoshoreline is crucial in developing adaptive planning in response to future shoreline changes based on past natural shoreline changes. This study presents new data pertaining to pollen, grain size, lithological characteristics

The modern environment of southern China is dominated by a humid monsoon climate, and presents a striking contrast to the widespread deserts found at similar latitudes elsewhere. The formation of a monsoon climate marks a major environmental shift in southern China during the Cenozoic; however, the origin and possible driving mechanism of the climate transition remain unclear. Paleogene palynological

The paper documents in detail the morphology, epidermal features and cuticle ultrastructure of the leaves of the Mesozoic conifer genus Anabarella Abramova 1984. For the first time, the leaf epidermal and cuticle structures of the type species Anabarella kryshtofovichii Abramova from the Albian–Cenomanian (Cretaceous) of the Anabar river basin (East Siberia, Arctic Russia) were studied with the scanning

A palynological study of carbonate mounds of Atlantic and Mediterranean Moroccan margins was conducted on sediment boxcores MD13-3441, MD13-3456, MD13-3461, MD13-3465, MD13-3468 collected during the oceanographic cruise MD 194/Eurofleet - GATEWAY, which took place on June 2013. The organic remaining revealed a dominance of dinoflagellate cysts over the continental fraction, which showed very low rates