The proposed coordinated project aims to reconstruct the ecological dynamics of the resiniferous forests that gave rise to the Early Cretaceous amber deposits from Iberia, in the framework of the global changes, both climatic and paleogeographic, that took place during the transition from the Early to the Late Cretaceous. As the study scopes are completely transversal, and for an improved economic and scientific management, we propose to carry out this project in a coordinated way between a team based at the University of Barcelona directed by X. Delclòs and a team based at the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España directed by E. Barrón. The multidisciplinary, international team herein applying will study the geology (stratigraphy and sedimentology), taphonomy, geochemistry (including chemotaxonomy), paleobotany (macro- and mesoremains, palynology, microinclusions), paleozoology (systematics and phylogeny), and paleoecology associated to Iberian amber and the outcrops in which it is found. Integration of all these data, also using statistical methods, and comparison with other contemporary outcrops (like the French and Lebanese ones) will allow to obtain a trustworthy environmental reconstruction of the ecosystems linked to Cretaceous resiniferous forests. These tasks will be complemented, first, by an archeological study on Iberian amber, and second, by a special emphasis on scientific dissemination.

This proposal represents a step forward regarding the three former projects on Cretaceous amber from Spain, consecutively funded in public calls. The most significant novelties of the proposed project are: