Origin and Evolution of Caribbean Mangroves

Valentí Rull is biologist with a PhD in Paleoecology. During the last 40 years, VR has used past ecological evidence to address topics such as i) the type and characteristics of biotic responses to environmental change; ii) the role of human and climatic drivers as causes of ecological change; iii) the role of tectonics, paleogeography and climate change on the origin of biodiversity; iv) hypothesis testing on long-term ecological processes; and v) predictions of biotic responses to possible future climate scenarios. VR has conducted his research on several temperate, tropical and subtropical regions, including the northern tropical Andes, the Orinoco lowlands and delta, the Guayana region, the Maracaibo basin, Easter Island, the Azores Islands and the Pyrenees. Dr. Rull has published 14 books and more than 300 articles, and is listed in the Stanford World's Top 0.5% paleontologists and Top 10 palynologists (career-long and last-year versions).

• Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. The Caribbean Mangroves Today.- Chapter 3. Eocene Origin.- Chapter 4. Oligocene Revolution.- Chapter 5. Neogene Diversification.- Chapter 6. The Pelliciera Taxon Cycle: a Time-Continuum Integrative Synthesis.- Chapter 7. Quaternary Shifts and Anthropization.- Chapter 8. Rise and Fall: Summary and Conservation Insights.