Past Environments of Mexico Unveiling the Past Environments of a Megadiverse Country Through its Fossil Record

Mexico is a biodiverse country. The dynamics of environments from Mexico played a crucial role in the history of North American biota. This book analyzes the paleoenvironmental conditions using several biological groups and various methods. This book also demonstrates how this information is specifically used to elucidate Mexico‘s past environments and habitats (terrestrial, freshwater, and marine). This book fills an existing editorial gap since much of the information is dispersed in several bibliographic sources.

The authors are active paleontologists in diverse Mexican universities and research centers. Their research activities contribute to the knowledge of the Mexican biota through geologic time.

Introduction.- Microfossils as proxies: paleoecological and paleoceanographic indicators.- Cretaceous coral.- Mollusca: Bivalvia and Gastropoda.- Lophophorata.- Arthropoda as proxies of paleoenvironmental conditions.- The application of ichnology to palaeonvironmental reconstruction.- Gymnosperms through time. Their history in Mexico.- Importance of the angiosperm fossil record for the paleoenvironmental reconstruction.- Some palynological considerations in the environmental history.- Amphibians environmental dependence and their use in paleoecological reconstructions.- Reptiles as paleoenvironmental proxies and their association with the climate.- Mammals as paleoenvironmental proxies.- Vertebrate ichnofossils and paleoenvironments.- Invertebrate traces in soils and paleosols: a review on the classification, interpretation and paleobiological purpose.- Geochemical proxies.- Application of ichnofossils and microfossils in the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of turbidite sequences from the Chicontepec basin, central-eastern Mexico.- The Tlayúa Quarry: an overview of a notable Early Cretaceous Fossil-Lagerstätte from Mexico.- The Cerro del Pueblo Formation, unlocking the environmental data of an extraordinary ancient ecosystem from Mexico.- Carbonate sequences from the Valles San Luis and Tuxpan Platforms (El Abra Formation, Cretaceous) and their paleoenvironmental significance in a sector of the Sierra Madre Oriental in the subsoil of the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico.- Pollen database as a tool for paleoclimate interpretation: the case of the Trans-Mexican.

Rosalía Guerrero-Arenas is Professor in the Universidad del Mar since 2004. Her basic research interest is the reconstruction of paleoenvironments using biological proxies, including ichnofossils. She is also interested in the vinculation of science with society, specially younger people. She is member of the Paleontology Council, INAH, for the last four years. She belongs to the National System of Researches (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores), Mexico. 

Eduardo Jiménez-Hidalgo is Professor at Universidad del Mar since 2004. His research is focused in the Systematics of fossil mammals and the application of mammalian traits to paleoenvironmental reconstruction. He is also interested in vertebrate ichnology, mainly mammals and dinosaurs. He belongs to the National System of Researches (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores), Mexico. He is Member of the Paleontology Council, INAH.