The comparison between modern terrestrial and marine pollen signals in and off western Iberia shows that marine pollen assemblages give an integrated image of the regional vegetation colonising the adjacent continent. Present-day Mediterranean and Atlantic forest communities of Iberia are well discriminated by south and north marine pollen spectra, respectively. Results from Total Pollen Concentration together with recognized conceptual models of fine particle dynamics in the Iberian margin have allowed us to establish the present-day pattern of pollen dispersion in this region.