Palaeoecological interpretation of the late Miocene landscapes and vegetation of northern Greece: A comment to Merceron et al., 2016 (Geobios 49, 135-146)

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• 作者：Thomas Denk ^{thomas.denk@nrm.se}
• 关键词：Hipparion faunas ; Plant fossils ; Open landscape ; Forest ; Landscape definition ; Scale
• 刊名：Geobios
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：November-December 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：49
• 期：6
• 页码：423-431
• 全文大小：988 K
• 卷排序：49

文摘

Recent works on feeding habits of ungulates, isotopic composition of equid tooth enamel, and phytoliths from late Miocene localities of northern Greece suggested the presence of savannah and excluded dense forests. Furthermore, Mediterranean-like climates were advocated for the late Miocene of Greece. Here, I compare palaeoenvironments inferred for two mammal localities from Chalkidiki and the Axios Valley (Nikiti, upper Vallesian and lower Turolian; Dytiko, upper Turolian) with evidence from contemporaneous plant assemblages from adjacent areas in Greece and Bulgaria. I use vegetation units inferred from pollen and spore, fruit and seed, and leaf assemblages and compare them with the vegetation inferred from mammal and phytolith data. Open vegetation as inferred from mammal and phytolith data is also part of the range of vegetation units discovered from the pollen and spore, seed and fruit, and leaf record (here called the palaeobotanical record). Poaceae are consistently present in late Vallesian to late Turolian pollen records of northern Greece. Further, a number of vegetation units are indicative of forest vegetation ranging from lowland to upland forests dominated by woody angiosperms and mixed coniferous-angiosperm forests. The presence of such forests is not in conflict with the results from mammal and phytolith studies, but it broadens the view on landscapes present in the late Miocene of northern Greece. In addition to a generalized vegetation type commonly inferred by mammal studies, the palaeobotanical record demonstrates the presence of various complementary vegetation types. A comprehensive view on late Miocene landscapes in northern Greece shows that there is no conflict in inferring open herb dominated landscapes and light to dense forests and provides new opportunities for the ecological interpretation of late Miocene ungulates.