Quantitative taphonomic analyses of recent fruit and seed assemblages (carpological assemblages o... more Quantitative taphonomic analyses of recent fruit and seed assemblages (carpological assemblages or carpodeposits) are essential to allow for more accurate interpretation of fossil carpodeposits. To this end, extensive taphonomic analyses were undertaken in two modern, small, fluvial catchment basins (Ca' Viettone and Valtorta-Rivara) in northwestern Italy that are characterized by different vegetation types. Quantitative data from vegetational surveys and carpodeposit analyses were compared using a standardized graphic representation (Plant Community Scenario, PCS). The contents of the carpodeposits clearly differentiate the different types of vegetation in each basin. Moreover, carpological assemblages from the same basin have a similar signature. Comparison of all samples indicates a relationship between the standing vegetation and the PCS reconstruction based on carpological analysis. The bedload carpodeposits studied seem to characterize, at least qualitatively, the vegetati...
ABSTRACT The analysis of fruit and seed assemblages in Pliocene and Early Pleistocene successions... more ABSTRACT The analysis of fruit and seed assemblages in Pliocene and Early Pleistocene successions of the southern border of the Po Plain provides an interesting record of the terrestrial palaeoflora, which complements the information provided by the extensive pollen records available in this area. The 14 carpoflora-bearing layers studied here, spanning from 5.1 to 0.9 Ma, have been inserted in a definite stratigraphic framework, locally with a precision of ca. 100 ka. The input of the new data into the CENOFITA database showed that the fossil record of several species was often limited to one to three chronostratigraphic stages of the Pliocene (Zanclean, Piacenzian) and Early Pleistocene (Gelasian, Calabrian). A general analysis of the northern-Italian fossil record of such species allowed us to improve the distribution chart of carpological taxa in the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. In this new chart, the carpological species were clustered in six groups of species with similar chronologic distributions. We suggest that the analysis of such groups, in undated or poorly dated carpological assemblages, would be useful for their biochronological interpretation: the Zanclean floras can be distinguished by the Piacenzian ones in case of occurrence of Group 1 species, whereas the simultaneous occurrence of several species of Groups 2 and 3, without species of Groups 1 and 5, could be used to suggest a Piacenzian affinity for undated assemblages. The occurrence of several species of Groups 5 and 6, without species of Groups 1–3, may just point to a generic Gelasian or Calabrian affinity. The palaeoclimatic characterization of the individual species, but also of the plant assemblages, suggests that a temperature decrease is one of the causes of the palaeofloral changes, in fact the most apparent events are represented by the disappearance of thermophilous species. The appearance of new species in the studied fossil record is mostly due to the establishment of favourable local environmental conditions, rather than to evolutionary events. However, the occurrence, in chronologically well-constrained layers, of fruits and seeds of a few plant genera with a proven late Cenozoic phylogenetic differentiation (e.g. Carex, Hypericum, Thymelaea) provides important support for the dating of species divergence times. From Elsevier for the download: To help you access and share your article, we are providing you with the following personal article link, which will provide free access to your article, and is valid for 50 days, until July 29, 2015 http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1RANV7uTvB71d Please use this link to download a personal copy of your article for your own archive. You are also welcome to email the link to your co-authors and colleagues, or post the link on your own homepage, Facebook, Google+, Twitter or other social media profile, to tell your network about your new publication. Anyone who clicks on the link until July 29, 2015, will be taken to the final version of your article on ScienceDirect for free. No sign up or registration is needed - just click and read!
ABSTRACT A palaeobotanical study, including pollen and carpological analyses, has been carried ou... more ABSTRACT A palaeobotanical study, including pollen and carpological analyses, has been carried out on the brown coal seam of San Pietro di Ragogna (Friulian foothills). The palynoflora and carpoflora have been analysed with the Plant Community Scenario approach for a better interpretation of their palaeovegetational signals. The coal-bearing layer, despite its limited chronological extension and ex-posure, is significant for the occurrence of several fossil fruits and seeds belonging to taxa with East European affinity, recorded for the first time in Italy, such as Hypericum tertiaerum, Myriophyllum praespicatum, Najas major-pliocenica, Nymphaea borysthenica, Potamo-geton cf. panormitanoides, Schoenoplectus cf. lacustroides. Their concomitant occurrence with Carex cf. elata, Menyanthes trifoliata and Nuphar aff. lutea, which appear in Italian floras after the Piacenzian/Gelasian boundary, points to a Gelasian age of the studied coal de-posit. Such hypothesis is also supported by the floristic/vegetational affinities with selected Gelasian floras from Central and Eastern Eu-rope. The coal deposit directly overlays the regional unconformity, ascribed to the Messinian, which marks the base of the Quaternary succession in the Friulian piedmont plain. The geographical location of the site is also significant for the reconstruction of palaeovegeta-tional changes at the Plio-Pleistocene transition. In fact, the occurrence of East European elements may indicate that the migration of plant taxa from Eastern Europe reached the easternmost part of Northern Italy, under the effects of climate worsening related to the in-ception of glacial periods in the Northern Hemisphere.
