Name: Aixa Tosal Alcobé

Title: Post-doctoctoral position in Chengdu University of Technology

Email: tosal@cdut.edu.cn

Laboratory: Paleoceanography, Paleoclimate, and Paleontology Laboratory

Personal Profile:

Aixa Tosal was graduated in Geology at the University of Barcelona. She continued her studies with a Paleontology master's degree that allowed her to access the PhD school where she obtained a national fellowship.

Her scientific career focuses on continental Cenozoic deposits and the interaction between vegetation and climate. Her doctoral dissertation (2019, Excellent Cum Laude) focused on the taxonomy of fossil vascular plants, their taphonomy, and the paleoecology and paleoclimatic analysis of two paleobotanical sites spanning the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT) in Catalonia, Spain. Part of her scientific training was completed by short stays at universities and research centers in Hungary (2016), Austria (2018) and France (2017-2019). Later, she obtained a two-year post-doctoral fellowship (“Margarita Salas”) in France (2022-2023) and then in Spain (2023-2024). The aim was to recognize the paleoecological changes of floristic communities in SW Europe during the EOT. In parallel, she expanded this research line to the study of paleoclimate and its relationship with paleoaltitude in the Neogene, specifically in the Vallesian of La Cerdanya (eastern Pyrenees).

Since 2016 she has published 14 publications (10 as first author) on peer review journals, 2 book chapters and 23 conference papers, 11 of which she was first author. She co-organized the biannual Congress of the International Organization of Agora Paleobotanica (September 2023), and two symposia at international congresses: the International Organisation of Paleobotany Congress (Prague, May 2024) and the Palaeontological Virtual Congress (May 2023). She has participated several research projects mainly from Spain and obtained one international project, SYNTHESIS+. Since 2022, she is Secretary of the International Organization Agora Paleobotanica, a network of approximately 50 paleobotanists mainly from Western Europe.

Work experience:

2025-present-day: Post-doctoral fellowship from Chengdu University of Technology

2025: Curator and head of the department of Paleobotany in Royal Botanical Garden of Córdoba (Spain).

2024-2025: Assistant professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

2022-2024: Post-doctoral fellowship "Margarita Salas". Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle from Paris (France) and the University of Barcelona (Spain). Spanish Ministry of Universities.

Education:

2024-2025: Master's in Teacher Training for Secondary Education. University of Barcelona (Spain).

2016-2019: PhD in Earth Sciences. International doctorate with honorable mention. University of Barcelona (Spain).

2013- 2014: Master’s degree in Paleontology. Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).

2008-2013: Bachelor’s degree in Geology. University of Barcelona (Spain).

Primary research areas:

Plant taphonomy, Geology, sedimentology, paleoecology, paleoclimate, paleobiogeography, fossil leaves, palaeoenvironment.

Selected honors received:

2020: Grant from Fundació Pedro i Pons grant. Learning the peeling technique and describing the anatomy of fossil woods in Montpellier.

2020: Prize for doctoral thesis written in Catalan.

2017: Grant from Fundació Pedro i Pons grant. Learning the CLAMP method at MNHN Paris.

2017: Prize for the best oral presentation at the Agora Paleobotanica international conference.

Research projects (Principal Investigator/Participant):

▪ Leader of an international project (SYNTHESYS project FR-TAF-8189 with European funding).

▪ Participation in 7 research projects: 5 national (Spanish) and 1 international. Current projects:

2020-2025: IBERINSULA. Spanish Ministry of Science. Leaders: C. Martín-Closas and T. Bover.

2025-2029: IBERCAFO. Spanish Ministry of Science. Leaders: T. Bover and J. Sanjuan.

Selected publications

Tosal, A., Vicente, A., Denk, T., 2025. Cenozoic Ampelopsis and Nekemias leaves (Vitaceae, Ampelopsideae) from Eurasia: Paleobiogeographic and paleoclimatic implications. Journal of Systematics and Evolution, 63(2), 379−400.

Tosal, A., Tanrattana, M., Fournier, F., De Franceschi D., Del Rio, C., Martín-Closas, C., Lettéron, A., Semmani, N., Boura, A., 2023a. Plant palaeoecology of the latest Eocene flora from the Saint-Chaptes and Alès basins of Gard, southern France. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 627, 111740.

Tosal, A., Coward, S.R., Casanovas-Vilar, I., Martín-Closas. C., 2022a. Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the late Miocene macroflora of La Bisbal d'Empordà (Catalonia, Spain). Comparison with small mammals. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 297C, 104583.

Tosal, A., Verduzco, O., Martín-Closas, C., 2021. CLAMP-based palaeoclimatic analysis of the late Miocene (Tortonian) flora from La Cerdanya Basin of Catalonia, Spain, and an estimation of the palaeoaltitude of the eastern Pyrenees. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 564, 110186.

Tosal, A., Valero, L., Sanjuan, J., Martín-Closas, C., 2019a. Influence of short- and long-term climatic cycles on floristic change across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in the Ebro Basin (Catalonia, Spain). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 18, 925−947.

Tosal, A., Sanjuan, J., Martín-Closas, C., 2019b. Foliar adaptations of Rhus asymmetrica sp. nov. from the Oligocene of Cervera (Catalonia, Spain). Palaeoclimatic implications. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 261, 67−80.

Tosal, A., Sanjuan, J., Cartanyà, J., Martín-Closas, C., 2018. Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the uppermost Eocene flora from Sarral (Eastern Ebro Basin). Palaeoclimatic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology, 497, 66−81.

Tosal, A., Martín-Closas, C., 2016. Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the Oligocene flora from Cervera (Catalonia, Spain) and their implication in palaeoclimatic reconstruction. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 233, 93−103