Abstract
THE emergent view of Quaternary cold stage European landscapes dominated by open vegetation communities has led to the concept that tree populations occurred only in restricted sites (refugia) in southern Europe1–5, although there is still considerable uncertainty over the precise location and extent of such populations. Trees respond to Quaternary climatic change by spreading from refugia during interglacials, but at the end of an interglacial period there is no reverse migratory movement in the direction of refugia, as most northern populations degrade in situ. It has thus been proposed that survival of European trees through Quaternary climatic cycles is dependent on populations persisting continuously in southern Europe6. According to this model, it is these southern populations that furnish European interglacial forests with essentially the same components during the Quaternary and, moreover, it is failure to survive in these 'long-term refugia' that brings about a tree species' ultimate disappearance from Europe6. I present here a 430,000-year record of vegetational and climatic change from northwest Greece comparable to that of other long sequences, but exceptional in documenting the continuous presence of temperate tree pollen throughout the sequence. The levels and consistency of representation suggest the local occurrence of tree populations at fluctuating densities and distributions according to prevailing climatic regimes.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Frenzel, B. Science 161, 637–649 (1968).
Lang, G. Feddes Rep. 81, 315–335 (1970).
Van der Hammen, T., Wijmstra, T. A. & Zagwijn, W. H. in The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages (ed. Turekian, K. K.) 391–424 (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 1971).
Beug, H.-J. Biul. Geol. Warszawa 19, 101–110 (1975).
Huntley, B. & Birks, H. J. B. An Atlas of Past and Present Pollen Maps for Europe; 0–13,000 Years Ago (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1983).
Bennett, K. D., Tzedakis, P. C. & Willis, K. J. J. Biogeogr. 18, 103–115 (1991).
National Statistical Service of Greece Statistical Yearbook of Greece (Athens, 1951–1980).
Bottema, S. thesis, Univ. Groningen (1974).
Willis, K. J. New Phytol. 121, 101–117, 119–138, 139–155(1992).
Wijmstra, T. A. Acta bot. Neerl. 18, 511–527 (1969).
Wijmstra, T. A. & Smit, A. Acta bot. Neerl. 25, 297–312 (1976).
Van der Wiel, A. M. & Wijmstra, T. A. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 52, 73–88 (1987).
Van der Wiel, A. M. & Wijmstra, T. A. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 52, 89–117 (1987).
Tzedakis, P. C. thesis, Univ. Cambridge (1991).
Follieri, M., Magri, D. & Sadori, L. Pollen Spores 30, 329–356 (1988).
Woillard, G. Quat. Res. 9, 1–21 (1978).
Woillard, G. & Mook, W. Science 215, 159–161 (1982).
Beaulieu, J.-L. de & Reille, M. Boreas 133, 111–132 (1984).
Pons, A., Guiot, J., Beaulieu, J.-L. de & Reille, M. Quat. Sci. Rev. 11, 439–448 (1992).
Bottema, S. in Evaluation of Climate Proxy Data in Relation to the European Holocene (ed. Frenzel, B.) 64–79 (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz; European Science Foundation, Strasbourg; Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart, 1992).
Kutzbach, J. E. & Guetter, P. J. J. atmos. Sci. 43, 1726–1759 (1986).
Broccoli, A. J. & Manabe, S. Clim. Dynam. 1, 87–99 (1987).
COHMAP Members Science 241, 1043–1052 (1988).
Higgs, E. S., Vita-Finzi, C., Harris, D. R. & Fagg, A. E. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 33, 1–26 (1967).
Prentice, I. C., Guiot, J. & Harrison, S. P. Nature 360, 658–660 (1992).
Bennett, K. D. Paleobiology 16, 11–21 (1990).
Wright, H. E., Jr, MacAndrews, J. H. & van Zeist, W. J. Ecol. 5, 415–443 (1967).
Zeist, W. van & Bottema, S. Late Quaternary Vegetation of the Near East (Reichert, Wiesbaden, 1991).
Peterson, G. M. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2, 281–321 (1983).
Shackleton, N. J. & Pisias, N. G. in The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2: Natural Variations Archean to Present (eds Sundquist, E. T. & Broecker, W. S.) 303–317 (American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, 1985).
Ninkovich, D. & Shackleton, N. J. Earth planet Sci. Let. 27, 20–34 (1975).
Wijmstra, T. A. & Groenhart, M. C. Rev. Acad. Colomb. Exactas, Fisi. Nat 15, 87–98 (1984).
Troels-Smith, J. Dan. Geol. Unders. IV Raekke 3, 1–73 (1975).
Martinson, D. G. et al. Quat. Res. 27, 1–29 (1987).
Imbrie, J. et al. in Milankovitch and Climate (eds Berger, A., Imbrie, J., Hays, J., Kukla, G. & Saltzman, B.) 269–306 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1984).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tzedakis, P. Long-term tree populations in northwest Greece through multiple Quaternary climatic cycles. Nature 364, 437–440 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/364437a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/364437a0
This article is cited by
-
Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of SE Europe–NW Asia according to pollen records in three offshore cores from the Black and Marmara seas
Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments (2021)
-
Past, present and future suitable areas for the relict tree Pterocarya fraxinifolia (Juglandaceae): Integrating fossil records, niche modeling, and phylogeography for conservation
European Journal of Forest Research (2021)
-
800 ka of Palaeoenvironmental changes in the Southwestern Mediterranean realm
Journal of Iberian Geology (2020)
-
Formation of disjunct plant distributions in Northeast Asia: a case study of Betula davurica using a species distribution model
Plant Ecology (2018)
-
Potential effects of climate change on geographic distribution of the Tertiary relict tree species Davidia involucrata in China
Scientific Reports (2017)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.