Late Quaternary extinction of a tree species in eastern North America

AUTOR(ES)

Jackson, Stephen T.

FONTE

The National Academy of Sciences

RESUMO

Widespread species- and genus-level extinctions of mammals in North America and Europe occurred during the last deglaciation [16,000–9,000 yr B.P. (by 14C)], a period of rapid and often abrupt climatic and vegetational change. These extinctions are variously ascribed to environmental change and overkill by human hunters. By contrast, plant extinctions since the Middle Pleistocene are undocumented, suggesting that plant species have been able to respond to environmental changes of the past several glacial/interglacial cycles by migration. We provide evidence from morphological studies of fossil cones and anatomical studies of fossil needles that a now-extinct species of spruce (Picea critchfieldii sp. nov.) was widespread in eastern North America during the Last Glacial Maximum. P. critchfieldii was dominant in vegetation of the Lower Mississippi Valley, and extended at least as far east as western Georgia. P. critchfieldii disappeared during the last deglaciation, and its extinction is not directly attributable to human activities. Similarly widespread plant species may be at risk of extinction in the face of future climate change.

Documentos Relacionados

• Genetic footprints of demographic expansion in North America, but not Amazonia, during the Late Quaternary
• Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands
• Forest losses predict bird extinctions in eastern North America.
• Distribution of the Ixodes ricinus-like ticks of eastern North America.
• Molecular characterisation of Bartonella species in cats from São Luís, state of Maranhão, north-eastern Brazil