Floristic and vegetational changes in the Iberian Peninsula during Jurassic and Cretaceous

The successive vegetations inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula from the Triassic/Jurassic boundary to the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary is reviewed based on published palynological and macrofloral data, and the vegetational changes set in a palaeogeographical and climate context. Xerophytic microphyllous coniferous forests and pteridophyte communities of arid environments dominated the Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous vegetation. This vegetation was replaced in the mid Early Cretaceous by mixed forests of pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms. The composition of the successive plant assemblages suggests that a subtropical arid climate generally prevailed in the Iberian Peninsula during Jurassic-Cretaceous, although palaeobotanical and sedimentological evidences suggest that the climate was not uniform through the whole interval and that were two episodes in the Tithonian-Berriasian and Aptian-Albian periods of pronounced dry and/or arid environmental conditions. The composition and structure of the vegetation was not only affected by evolutionary changes but also by successive global geographical and climate changes. Hence, significant changes in the distribution of continental areas during the Mesozoic resulted in the latitudinal or sublatitudinal extensions of the climatic belts. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.