Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T15:51:26.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Colonisation of Greenland by plants and animals after the last ice age: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Ole Bennike
Ole Bennike
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Thoravej 8, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the light of data from the Greenland ice sheet concerning the ice-age climate, and palaeoecological studies of interglacial and Early Holocene deposits, the concept that a large proportion of Greenland's plants and animals may have survived during the ice ages is evaluated. While ice-free areas (refugias) were present, it is concluded that only hardy, cold-adapted species could have survived, which also explains why so few clearly endemic species are present in Greenland. Most members of the present biota are considered to be postglacial immigrants. Some species came to Greenland by walking or flying, but most arrived by passive, long-distance, chance dispersal, carried by wind, sea currents, and, in particular, birds. Transport by birds may explain why so many species arrived from Europe, because vast numbers of geese in particular migrate from northwest Europe to Greenland.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 35 , Issue 195 , October 1999 , pp. 323 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arneborg, J. 1996. Burgunderhuer, baskere og døde nordboer i Herjolfsnaes, Grønland. Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark 1996: 75–83.Google Scholar
Bennike, O. 1990a. The Kap København Formation: stratigraphy and palaeobotany of a Plio-Pleistocene sequence in Peary Land, North Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 23: 1–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O. 1990b. Observations of geese and other birds in West Greenland 1989 and 1990. Dansk Ornithologisk Forenings Tidsskrift 84: 145–150.Google Scholar
Bennike, O. 1997. Quaternary vertebrates from Greenland: a review. Quaternary Science Reviews 16: 899–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O., and Anderson, J.N.. 1998. Potamogeton praeongus in West Greenland. Nordic Journal of Botany 18: 499–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O., and Böcher, J.. 1992. Early Weichselian interstadial land biotas at Thule, northwest Greenland. Boreas 21: 111–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O., and Böcher, J.. 1994. Land biotas of the last interglacial/glacial cycle on Jameson Land, East Greenland. Boreas 23: 479–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O.S., Björck, J.Böcher, L. Hansen, Heinemeier, J., and Wohlfrath, B.. In press. Early Holocene plant and animal remains from northeast Greenland. Journal of Biogeography.Google Scholar
Bennike, O., Hansen, K.B., Knudsen, K.L., Penney, D.N., and Rasmussen, K.L.. 1994a. Quaternary marine stratigraphy and geochronology in central West Greenland. Boreas 23: 194–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennike, O., and Jensen, H.. In press. A new interglacial sequence from Washington Land, North Greenland. Polar Research.Google Scholar
Bennike, O., Meldgaard, M., Heinemeier, J., and Rud, N.. 1994b. Radiocarbon AMS dating of Holocene wolf (Canis lupus) remains from Greenland. The Holocene 4: 84–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergersen, R. 1995. Is Greenland a zoogeographic unit of its own? Journal of Biogeography 22: 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Betzer, P.R., Carder, K.L., Duce, R.A., Merrill, J.T., Tindale, N.W., Uematsu, M., Costello, D.K., Young, R.W., Feely, R.A., Breland, J.A., Bernstein, R.E., and Greco, A.M.. 1988. Long-range transport of giant mineral aerosol particles. Nature 336: 568–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birks, H.H. 1994. Plant macrofossils and the nunatak theory of peri-glacial survival. Dissertationes Botanicae 234: 129–143.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B. 1993. Is the hypothesis of survival on glacial nunataks necessary to explain the present-day distributions of Norwegian mountain plants? Phytocoenologia 23: 399–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birks, H.J.B. 1996. Statistical approaches to interpreting diversity patterns in the Norwegian mountain flora. Ecography 19: 332–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Böcher, J. 1988. The Coleoptera of Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Bioscience 26: 1–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Böcher, J. 1995. Palaeoentomology of the Kap København Formation, a Plio-Pleistocene sequence in Peary Land, North Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 33: 1–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Böcher, T.W. 1956. Area limits and isolations of plants in relation to the physiography of the southern parts of Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 124(8): 1–40.Google Scholar
