Molecular Analysis of Plant Migration and Refugia in the Arctic

The arctic flora is thought to have originated during the late Tertiary, approximately 3 million years ago. Plant migration routes during colonization of the Arctic are currently unknown, and uncertainty remains over where arctic plants survived Pleistocene glaciations. A phylogenetic analysis of ch...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Abbott, Richard J., Smith, Lisa C., Milne, Richard I., Crawford, Robert M. M., Wolff, Kirsten, Balfour, Jean
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2000
Subjects:
Arctic
Purple saxifrage
Saxifraga oppositifolia
Beringia
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5483.1343
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.289.5483.1343
Description
Summary:The arctic flora is thought to have originated during the late Tertiary, approximately 3 million years ago. Plant migration routes during colonization of the Arctic are currently unknown, and uncertainty remains over where arctic plants survived Pleistocene glaciations. A phylogenetic analysis of chloroplast DNA variation in the purple saxifrage ( Saxifraga oppositifolia ) indicates that this plant first occurred in the Arctic in western Beringia before it migrated east and west to achieve a circumpolar distribution. The geographical distribution of chloroplast DNA variation in the species supports the hypothesis that, during Pleistocene glaciations, some plant refugia were located in the Arctic as well as at more southern latitudes.

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