First fossil evidence of an “interglacial refugium” in the Pyrenean region

• Published in: Die Naturwissenschaften Vol. 97; no. 8; pp. 753 - 761
• Main Authors: López-García, Juan Manuel, Blain, Hugues-Alexandre, Allué, Ethel, Bañuls, Sandra, Bargalló, Amelia, Martín, Patricia, Morales, Juan Ignacio, Pedro, Mireia, Rodríguez, Anna, Solé, Alex, Oms, F. Xavier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01.08.2010; Springer-Verlag
• Subjects: Altitude; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Climate; Environment; Fossils; Geography; Greenland; Iberian peninsula; Ice; Ice Cover; Interglacial refugium; Latest pleistocene to holocene; Life Sciences; Mediterranean Sea; Original Paper; Pyrenean region; Rodentia - classification; Seasons; Small-vertebrates; Spain; Vertebrates - classification; Mediterranean Sea; Greenland; Spain; Small-vertebrates; Iberian peninsula; Interglacial refugium; Pyrenean region; Latest pleistocene to holocene
• ISSN: 0028-1042; 1432-1904
• DOI: 10.1007/s00114-010-0695-6

A refugium is generally understood as an area where temperate species survive cold periods, such as the Iberian, Italian, or Balkan Peninsulas in Europe. Strictly speaking, this definition refers to what is known as a glacial refugium. However, there are various types of lesser-known refugia such as the interglacial refugium, which denotes a mountainous region at low latitudes, such as the Pyrenees, where species adapted to the cold survive during interstadial periods. The small-vertebrate association from the sequence of Cova Colomera, which is located on the southern face of the Pyrenees and contains the final cold spell of the Late Pleistocene and the beginnings of the temperate period in which we currently find ourselves (the Holocene), could constitute the first fossil evidence of such an interglacial refugium, thus providing new paleoecological data on the phenomenon.