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| Cistus libanotis, an endemic plant of southwestern Iberian Peninsula |
The Iberian Peninsula was a major Pleistocene Glacial Refugia in Southern Europe, a location where temperate species managed to survive throughout the Ice Ages.The very high level of endemism found in both plants and animals also suggests Iberia supported genetic differentiation as well as serving as a species repository for the northern latitudes of Europe after the Pleistocene Hewitt (1999).
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| The Iberian Peninsula - A Glacial Cradle
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Chaffinch (Fringella Coelebs) widespread emigrant from the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula located on the western edge of Europe has several large zonal (east-west) mountain ranges with a wide range of microclimates offering easy access to altitudinal shifts during rapidly-changing millennial climate events.
It is a large 580,000 square km region, whose climate is impacted by both the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In this region are found multiple climates: Desert, Mediterranean, Atlantic and Alpine. For this reason, it is believed that there were multiple glacial refugia isolated by the harsh Pleistocene climate of the high central Iberian Plateau.
The Iberian Peninsula soils have supported amazing floristic diversity. Studies of Iberian refugia plant taxa are ongong but there is some evidence of the Iberian Peninsula being a glacial refugia for ivy (Hedera, ssp), white oaks (Quercus, ssp), black alder (Alnus, ssp), silver fir (Aconitum lycoctonum), among others.
Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris) - a tree that cannot withstand drought and that requires humidity - is believed to have survived the Pleistocene glaciations and is today found at 1000-2000 meters in Iberian Peninsula Mountains - but it is not part of the postglacial colonization of northern Europe. Four species of white oak(Quercus) are also believed to be Iberian refugia Gomez and Lunt (2007)
Carsten Neihaus photographer (2004)
Next week, more on Mediterranean Region as a glacial refugia during the last Pleniglacial.
Hi Michele,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post - you paint a beautiful picture of the Iberian Peninsula through your descriptions. I was wondering if the appearance of migrant species after the ice age had any effect on the populations of temperate species the survived throughout the ice age?
Thanks
Elena
Thanks, Elena for yr overly generous words. To answer your question, Tzedakis et al. believe that the populations of temperate species were restricted to latitudes lower than 45 degrees north, leaving much of the colder north to boreal forests. Europe suffered high extinction rates during the Quaternary because of harsh climatic impacts. Thus there were probably plenty of vacant niches for migrant species to fill as the climate warmed in the Holocene.
DeleteHi Michele,
ReplyDeleteWow, what beautiful creatures you describe again, I'm looking forward to your next post. Also, I'd be interested in an answer to Elena's question, and I'd like to know, you say the white oaks are believed to be glacial refugia. Is there anything that would contest that belief? And what would classify them otherwise?
Cheers,
Larissa
Thanks, Larissa for your interest. Oaks vanished during the time of the full glacial, reappearing as the climate warmed even in North American pollen records, where continentality buffered the harshest of glacial effects. Recent genetic studies of oaks from the Iberian Peninsula, has confirmed both the outward migration and genetic diversity of white oaks emigrating to England as well as moving in an east and northeasterly direction out into Europe.
ReplyDelete