Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts
Lowland valleys shelter the ancient conifer Fitzroya cupressoides
in the Central Depression of southern Chile
Andrea C. Premoli1, R. Vergara2*, C. P. Souto1,
A. Lara2, and A. C. Newton3
1Universidad National del Comahue, Centro Regional Universitario
Bariloche,
Quintral 1250, 8400 Bariloche, Argentina.
Email: apremoli@crub.uncoma.edu.ar
2Universidad Austral de Chile, Insituto de Silvicultura, Casilla
567, Valdivia, Chile.
*Present address: Laboratory of Molecular Systematics, FLMNH, Dickinson Hall,
University of Florida,
P.O. Box 117800, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
3School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University,
Talbot Campus,
Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK.
Abstract The location of glacial refugia of tree taxa
in Patagonia is determined primarily using data from the fossil pollen record.
These data suggest that cold-tolerant conifers such as Fitzroya cupressoides
probably survived the Last Glacial Maximum in coastal areas of southern Chile,
where vegetation types corresponded to those currently found at relatively
high altitudes in the Chilean Coastal Range. Much of this region is thought
to have been covered by ice. However, the question remains whether F.
cupressoides could have persisted locally in ice-free areas within the
Central Depression of Chile. In this area, the species has been almost eliminated
by human activities that have occurred since the 16th century. Geographic
patterns of isozyme variation within 21 populations of F. cupressoides
indicated that lowland populations showed high within-population isozyme
variation. In addition, lowland populations were clearly differentiated genetically
from those on the coast or in the Andes. These results strongly suggest that
populations of F. cupressoides persisted in the Central Depression
throughout glacial times. This implies that ice caps in the south-western
Andes were probably not continuous, but, instead, the existence of ice-free
areas in lowland valleys allowed the local survival of cold-temperate woody
taxa.
Keywords alerce; biogeography; Fitzroya cupressoides;
glacial refugia; isozymes; Patagonia; Pleistocene; South America
R02016 Received 17 June 2002; accepted 22 April 2003; online publication
date 11 September 2003
© Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 33, Number
3, September 2003, pp 623-631
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