Original scientific paper

Growing evidence for the existence of glacial refugia of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in the south-eastern Alps and north-western Dinaric Alps

ROBERT BRUS ; Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ve~na pot 83, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract

Background and Purpose: It is widely accepted that south-European
peninsulas were major refugial areas from where European beech, Fagus sylvatica L., spread to the rest of Europe in the Holocene. The aim of this paper is to review and evaluate all the available data and present different types of evidence, some of them new or overlooked until now, to support the hypothesis on the existence of glacial refugia of European beech further to the north, in the south-eastern Alps and north-western Dinaric Alps in the Pleistocene, and on rapid development of these populations in the Holocene.

Material and Methods: Numerous published pollen diagrams and palynological research as well as reports of macroscopic plant remains, mainly charcoal from Paleolithic sites, were analyzed to examine the presence of European beech in the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Data on genetic variation of beech populations from central and southeastern Europe were analyzed to investigate their genetic structure and differentiation. Additionally, the distribution of several taxonomically rather isolated herbaceous species, characteristic for mesophilous beech communities from the studied area, was analyzed.

Results and Conclusions: In the south-eastern Alps and north-western
Dinaric Alps, the presence of beech in the Early and Late Pleistocene is confirmed by pollen records, and macrofossils, such as beech charcoal dating up to 70 ka BP, which have been excavated in several Paleolithic sites. Genetic investigations have revealed larger genetic diversity in the north-western populations, including those from the south-eastern Alps, while levels of genetic multiplicity and differentiation were highest in the Balkan Peninsula. Presented data support the hypothesis that some microrefugia in this area were inhabited with beech continuously through the last glacial period.
These populations must have played an important role in the colonization of central and western Europe in the Holocene, and possibly spread southeast toward the Balkan Peninsula. This scenario is supported by the specific local distribution of several herbaceous species, which are character- and diagnostic species of recent beech communities from this area. This demonstrates that hytogeographical and phytosociological characteristics of herbaceous plants can indirectly support the reconstruction of the history of a tree species.

Keywords

Fagus sylvatica L.; glacial refugia; south-eastern Alps; north-western Dinaric Alps

Hrčak ID:

58182

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/58182

Publication date:

1.9.2010.

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