The Holocene and Anthropocene Environmental History of Mexico : A Paleoecological Approach on Mesoamerica

This book provides essential information on Mexico’s Holocene and Anthropocene climate and vegetation history. Considering the geography of Mexico – which is home to a variety of climatic and environmental conditions, from desert and tropical to high mountain climates – this book focuses on its postglacial paleoecology and paleoclimatology. Further, it analyses human intervention since the middle Holocene as a major agent of environmental change. Offering a valuable tool for understanding past climate change and its relationship with present climate change, the book is a must-read for botanists, ecologists, palaeontologists and graduate students in related fields. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: The Holocene and Anthropocene Environmental History of Mexico (Nuria Torrescano-Valle, Gerald A. Islebe, Priyadarsi D. Roy)....Pages 1-5 Paleoclimate of the Gulf of California (Northwestern Mexico) During the Last 2000 Years (Aída Martínez-López, Olivia de Los Ángeles Flores-Castillo, Romeo Saldívar-Lucio, Diana Cecilia Escobedo-Urías, Gerardo Verdugo-Díaz, Ligia Pérez-Cruz et al.)....Pages 7-38 Holocene Hydroclimate of the Subtropical Mexico: A State of the Art (Priyadarsi D. Roy, Jesús David Quiroz-Jiménez, Claudia M. Chávez-Lara, José Luis Sánchez-Zavala)....Pages 39-68 The Environment of Ancient Cloud Forests in the Mexican Pacific (Blanca L. Figueroa-Rangel, Miguel Olvera-Vargas, Ana P. Del Castillo-Batista)....Pages 69-88 Sea Level Change and Its Influence on the Coastal Landscape in the Gulf of Mexico During the Holocene (Gabriela Domínguez-Vázquez, Dulce M. Bocanegra-Ramírez)....Pages 89-96 Insights into the Holocene Environmental History of the Highlands of Central Mexico (Socorro Lozano-García, Margarita Caballero, Beatriz Ortega-Guerrero, Susana Sosa-Nájera)....Pages 97-114 Integration of Landscape Approaches for the Spatial Reconstruction of Vegetation (Valerio Castro-López, Alejandro Velázquez, Gabriela Domínguez-Vázquez)....Pages 115-128 Volcanic Activity in Mexico During the Holocene (José L. Macías, José L. Arce)....Pages 129-170 Human Influence Versus Natural Climate Variability (Nuria Torrescano-Valle, Pablo J. Ramírez-Barajas, Gerald A. Islebe, Alejandro A. Vela-Pelaez, William J. Folan)....Pages 171-194 Holocene Paleoecology and Paleoclimatology of South and Southeastern Mexico: A Palynological and Geospatial Approach (Gerald A. Islebe, Alicia Carrillo-Bastos, Alejandro A. Aragón-Moreno, Mirna Valdez-Hernández, Nuria Torrescano-Valle, Nancy Cabanillas-Terán)....Pages 195-207 From Calakmul to the Sea: The Historical Ecology of a Classic Maya City That Controlled the Candelaria/Champoton Watersheds (Joel D. Gunn, William J. Folan, Nuria Torrescano-Valle, Betty B. Faust, Helga Z. Geovannini-Acuña, Alfred H. Siemens)....Pages 209-248 Lidar at El Pilar: Understanding Vegetation Above and Discovering the Ground Features Below in the Maya Forest (Anabel Ford, Sherman W. Horn III)....Pages 249-271 Back Matter ....Pages 273-280