Glacial relict

A photo of a flowering shrub - the photo centers on a single white flower at the end of a branch with red leaves (as the photo was taken in the autumn).
The Franklin tree is an example of a glacial relict species from the Southeastern USA. It went extinct in the wild in the early 19th century due to a changing climate, inability to spread outside of its limited range, and limited environmental tolerance. The species survives today as a cultivated garden plant.

A glacial relict is a population of a species previously common during a glacial period that retreated into refugia during interglacial periods.[1] They are typically cold-adapted species with a distribution restricted to regions and microhabitats that allow them to survive despite climatic changes.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Dítě, Daniel; Hájek, Michal; Svitková, Ivana; Košuthová, Alica; Šoltés, Rudolf; Kliment, Ján (September 2018). "Glacial-relict symptoms in the Western Carpathian flora". Folia Geobotanica. 53 (3): 277–300. doi:10.1007/s12224-018-9321-8.
  2. ^ Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja; García-Calvo, Laura; García, Pedro; Acebes, José Luis (2016). "Anticipating extinctions of glacial relict populations in mountain refugia". Biological Conservation. 201: 243–251. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.07.015.