Detection of the Most Probable Pleistocene Microrefugia on the Northern Macroslope of the Khamar-Daban Ridge (Southern Prebaikalia)
V. V. CHEPINOGA1,2, M. V. PROTOPOPOVA3, V. V. PAVLICHENKO3
1V. B. Sochava Insitute of Geography, SB RAS, 664033, Irkutsk, Ulan-Batorskaya str., 1
2Irkutsk State University, 664003, Irkusk, Karl Marks str., 1
3Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, SB RAS, 664033, Irkutsk, Lermontova str., 132
Keywords: неморальный реликт, неморальный рефугиум, рефугиальная зона, реликтовые растения, хребет Хамар-Дабан, nemoral relict, nemoral refugium, refugial zone, relict plant species, Khamar-Daban Ridge
Abstract
Currently, the natural zone of broad-leaved (nemoral) forests in Eurasia has a wide disjunction that falls on the most continental part of Siberia. However, there are several well-distinguished sites of high concentration (refugia) of nemoral relict species on the foothills of some mountains in South Siberia. The easternmost refugium is the northern macroslope of the Khamar-Daban Ridge. We analyzed present-day distribution of 27 nemoral relict plant species on the Khamar-Daban Ridge to detect the most probable Pleistocene microrefugia. Our results revealed that the microrefugia are most probably confined to the valleys of the Utulik, Babkha, Snezhnaya, Pereemnaya and Mishikha rivers. Based on the ranges of species within the distinguished microrefugia, six groups of relicts were identified. Evidently, species from those groups differed in their survival strategies during glaciations, as well as subsequent reexpansion during the interglacial time.
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