Mònica Aguilera

Universitat de Lleida | UDL · Department of Vegetal Production and Forestry Science

The appearance of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent propelled the development of Western civilization. Here we investigate the evolution of agronomic conditions in this region by reconstructing cereal kernel weight and using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures of kernels and charcoal from a set of 11 Upper Mesopotamia archaeological sit...

Stable isotopes in tree rings provide climatic information with annual resolution dating back for centuries or even millennia. However, deriving spatially explicit climate models from isotope networks remains challenging. Here we propose a methodology to model regional precipitation from carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) in tree rings by (1) bui...

Climate conditions during the early Holocene may have contributed to the spread of Old World agriculture from its area of birth, in the Fertile Crescent (Near East), west through the Mediterranean Basin. Reconstructing the specific environmental conditions existing in early agricultural settlements of the western Mediterranean may help to elucidate...

Precipitation has been of utmost importance in shaping the evolution of landscapes and human settlements in the Mediterranean. However, information on seasonal precipitation patterns through the Holocene is scarce. This study attempts to quantify the evolution of seasonal precipitation in the East Iberian Peninsula (5000 BC to AD 600) based on the...

We present a novel approach to study the sustainability of ancient Mediterranean agriculture that combines the measurement of carbon isotope discrimination (Delta(13)C) and nitrogen isotope composition (delta(15)N) along with the assessment of quality traits in fossil cereal grains. Charred grains of naked wheat and barley were recovered in Los Cas...

Archaeological plant remains are a valuable source of information about the social and environmental conditions experienced by past societies. Full exploitation of the informative potential of plant remains involves the use of analytical techniques. In this context, carbon isotope composition of archaeobotanical remains may give clues on the enviro...

The potential for using smartphones extends to forest inventory. Several applications allow the estimation of basal areas, transforming the device into a low-cost virtual relascope. The accuracy of the Bitterlich relascope application was analysed using four low-performance devices. The results were compared with those of a Spiegel Relaskop. The me...

The study of ancient herd-feeding systems is essential to investigate livestock management and the interactions of humans with domestic animals and past environments. This topic for historic periods has recently been investigated through dental microwear analyses. This approach, however, must be used with caution, as it is based on comparisons of e...

A shift from temperature-limited to water-limited tree performance is occurring at around 60°N latitude across the circumboreal biome, in concord with current warming trends. This shift is likely to induce extensive vegetation changes and forest die-back, and also to exacerbate biotic outbreaks and wildfires, affecting the global carbon budget. We...

Submediterranean forests are considered an ecotone between Mediterranean and Eurosiberian ecosystems, and are very sensitive to global change. A decline of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and a related expansion of oak species (Quercus spp.) have been reported in the Spanish Pre-Pyrenees. Although this has been associated with increasing drought s...

Although the frequency of pastoral activities involving vertical sheep mobility has decreased over the last century, this is a herding strategy still used in the Ebro basin, where animals move from overwintering valley locations up to the Pyrenees from late spring to early autumn. Such practice allows herders to avoid the worst climatic conditions,...

Considerable archaeobotanical datasets describe cereal cultivation in north-eastern France, from the Iron Age to the Roman period. This study aims to complement these by using stable isotope analysis on charred cereal grains. Soil fertility was investigated through δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C analyses of 1480 charred cereal grains, dated from the Late La Tène to...

Depuis les débuts de l’agriculture, un des grands défis des systèmes agricoles a été d’assurer l’équilibre alimentaire de populations en expansion constante, quels que soient les moyens de production et les retombées nuisibles pour l’environnement. Cette surexploitation des ressources naturelles a entraîné une diminution de la qualité et de la fert...

Cet ouvrage rassemble quelques-unes des contributions proposées lors d’un séminaire international tenu à Paris les 16 et 17 mars 2015 dans le cadre du programme européen “Rurland”, financé par l’European Research Council (ERC). L’objectif était d’analyser et de comparer un certain nombre de territoires limités, mais archéologiquement bien documenté...

This study aims to shed light on past farming practices in Northern France (Île-de-France and Champagne) by integrating archaeobotanical, archaeozoological and stable isotope data on crops and animal bone remains. Cultivation strategies were investigated through the analysis of stable nitrogen isotope composition (δ 15 N) of archaeological crop see...

Tree-ring studies have been used for over fifty years to date and quantify past flood events. Stable C and O isotopes in tree-rings have also been extensively applied to the reconstruction of past environmental conditions and their changes over time. However, the two approaches have not previously been combined. In this study we explore whether the...

Identifying how physiological responses are structured across environmental gradients is critical to understanding in what manner ecological factors determine tree performance. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal patterns of signal strength of carbon isotope discrimination (Δ(13)C) and oxygen isotope composition (δ(18)O) for three deciduous oa...

As a general rule, no isotopic fractionation occurs during water uptake and water transport, thus, xylem water reflects source water. However, this correspondence does not always happen. Isotopic enrichment of xylem water has been found in several cases and has been either associated to “stem processes” like cuticular evaporation and xylem-phloem c...

Climate conditions during the early Holocene may have contributed to the spread of Old World agriculture from its area of birth, in the Fertile Crescent (Near East), west through the Mediterranean Basin. Reconstructing the specific environmental conditions existing in early agricultural settlements of the western Mediterranean may help to elucidate...

Winter-drought induced forest diebacks in the low-latitude margins of species' distribution ranges can provide new insights into the mechanisms (carbon starvation, hydraulic failure) underlying contrasting tree reactions. We analysed a winter-drought induced dieback at the Scots pine's southern edge through a dual-isotope approach (Δ(13) C and δ(18...

Carbon isotope composition (delta13C) in tree-rings has become routinely used in palaeoclimatic research for the assessment of changes in water availability in seasonally dry climates. Long tree-ring chronologies, however, are relatively scarce, whereas the original climate signal of wood delta13C is usually well preserved in fossil charcoal [1, 4]...

Carbon isotope composition (delta C-13) in tree-rings has become routinely used in palaeoclimatic research for the assessment of changes in plant water availability in seasonally dry climates. However, the distribution of long tree-ring records around the world is very limited. Alternatively, the original climate signal of wood delta C-13 is well p...

In the Mediterranean region, the presence of mixed stands of evergreen and deciduous species such as Quercus ilex and Q. faginea is common. In this work we aim to analyze their differential response to seasonal climatic fluctuations using the carbon isotope composition in leaf soluble organic matter (delta 13C l) and in wood alpha-cellulose (delta...