The potential importance of millennial climate variability for the structure of glacial ecosystems and current biodiversity patterns Event

Millennial variability of the global climate during the last, and previous, glacial stages is now well established. This variability is also now known to have impacted upon both marine and terrestrial ecosystems in at least most parts of the world. The apparent rapidity of the climatic changes, however, raises questions about the extent to which the biota of some regions may not have been able fully to respond to these changes, perhaps leading to the prevalence of a disequilibrium between ecosystems and the climate in these regions during at least some periods of the last glacial stage. The possible persistence of areas of relative climatic stability, notwithstanding the general fluctuations, may also have been important for the persistence of species, such areas perhaps corresponding to current areas of high species richness and/or high levels of endemism. These issues will be explored and illustrated using examples from both Europe and southern Africa.