La pedoantracología en España: una revisión bibliográfica

Abstract

Pedoanthracology is defined as the search, treatment and taxonomic analysis of charcoal from burned woody vegetation in non-archaelogical soils. Its applications have allowed studying a wide spectrum of topics, especially when it has been part of multidisciplinary paleoecological approaches. In general terms, this methodology has shown growing interest within paleoecological disciplines, although there are currently enormous territorial differences, such that France –a pioneer territory in the application of this methodology– is the country where a large part of pedoanthracological publications in Europe are written. In others, such as Spain, its application in Pyrenees, Central System, Baetic System and Cantabrian Range has been relatively recent, neither its trajectory nor its current status being known. For this reason, this work presents a detailed and comparative analysis of all those investigations of a pedoanthracological nature carried out, which has allowed us to know what the most relevant conclusions obtained by the different working groups have been. This analysis has shown that it is a methodology that has obtained results of great interest when solving classical phytosociological debates, reconstructing old species distribution areas or determining changes in the treeline, results that can contribute and can continue contributing to development of more effective sustainable forest management. Also, the future of the discipline shows a progressive advance towards others mountain systems, confirming that it is a methodology that has managed to earn its place within paleoecological disciplines.