Historia paleontológica de la biodiversidad: sus implicaciones ambientales y la aportación de la paleobotánica y palinología a este campo

Abstract

In relation with a project on Biodiversity of Cretaceous floras of the Andean Cordillera and the southern border of the Sierra de Guadarrama (Madrid. Spain), a more general frame of reference is exposed in order to point up the importance of paleobiodiversity studies as a contribution to understanding and resolving environmental problems, emphasizing paleobotanic/palynologic studies. The Cretaceous history of biologic diversity is of special interest in this context, as it is characterized by the first magnitude transition from the Mesophytocum to the Neophyticun, with the gradual substitution of assemblages dominated by gymnosperms by those dominated by angiosperms.