How Pocket Refuges helped in the Transition between Glacial and Interglacial and How They Will Help Us Understand Future Transitions Due to Global War

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During the last ice age, a large glacier reigned over Canada and the northern United States. Plants and animals found within these regions shifted over time into areas that were free of ice and established themselves until the ice retreated. These areas were known as glacial refugia (Dyke, Moore , et al, 2003). A refugium is an isolated location inhabited with a segregated population of one or more species. Areas like these can be found in all corners of the earth and can contain very high amounts of biodiversity. These refugia form during climatic changes, such as global warming and may also form during changes in geography or human activity, such as deforestation (Leonard and Hogan, 2013). Forest pocket refuges are a specific kind of refuge that has a substantial impact on the distribution of the earth’s major forests. Pocket refuges provided a haven for forest migration during the glacial retreat from the Pleistocene to the Holocene era. Without these unique locations, many tree species would not have survived the climate shifts of the glacial period (Delcourt, 2002). Finding these pocket refuges today opens up a window into the past, but how can they be used in order to predict the future?
Forest pocket refuges are located all around the globe. A study was done by Buso and Pessenda regarding the regions of the Atlantic forest in Brazil. The experiment used sediment palynology and carbon isotopes of SOM to study vegetation dynamics and their relationship with climate changes. Other studies, based on molecular phylogeography and patterns of plant taxa distribution, have suggested that the Atlantic Forest was a forest refuge during the late Quaternary period (Busco, Pessenda, et al, 2013).. This evidence showed fo...

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Kreft H, Koster N, Kuper W, Nieder J, Barthlott W. Diversity and biogeography of vascular epiphytes in Western Amazonia, Yasuní, Ecuador. Journal Of Biogeography. September 2004;31(9):1463-1476.
Lafleur B, Paré D, Munson A, Bergeron Y. Response of northeastern North American forests to climate change: Will soil conditions constrain tree species migration?. Environmental Reviews. March 2010;18(1):279-289

Leonard, Neahga, and C. Michael Hogan. "Refugia." Refugia. The Encyclopedia of Earth, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. Mar. 2014.
Meier E, Lischke H, Schmatz D, Zimmermann N. Climate, competition and connectivity affect future migration and ranges of European trees. Global Ecology & Biogeography. February 2012;21(2):164-178.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Epiphyte (plant Type)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Sept. 2012. Web. Mar. 2014.

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