MAMMALS, VEGETATION AND CLIMATE DURING THE LAST TEN MILLION YEAR IN THE MOST SOUTHWESTERN EXTREME OF THE EUROPA (BETIC CORDILLERA)

Abstract

The capacity of mammal morphology to conserve indirect vestiges of habitats in which they live makes morphology a perennial factor, capable of identifying past habitats as a consequence of the fact that, for energy laws, morphologies are designed to seek the lowest energy consumption according to the ecological function that they serve, and derive the greatest benefit for the individual. The more similar the ecological functions of individuals are in all their energy parameters, the greater will be the resemblance in form of the organ that carries out these identical ecological functions. The Biocenogram method consists of a double-entry table relating: (1) vegetation, defined by their greater or lesser capacity of being food and shelter for mammals. (2) Mammal species from the area studied. (3) Quantity of benefit (energy) that mammals gain from their habitats. The biocenogram uses the plant habitats as an intermediate premise of the relationship between mammal morphology and climatic conditions, made explicit using the climatic categories cold, warm, wet, dry. These are quantified in temperature by the parameters Warm (Wa) and Cold (Co), and in the wet rainy weather by the parameters Wet (We) and Dry (Dr). The morphoclimatic parameters is a data group was unknown until the time that the biocenogram method was proposed. The system of morphoclimatic units: Mammal Climatic Unit, abbreviated (MCU or mcu).This is defined as the minimum climatic conditions ( the wet rainy weather in mm/year and temperature in ºC) existing in a habitat of minimum surface area (expressed in m2), where a morphological unit (body mass in Kg/m2) represented by a single mammal species living under the same conditions of use and viability (expressed in Joules: Kg m2/s), and which in practice are identified with a constant number of individuals in the population, or with a growth equal to 0.