Böcher, T.W. 1972. Evolutionary problems in the Arctic flora. In: Valentine, D.H. (editor). Taxonomy, phytogeography and evolution. London: Academic Press: 101–113.Google Scholar
Böcher, T.W. 1974. Variation and distribution pattern in Draba sibirica (Pall.) Thell. Botaniska Notisert 127: 317–327.Google Scholar
Boertman, D. 1994. An annotated checklist to the birds of Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Bioscience 38: 1–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braendegaard, J. 1938. Aeronautic spiders in the Arctic. Meddelelser om Grønland 119 (5): 1–9.Google Scholar
Buckland, P.C. 1988. North Atlantic faunal connections – introduction or endemics? Entomologica Scandinavica Supplement 32: 7–29.Google Scholar
Buckland, P.C., and Dugmore, A.J.. 1991. If this is a refugium, why are my feet so bloody cold? In: Maizels, J.K., and Caseldine, C. (editors). Environmental change in Iceland: past and present. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers: 107–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckland, P.C., Perry, D.W., Gislason, G.M., and Dugmore, A.J.. 1986. The pre-Landnam fauna of Iceland: a palaeontological contribution. Boreas 15: 173–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, S.A. 1944. Foundations of plant geography. New York: Harper & Sons.Google Scholar
Carlquist, S. 1981. Chance dispersal. American Scientist 69: 509–516.Google Scholar
Clark, J.S., Fastie, C., Hurtt, G., Jackson, S.T., Johnson, C., King, G.A., Lewis, M., Lynch, J., Pacala, S., Prentice, C., Schupp, E.W., Webb, T. III, and Wyckoff, P.. 1998. Reid's paradox of rapid plant migration. Bioscience 48:13–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clausen, P., and Bustnes, J.O.. 1998. Flyways of North Atlantic light-bellied brent geese Brante bernicla hrota reassessed by satellite telemetry. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter 200: 235–251.Google Scholar
Coope, G.R. 1986. The invasion and colonisation of the North Atlantic islands: a palaeoecological solution to a biogeographic problem. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B314: 619–635.Google Scholar
Cruden, R.W. 1966. Birds as agents of long-distance dispersal for disjunct plant groups of the western hemisphere. Evolution 20: 517–532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cuffey, K.M., Clow, G.D., Alley, R.B., Stuiver, M., Waddington, E.D., and Saltus, R.W.. 1995. Large Arctic temperature change at the Wisconsin-Holocene glacial transition. Science 270: 455–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl-Jensen, D., Mosegaard, K., Gundestrup, N., Clow, G.D., Johnsen, S.J., Hansen, A.W., and Balling, N.. 1998. Past temperatures directly from the Greenland ice sheet. Science 282: 268–271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawes, P.R., Elander, M., and Ericson, M.. 1986. The wolf (Canis lupus) in Greenland: a historical review and present status. Arctic 39:119–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downes, J.A. 1988. The post-glacial colonization of the North Atlantic islands. Memoirs of the Canadian Entomological Society 144: 55–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driver, J.C., and Hobson, K.A.. 1992. A 10,500-year sequence of bird remains from the southern boreal forest region of western Canada. Arctic 45: 105–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dusén, E. 1901. Zur Kenntnis der Gefässpflanzen Ostgronlands. Bihang Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps- Akademiens Handlingar 27, III(3): 1–70.Google Scholar
Elling, H. 1996. The Independence I and Old Nuulliit cultures in relation to the Saqqaq Culture. In: Grønnow, B. (editor). The paleo-Eskimo cultures of Greenland. Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center: 191–198.Google Scholar
Elton, C.S. 1925. The dispersal of insects to Spitsbergen. Transactions of the London Entomological Society 1925: 289–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falla, R.A. 1960. Oceanic birds as dispersal agents. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B152: 655–659.Google Scholar
Felt, E.P. 1928. Dispersal of insects by aircurrents. Bulletin of the New York State Museum 274: 59–129.Google Scholar
Fredskild, B. 1973. Studies on the vegetational history of Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 198 (4): 1–245.Google Scholar
Fredskild, B. 1983. The Holocene vegetational development of the Godthåbsfjord area, West Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 10: 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredskild, B. 1985a. The Holocene vegetational development of Tugtuligssuaq and Qeqertat, northwest Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 14:1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredskild, B. 1985b. Holocene pollen records from West Greenland. In: Andrews, J.T. (editor). Quaternary environments: eastern Canadian Arctic, Baffin Bay and western Greenland. Boston: Allen and Unwin: 643–681.Google Scholar
Fredskild, B. 1991. The genus Betula in Greenland – Holocene history, present distribution and synecology. Nordic Journal of Botany 11: 393–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredskild, B., Bay, S., Holt, S., and Nielsen, B.. 1986. Grønlands Botaniske Undersøgelse 1985. Copenhagen: Botanical Museum.Google Scholar
Funder, S. 1978. Holocene stratigraphy and vegetation history in the Scoresby Sund area, East Greenland. Bulletin Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse 129: 1–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funder, S. 1979. Ice-age plant refugia in East Greenland. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 28: 279–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funder, S. (co-ordinator). 1989. Quaternary geology of the ice-free areas and adjacent shelves of Greenland. In: Fulton, R.J. (editor). Quaternary geology of Canada and Greenland. Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada: 741–792 (Geology of Canada volume 1).Google Scholar
Ganopolski, A., Rahmstorf, S., Petoukhov, V., and Claussen, M.. 1998. Simulation of modern and glacial climates with a coupled global model of intermediate complexity. Science 391: 351–356.Google Scholar
Gelting, P. 1934. Studies on the vascular plants of East Greenland between Franz Josef Fjord and Dove Bay (73°20′–76°20′). Meddelelser om Grølancd 101 (2): 1–340.Google Scholar
Gelting, P. 1941. Über pleistozäne Pflanzenrefugien in Grønland. Mitteilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Schaffhausen 17: 74–96.Google Scholar
Gillham, M.E. 1970. Seed dispersal by birds. In: Perring, F. (editor). The flora of a changing Britain. Hampton: E.W.Classey: 90–98.Google Scholar
Gotfredsen, A.B. 1992. Nytfra Saqqaq-Kulturen. Forskning i Grønland 92: 41–45.Google Scholar
Hald, M., and Aspeli, R.. 1997. Rapid climatic shifts of the northern Norwegian Sea during the last deglaciation and the Holocene. Boreas 26:15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, A.C., and Milne, P.S.. 1937. Insect drift over the North Sea. Nature 139: 510–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heide-Jørgensen, H.S., and Johnsen, I.. 1997. Ecosystem vulnerability to climate change in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Working Report 97. 1–266.Google Scholar
Holzapfel, E.P., and Harrell, J.C.. 1968. Transoceanic dispersal studies of insects. Pacific Insects 10: 115–153.Google Scholar
Hoel, A. 1916. Hvorfra er Spitsbergen-renen kommet? Naturen (Bergen) 1916, 37–43.Google Scholar
Hultén, E. 1962. Plants of the floating ice-island ‘Arlis II’. Svensk Botanisk Tidsskrift 56: 362–363.Google Scholar
Ingvarson, F. 1903. Om drifveden i Norra Ishafvet. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar 37 (1): 1–83.Google Scholar
Iversen, J. 1953. Origin of the flora of western Greenland in the light of pollen analysis. Oikos 4: 85–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, W.C., and III, T. Webb. 1989. The role of blue jays (Cyanacitta cristata L.) in the postglacial dispersal of fagaceous trees in eastern North America. Journal of Biogeography 16: 561–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, M., and Bennike, O.. 1992. Quaternary geology of western and central North Greenland. Rapport Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgeise 53: 1–34.Google Scholar
Knaben, G. 1959. On evolution of the Radicatum-group of the Scapiflora papavers as studied in 70 and 56 chromosome species. Opera Botanica 2 (3): 1–74; 3(3): 1–96.Google Scholar
