Palaeoecology of the Miocene El Cien Formation (Mexico) as determined from wood anatomical characters

Abstract

In order to establish the general environmental conditions under which the plants of the El Cien Formation grew during the Miocene, wood anatomical features from several extant ecological categories (southern California flora) and communities (Brazil, Mexico and Suriname) as well as those of the El Cien paleocommunity were analysed using different statistical approaches. We find a significant correlation between 42 characters of 199 species and 11 climate variables which suggests a close association of wood characters with temperature, whereas characters such as diameter, frequency, and grouping of vessels are more closely related to evaporation. The expression of various wood characters depends on more than one climate variable. There are no doubts regarding the tropical affiliation of the El Cien fossil flora but water availability and seasonality of the system are less clear. Principal component and cluster analyses of two different datasets (423 species, 9 characters and 223 species, 32 characters) suggest that the physiognomy of the fossil assemblage of El Cien was highly efficient in water transport, but also highly vulnerable to embolisms. Characters such as vessel diameter, frequency and grouping suggest proximity to a tropical rain forest, whereas the proportion of ring semi ring porous woods brings the El Cien paleoflora closer to forests with slightly xeromorphic physiognomy, probably a tropical deciduous or semi-deciduous forest. This condition is paralleled with the taxonomic composition of the El Cien fossil plants since their Nearest Living Relatives (NLR) can be referred to both humid or more (seasonally) dry environments. Derived regression analysis models suggest that the paleoflora prospered under conditions with an evaporation regime similar to that of the tropical rain forest.