The history of Abies pinsapo during the Holocene in southern Spain, based on pedoanthracological analysis

Abstract

The aim of this research is to reconstruct the ancient distribution area of Abies pinsapo Boiss. (Spanish fir) in the Serranía de Ronda region, southern Spain, during the Holocene. The main method was pedoanthracological analysis, the study of non-archaeological charcoal found in natural soils. In this research a total of 37 soil excavations were done in several mountain ranges with potentially favourable places for firs to have grown in the past. Specific sites and places such as hillsides, endorheic basins (with no outflow), sinkholes, summits and mountain passes were selected on the basis of evidence from a range of different sources including ancient documents, pollen studies and species distribution models. The soil samples collected from these sites were prepared in the laboratory and the charcoal was identified and radiocarbon dated. Statistical and cartographic analyses were also done. The study revealed evidence of past populations of Abies sp. in places where it is no longer found today. A total of 47 different chronologies were obtained from these sites with ages ranging between 9,931 cal bp and 78 cal bp. In addition, the wide variations in the charcoal values enabled us to make an initial estimate of the importance of ancient forest fires in different places in the Serranía de Ronda. When this information has been considered with all the other available data sources, it will be an essential resource for the efficient management of relict fir woods in southern Spain.

Multiproxy analysis for the paleobiogeographical reconstruction of the relict forests of the Serranía de Ronda during the Holocene (Baetic System, Spain)

“…These results are in addition to the ancient populations previously identified by Olmedo-Cobo et al (2021) and Pardo-Martínez et al (2022) in other locations in the Serranía de Ronda, such as Abies sp. in Palmitera 1, Jarastepar 2, Fuenfría Alta; and Pinus sp.…”

“…The anthracomass values showed great diversity, with very low values being found at Cascajares 3 (66 mg/kg) and very high values at Arroyo de los Lobos 2 (8337 mg/kg). In other locations in the Serranía de Ronda the dynamics are similar, as shown by Olmedo-Cobo et al (2021) and Pardo-Martínez et al (2022). In this respect, we found some sites with very low anthracomass values, such as Majada del Toro (1.4 mg/kg), Líjar (5.2 mg/kg) and Jarastepar 2 (9.3 mg/kg), and others with very high anthracomass values, such as Palmitera 2 (7066.3 mg/kg), Palmitera 3 (7831.6 mg/kg), or Palmitera 1 (137,379.3 mg/kg).…”

“…However, these approaches offer a very limited temporal resolution, which means that our knowledge of the evolutionary dynamics of the plant landscape in the Serranía de Ronda is sketchy (Gómez-Zotano and Olmedo-Cobo, 2021; Gómez-Zotano et al, 2017). There are very few reconstructions over a broad timeframe which enable us to identify the different factors that may have favored the adaptation, fragmentation and extinction of certain plant taxa (Alba-Sánchez et al (2018, 2019); Pardo-Martínez et al, 2022). All of this in spite of the proven value of paleoecological sources for forest conservation and management purposes (Carracedo-Martín et al, 2017; Robin et al, 2013), especially when combined with data obtained from ecological monitoring (Alba-Sánchez and López-Sáez, 2013).…”

Paleopopulations and ecological connectivity in the Natura 2000 Network: proposal for the serpentine-soil Spanish firs of Sierra Bermeja (Serranía de Ronda)

“…This idea, first raised by Linares ( 2011), was later reinforced by the findings of different paleo-pollen records from the Holocene in various different locations of the South and East of the Iberian Peninsula (see Alba-Sánchez and López-Sáez 2013;Alba-Sánchez et al 2018), although the very limited representation of this taxon in the pollen diagrams did not enable this claim to be verified with a sufficient degree of certainty (see Carrión 2013). This hypothesis was later ratified by the discovery of up to four extinct populations of Abies in the Serranía de Ronda as a whole (Palmitera 1, Fuenfría Alta, Jaraestepar 2, and Arroyo de los Lobos 2), after the application of pedoanthracological analysis (Olmedo-Cobo et al 2021;Pardo-Martínez et al 2021), a paleo-ecological discipline with a high spatial resolution which verifies the local presence of the identified taxa (Cunill et al 2012;Talon et al 1998).…”

“…Although there have been significant advances in the paleo-biogeographical knowledge of this species in recent years, there is a lack of paleo-ecological analyses that complement the small number of palynological and pedoanthracological studies so far conducted in Spanish fir refuge areas (Alba-Sánchez and López-Sáez 2013;Gómez-Zotano and Olmedo-Cobo 2021;Gómez-Zotano et al 2017;Olmedo-Cobo et al 2017Pardo-Martínez 2020;Pardo-Martínez et al 2021).…”