Koc, N., Jansen, E., and Haflidason, H.. 1993. Paleoceanographic reconstructions of surface ocean conditions in the Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian seas through the last 14 ka based on diatoms. Quaternary Science Reviews 12: 115–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristiansen, J. 1996. Dispersal of freshwater algae – a review. In: Kristiansen, J. (editor). Biogeography of freshwater algae. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers: 151–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemdahl, G. 1997. Late Weichselian and Early Holocene colonisation of beetle faunas in S. Sweden. Quaternary Proceedings 5: 153–164.Google Scholar
Lid, J. 1964. The flora of Jan Mayen. Skrifter fra Norsk Polarinstitutt 130: 1–107.Google Scholar
Lindroth, C.H. 1957. The faunal connections betweet Europe and North America. New York: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Lindroth, C.H. 1973. Survival of animals and plants on ice-free refugla during the Pleistocene glaciations. Endeavor 29: 129–134.Google Scholar
Lohammar, G. 1954. Matsmältningens inverkan på Potamogeton-frönas groning. Fauna och Flora 1954: 17–32.Google Scholar
Lønø, O. 1959. Reinen på Svalbard. Norsk Polarinstitutt Meddelelser 83: 1–31.Google Scholar
Meldgaard, M. 1986. The Greenland caribou – zoogeography, taxonomy, and population dynamics. Meddeleiser om Grønland, Bioscience 20: 1–88.Google Scholar
Meldgaard, M. 1988. The great auk, Pinguinis impennis (L) in Greenland. Historical Biology 1: 145–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meldgaard, M., and Bennike, O.. 1989. Interglacial remains of caribou (Rangifertarandus) and lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus) from North Greenland. Boreas 18: 359–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathorst, A.G. 1892. Kritische Bemerkungen über die Geschichte der Vegetation Grønlands. Englers Botanische Jahrbücher 14: 183–221.Google Scholar
Nordal, I. 1987. Tabula rasa after all? Botanical evidence for ice-free refugia in Scandinavia reviewed. Journal of Biogeography 14: 377–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nørlund, P. 1942. Viking settlers in Greenland. Copenhagen: National Museum.Google Scholar
Nowak, R.M. 1983. A perspective on the taxonomy of wolves in North America. Canadian Wildlife Service, Report Series 45: 10–19.Google Scholar
Ostenfeld, C.H. 1926. The flora of Greenland and its origin. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Biologiske Meddeleiser 6 (3): 1–71.Google Scholar
Pitelka, L.F., and the plant migration workshop group. 1997. Plant migration and climate change. American Scientist 85: 464–473.Google Scholar
Polunin, N. 1958. The botany of ice-island T-3. Journal of Ecology 46: 323–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Røen, U.I. 1962. Studies on freshwater Entomostraca in Greenland II. Meddeleiser om Grønland 170 (2): 1–249.Google Scholar
Sadler, J.P. 1998. ‘Is Greenland a zoogeographic unit?’ A response to Bergersen. Journal of Biogeography 25: 399–403.Google Scholar
Salomonsen, F. 1951. The immigration and breeding ofthe fieldfare (Turdus pilaris L.) in Greenland. Proceedings of the Xth International Ornithological Congress, Uppsala 06 1950: 515–526.Google Scholar
Salomonsen, F. (editor). 1981. Grønlands fauna. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.Google Scholar
Skidmore, P. 1997. Zoogeographical notes on the muscid fauna of Greenland and the North Atlantic. Quaternary Proceedings 5: 245–253.Google Scholar
Taylor, B.W. 1954. An example of long distance dispersal. Ecology 35: 569–572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulloriaq, I. 1976. Beretningen om Qillarsuaq og hans lange rejse fra Canada til Nordgrønland i 1860'erne. Det Grønlandske Selskabs Skrifter 27: 1–204.Google Scholar
Vlaming, V., and Proctor, V.W.. 1968. Dispersal of aquatic organisms: viability of seeds recovered from the droppings of captive killdeer and mallard ducks. American Journal of Botany 55: 20–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warming, E. 1888. Om Grønlands vegetation. Meddeleiser om Grønland 12: 1–245.Google Scholar
Wesenberg-Lund, C. 1895. Grønlands Ferskvand-sentomostraca. Videnskabelige Meddeleiser fra den Naturhistoriske Forening i Kjøbenhavn 56: 82–173.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, D.M. 1997. Plant colonization: are wind dispersed seeds really dispersed by birds at larger spatial and temporal scales? Journal of Biogeography 24: 61–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar