Ice age refugia and quaternary extinctions: an issue of quaternary evolutionary palaeoecology

Abstract

Quaternary palaeoecology, as a discipline, involves the analysis of a large range of fossil organisms from the last ca. 2 million years. This paper considers the role that these Quaternary records can take in better understanding the evolution of those organisms. We also discuss the surprisingly low uptake of evolutionary biology in Quaternary palaeoecological studies. This leads us to encourage an advance on both these fronts with a greater degree of collaboration with phylogeographic and ancient DNA researchers. These discussions accompany a summary of a special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews representing the proceedings of the XVII INQUA held in Cairns Australia in 2007. This special issue includes papers on a wide variety of Quaternary evolutionary palaeoecological and population dynamic subjects including extinct Pacific Island palm trees, Beringian beetles, Scandinavian trees, and the effects on human and animal populations of an extraterrestrial impact event in the Late Glacial of North America. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.