Acrostichum, a Pioneering Fern of Floodplain Areas from the Late Oligocene Sarinena Formation of the Iberian Peninsula.

ABSTRACT: Acrostichum is considered today an opportunistic fern in disturbed areas, which indicates the first stages of colonisation of such zones. However, in the fossil record, Acrostichum appears related to fluvio-lacustrine environments, freshwater marshes and mangrove deposits. We report here for first time fossil evidence of Acrostichum that reveals a pioneering behaviour of this fern in the colonisation of perturbed communities in Europe, which corroborates previous assumptions about the paleobiology of Acrostichum. Plant remains were collected from the Chattian (late Oligocene) La Val fossil site (Estadilla, Huesca, northeastern Spain) belonging to the Sariñena Formation, which mainly embraces crevasse splays, levees and floodplain deposits. Evidence shows that Acrostichum grew within the le

SUBMITTER: Moreno-Dominguez R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5024994 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature