Quaternary disappearance of tree taxa from Southern Europe: Timing and trends

Abstract

A hundred pollen and plant macrofossil records from the Iberian Peninsula, Southern France, the Italian\ud Peninsula, Greece and the Aegean, and the southwestern Black Sea area formed the basis for a review of\ud the Quaternary distribution and extirpation of tree populations from Southern Europe. Following a\ud discussion of the caveats/challenges about using pollen data, the Quaternary history of tree taxa has been\ud reconstructed with attention to Taxodium/Glyptostrobus, Sciadopitys, Cathaya, Cedrus, Tsuga, Eucommia,\ud Engelhardia, Carya, Pterocarya, Parrotia, Liquidambar, and Zelkova. The timing of extinction, distributed\ud over the whole Quaternary, appears very diverse from one region to the other, in agreement with current\ud biodiversity in Southern Europe. The geographical patterns of persistence/disappearance of taxa show\ud unexpected trends and rule out a simple North to South and/or West to East trend in extirpations. In\ud particular, it is possible to detect disjunct populations (Engelhardia), long-term persistence of taxa in\ud restricted regions (Sciadopitys), distinct populations/species/genera in different geographical areas\ud (Taxodium type). Some taxa that are still widespread in Europe have undergone extirpation in Mediterranean\ud areas in the lateglacial period and Holocene (Buxus, Carpinus betulus, Picea); they provide an\ud indication of the modes of disappearance of tree populations that may be useful to evaluate correctly the\ud vulnerability of modern fragmented plant populations. The demographic histories of tree taxa obtained\ud by combined palaeobotanical and genetic studies is a most challenging field of research needed not only\ud to assess species/population differentiation, but also to reach a better understanding of extinction processes,\ud an essential task in the current global change scenario

Oaks: an evolutionary success story

“…On more recent time‐frames, tree species extinction at the Pliocene–Pleistocene transition had profound impacts on microevolution of Pleistocene tree populations. Extinction of tree species was severe up to the Middle Pleistocene, then dramatically reduced during more recent periods (Svenning, ; Magri et al , ). As is the case for other woody genera (Latham & Ricklefs, ), the fossil record indicates widespread European oak extinction beginning at the Pliocene (Barrón et al , ).…”

“…Across trees, more cold‐tolerant genera, as judged by the temperature requirements of their living relatives in Europe, persisted into the Pleistocene in Europe (Svenning, ). While the early Pleistocene extinctions may have severely constrained expansion of Quercus and other tree genera in Europe, oaks rapidly became the dominant genus across the continent in the late Pleistocene (Magri et al , ; Goni et al , ), during both glacial and interglacial periods (Tzedakis, ; Tzedakis et al , ). This appears not to have been a macroevolutionary (speciation) process, as the Eurasian species mostly predate the Pleistocene.…”

Palynostratigraphy and genesis of upper cretaceous and Cenozoic deposits in the southern part of the Kulunda depression, Altai region

“…Спорово-пыльцевые спектры на 80-90% состоят из пыльцы покрытосеменных растений, что говорит о накоплении осадка в прибрежной части бассейна. Высокий процент участия пыльцы рода Liquidambar указывает на то, что территории, прилегавшие к бассейну седиментации, представляли собой низинные, временами затопляемые, возможно, болотистые равнины (Magri et al, 2017); климат был умеренно-теплый и влажный.…”

One hundred years of Quaternary pollen analysis 1916–2016

“…Building on the classic work of Jessen and Milthers (1928), interglacial pollen stratigraphy developed rapidly with detailed studies in many parts of Europe (see EDM Table 6). Watts (1988) provides a valuable review of interglacial studies in Europe and Magri et al (2017) explore in detail the regional extinction of tree taxa in different interglacials in southern Europe.…”