ABSTRACT Mummified foliage, seeds and cones of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger (Taxodi... more ABSTRACT Mummified foliage, seeds and cones of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger (Taxodiaceae, or Cupressaceae s. l.) are very common within muddy sediments embedding large arboreal stumps in several Pliocene localities of northern and central Italy. Recent investigations in one of these fossil forests, which crops out 20 km North of Turin (NW Italy), in the bed of the Stura di Lanzo river, showed that the wood anatomy is also diagnostic for the genus Glyptostrobus, since the wood-type is characteristic of the recently defined morphospecies Glyptostroboxylon rudolphii Dolezych and Van der Burgh. Although connection between stumps, trunks and twigs has never been observed, the Stura di Lanzo Fossil Forest (FF) provides a very favourable condition to reconstruct the ancient taxodiaceous “whole-plant”, because there is only one common conifer type in the site's macrofossil record. The autochthonous burial of the foliage is indicated by the high frequency of randomly oriented shoots with attached cones. Therefore it is demonstrated that the plant bearing the Glyptostrobus europaeus foliage, also produced stumps and trunks with the Glyptostroboxylon rudolphii wood-type. The numerous and huge stumps of this site, and associated trunks, provide an excellent example of what was the size and habit of the Glyptostrobus europaeus “whole-plant”.
with contributions by Erika Albertini, Marialucia Amadio, Valentina Bonora, Alessandro Conti, Giu... more with contributions by Erika Albertini, Marialucia Amadio, Valentina Bonora, Alessandro Conti, Giulia Dionisio, Francesca Dolcetti, Mariaelena Fedi, Marco Fioravanti, Lidia Fiorini, Martina Fissore, Peter Gasson, Carole McCartney, Martina Monaco, Giulia Muti, Daniele Redamante, David S. Reese, Alessanda Saggio, Caterina Scirè Calabrisotto, Grazia Tucci, Elena Vassio, Jennifer M. Webb and Mari Yamasaki
Quantitative taphonomic analyses of recent fruit and seed assemblages (carpological assemblages o... more Quantitative taphonomic analyses of recent fruit and seed assemblages (carpological assemblages or carpodeposits) are essential to allow for more accurate interpretation of fossil carpodeposits. To this end, extensive taphonomic analyses were undertaken in two modern, small, fluvial catchment basins (Ca' Viettone and Valtorta-Rivara) in northwestern Italy that are characterized by different vegetation types. Quantitative data from vegetational surveys and carpodeposit analyses were compared using a standardized graphic representation (Plant Community Scenario, PCS). The contents of the carpodeposits clearly differentiate the different types of vegetation in each basin. Moreover, carpological assemblages from the same basin have a similar signature. Comparison of all samples indicates a relationship between the standing vegetation and the PCS reconstruction based on carpological analysis. The bedload carpodeposits studied seem to characterize, at least qualitatively, the vegetati...
ABSTRACT The analysis of fruit and seed assemblages in Pliocene and Early Pleistocene successions... more ABSTRACT The analysis of fruit and seed assemblages in Pliocene and Early Pleistocene successions of the southern border of the Po Plain provides an interesting record of the terrestrial palaeoflora, which complements the information provided by the extensive pollen records available in this area. The 14 carpoflora-bearing layers studied here, spanning from 5.1 to 0.9 Ma, have been inserted in a definite stratigraphic framework, locally with a precision of ca. 100 ka. The input of the new data into the CENOFITA database showed that the fossil record of several species was often limited to one to three chronostratigraphic stages of the Pliocene (Zanclean, Piacenzian) and Early Pleistocene (Gelasian, Calabrian). A general analysis of the northern-Italian fossil record of such species allowed us to improve the distribution chart of carpological taxa in the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. In this new chart, the carpological species were clustered in six groups of species with similar chronologic distributions. We suggest that the analysis of such groups, in undated or poorly dated carpological assemblages, would be useful for their biochronological interpretation: the Zanclean floras can be distinguished by the Piacenzian ones in case of occurrence of Group 1 species, whereas the simultaneous occurrence of several species of Groups 2 and 3, without species of Groups 1 and 5, could be used to suggest a Piacenzian affinity for undated assemblages. The occurrence of several species of Groups 5 and 6, without species of Groups 1–3, may just point to a generic Gelasian or Calabrian affinity. The palaeoclimatic characterization of the individual species, but also of the plant assemblages, suggests that a temperature decrease is one of the causes of the palaeofloral changes, in fact the most apparent events are represented by the disappearance of thermophilous species. The appearance of new species in the studied fossil record is mostly due to the establishment of favourable local environmental conditions, rather than to evolutionary events. However, the occurrence, in chronologically well-constrained layers, of fruits and seeds of a few plant genera with a proven late Cenozoic phylogenetic differentiation (e.g. Carex, Hypericum, Thymelaea) provides important support for the dating of species divergence times. From Elsevier for the download: To help you access and share your article, we are providing you with the following personal article link, which will provide free access to your article, and is valid for 50 days, until July 29, 2015 http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1RANV7uTvB71d Please use this link to download a personal copy of your article for your own archive. You are also welcome to email the link to your co-authors and colleagues, or post the link on your own homepage, Facebook, Google+, Twitter or other social media profile, to tell your network about your new publication. Anyone who clicks on the link until July 29, 2015, will be taken to the final version of your article on ScienceDirect for free. No sign up or registration is needed - just click and read!
ABSTRACT A palaeobotanical study, including pollen and carpological analyses, has been carried ou... more ABSTRACT A palaeobotanical study, including pollen and carpological analyses, has been carried out on the brown coal seam of San Pietro di Ragogna (Friulian foothills). The palynoflora and carpoflora have been analysed with the Plant Community Scenario approach for a better interpretation of their palaeovegetational signals. The coal-bearing layer, despite its limited chronological extension and ex-posure, is significant for the occurrence of several fossil fruits and seeds belonging to taxa with East European affinity, recorded for the first time in Italy, such as Hypericum tertiaerum, Myriophyllum praespicatum, Najas major-pliocenica, Nymphaea borysthenica, Potamo-geton cf. panormitanoides, Schoenoplectus cf. lacustroides. Their concomitant occurrence with Carex cf. elata, Menyanthes trifoliata and Nuphar aff. lutea, which appear in Italian floras after the Piacenzian/Gelasian boundary, points to a Gelasian age of the studied coal de-posit. Such hypothesis is also supported by the floristic/vegetational affinities with selected Gelasian floras from Central and Eastern Eu-rope. The coal deposit directly overlays the regional unconformity, ascribed to the Messinian, which marks the base of the Quaternary succession in the Friulian piedmont plain. The geographical location of the site is also significant for the reconstruction of palaeovegeta-tional changes at the Plio-Pleistocene transition. In fact, the occurrence of East European elements may indicate that the migration of plant taxa from Eastern Europe reached the easternmost part of Northern Italy, under the effects of climate worsening related to the in-ception of glacial periods in the Northern Hemisphere.
ABSTRACT Mummified foliage, seeds and cones of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger (Taxodi... more ABSTRACT Mummified foliage, seeds and cones of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger (Taxodiaceae, or Cupressaceae s. l.) are very common within muddy sediments embedding large arboreal stumps in several Pliocene localities of northern and central Italy. Recent investigations in one of these fossil forests, which crops out 20 km North of Turin (NW Italy), in the bed of the Stura di Lanzo river, showed that the wood anatomy is also diagnostic for the genus Glyptostrobus, since the wood-type is characteristic of the recently defined morphospecies Glyptostroboxylon rudolphii Dolezych and Van der Burgh. Although connection between stumps, trunks and twigs has never been observed, the Stura di Lanzo Fossil Forest (FF) provides a very favourable condition to reconstruct the ancient taxodiaceous “whole-plant”, because there is only one common conifer type in the site's macrofossil record. The autochthonous burial of the foliage is indicated by the high frequency of randomly oriented shoots with attached cones. Therefore it is demonstrated that the plant bearing the Glyptostrobus europaeus foliage, also produced stumps and trunks with the Glyptostroboxylon rudolphii wood-type. The numerous and huge stumps of this site, and associated trunks, provide an excellent example of what was the size and habit of the Glyptostrobus europaeus “whole-plant”.
with contributions by Erika Albertini, Marialucia Amadio, Valentina Bonora, Alessandro Conti, Giu... more with contributions by Erika Albertini, Marialucia Amadio, Valentina Bonora, Alessandro Conti, Giulia Dionisio, Francesca Dolcetti, Mariaelena Fedi, Marco Fioravanti, Lidia Fiorini, Martina Fissore, Peter Gasson, Carole McCartney, Martina Monaco, Giulia Muti, Daniele Redamante, David S. Reese, Alessanda Saggio, Caterina Scirè Calabrisotto, Grazia Tucci, Elena Vassio, Jennifer M. Webb and Mari Yamasaki
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