title: First fossil evidence of an "interglacial refugium" in the Pyrenean region.
abstract: A refugium is generally understood as an area where temperate species survive cold periods, such as the Iberian, Italian, or Balkan Peninsulas in Europe. Strictly speaking, this definition refers to what is known as a glacial refugium. However, there are various types of lesser-known refugia such as the interglacial refugium, which denotes a mountainous region at low latitudes, such as the Pyrenees, where species adapted to the cold survive during interstadial periods. The small-vertebrate association from the sequence of Cova Colomera, which is located on the southern face of the Pyrenees and contains the final cold spell of the Late Pleistocene and the beginnings of the temperate period in which we currently find ourselves (the Holocene), could constitute the first fossil evidence of such an interglacial refugium, thus providing new paleoecological data on the phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (Unitat associada al CSIC), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Plaça Imperial Tarraco 1, 43005 Tarragona, Spain. jmlopez@iphes.cat
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: López-García
authors.forename: Hugues-Alexandre
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Blain
authors.forename: Ethel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allué
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bañuls
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bargalló
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martín
authors.forename: Juan Ignacio
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.forename: Mireia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pedro
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Solé
authors.forename: F Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Oms
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D002980:Climate; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D006116:Greenland; D007053:Ice; D046448:Ice Cover; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D012377:Rodentia / Q000145:classification; D012621:Seasons; D013030:Spain; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D007053:Ice