Arguments for and against a Pleistocene tundra‐steppeFootnote¹

Comment from Editorial Board, Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, seriya geograficheskaya: This article contains irrefutable evidence indicating the considerable diversity of ecosystems existing in the peri‐glacial regions of Northeast Asia during the time of the last Pleistocene glaciation. Earlier prevailing concepts regarding the existence of an extensive uniform cover of cold tundra‐steppes thereby are refuted. The ideas advanced by the authors of this article are entirely consistent with the latest analytical arguments presented by P. M. Anderson and A. V. Lozhkin at the International Conference on Peripheral Regions of the Arctic held in Magadan in 1994. It is clarified, for example, that on the northern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in the Late Pleistocene there were forests of larch and shrubby stone pine, whereas in Eastern Koryakia there were shrubby‐grassy tundras. Hardwood birch forests extended far to the north under improving climatic conditions during the Pleistocene‐Holocene transition period (11,000–9000 years B.P.). The sources of the present biotic diversity in the boreal belt evidently must be sought in the differentiation of the plant cover, which already had developed in the Late Pleistocene and is convincingly confirmed by the authors of this paper through the historical analysis of the flora on Chukotka.

However, the problem of a Pleistocene tundra‐steppe in Northern Eurasia is much broader than is outlined here. It is by no means restricted to Beringia, where because of the oceanic character of the climate the periglacial landscapes differed substantially from those in the intracontinental regions. In publishing this article, the editorial board recognizes that the debate over the Pleistocene tundra‐steppe retains its timeliness and by far not all the arguments advanced by the authors can be accepted as decisive either in a “pro”; or “con”; context.

Literature

• Ager , T. A. 1982 . “Vegetation history of western Alaska during the Wisconsin interval and the Holocene,” . In Palaeoecology of Beringia , 75 – 93 . Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Bocher , T. W. 1954 . Oceanic and Continental Vegetational Complexes in Southwest Greenland Copenhagen
   Google Scholar
• Britton , M. E. 1966 . Vegetation of the Arctic Tundra , Eugene, OR : Oregon Press .
   Google Scholar
• Colinvaux , P. A. 1967 . “Quaternary vegetation history of Arctic Alaska,” . In Bering Land Bridge , Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Colinvaux , P. A. and West , F. H. 1982 . “The Beringian ecosystem,” . In Paleoecology of Beringia 10 – 16 . New York, London
   Google Scholar
• Cwynar , L. C. 1982 . “A Late Quaternary vegetation history from Hanging Lake, northern Yukon,” . Ecol. Monogr. , 52 ( 1 ) : 1 – 24 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cwynar , L. C. and Ritchie , J. C. 1980 . “Arctic steppe‐tundra: A Yukon perspective,” . Acc. Adv. Sci. , 208 : 1375 – 1377 .
   Google Scholar
• Fedorov , Al. and Fedorov , An. 1929 . “On the relict character of arctic alpine and steppe plants of Pinega flora,” . Tr. Leningr. obshchestva yestestoispytateley , 59 ( 3 ) : 55 – 102 .
   Google Scholar
• Garutt , V. Ye. 1951 . “Change in ankle structure of Proboscidea relative to their habitation conditions,” . Doklady AN SSSR , 77 ( 3 ) : 513 – 515 .
   Google Scholar
• Gerasimov , I. P. and Velichko , A. 1984 . “Combined paleogeographical atlases‐monographs for the Anthropogene and their importance in prediction,” . 27‐y Mezhdunar. geologicheskiy kongress. Moskva, 4–14 avgusta 1984 g. Sektsiya C. 03. Chetvertichnaya geologiya i geomorfologiya. Doklady. T. 3 [27th International Geological Congress. Moscow, 4–14 August 1984. Section C. 03. Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology. Reports. Vol. 3] . 1984 , Moscow. pp. 57 – 66 .
   Google Scholar
• Gerasimov , I. P and Velichko , A. A. , eds. 1981 . Paleogeografiya Yevropy za posledniye sto tysyach let [Paleogeography of Europe During Last Hundred Thousand Years] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Gitcrman , R. Ye. 1985 . Istoriya rastitel'nosti severo‐vostoka SSSR v pliotsene i pleystotsene [History of Vegetation in the Northeastern USSR in the Pliocene and Pleistocene] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Giterman , R. Ye. , Golubeva , L. V. Zaklinskaya , Ye. D. 1968 . Osnovnyye etapy razvitiya rastitel'nosti Severnoy Azii v antropogene [Principal Stages in Development of Vegetation in Northern Asia During the Anthropogene] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Giterman , R. E. and Golubeva , L. V. 1967 . “Vegetation of eastern Siberia during the Anthropogene period,” . In Bering Land Bridge , 60 – 76 . Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Gorodkov , B. N. 1939 . “Is there an affinity between the vegetation of the steppes and tundras?,” . Sov. botanika , : 41 – 66 .
   Google Scholar
• Grosswald , M. G. 1983 . Pokrovnyye ledniki kontinental'nykh shel'fov [Glaciers of the Continental Shelves] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Guthrie , R. D. 1985 . “Wooly arguments against the mammoth steppe—a new look at the palynological data,” . Quarterly Rev. Archaeol , 6 ( 3 ) : 1351 – 1361 .
   Google Scholar
• Hopkins , D. 1967 . “The Cenozoic history of Beringia—A synthesis,” . In Bering Land Bridge , 451 – 484 . Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Hopkins , D. 1972 . “The paleogeography and climate history of Beringia during Late Cenozoic time,” . Inter‐Nord , : 121 – 150 .
   Google Scholar
• Howenstein , R. E. , Murray , D. F. and Armbruster , W. S. 1985 . “Vegetation ecology of south‐facing bluffs in the subarctic interior of Alaska,” . Tech. Sci. Proc. Arct. Sci. Conf. Fairbanks . 1985 . pp. 167 – 168 .
   Google Scholar
• Hulten , E. A. 1968 . Flora of Alaska and Neighboring Territories , Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Iversen , J. 1973 . The Development of Denmark's Nature Since the Last Glacial Copenhagen
   Google Scholar
• Khokhryakov , A. P. 1983 . “Steppe flora in the Kolyma basin,” . In Ekologotsenoticheskiye i geograficheskiye osobennosti rastitel'nosti [Ecologic‐Coenotic and Geographical Characteristics of Vegetation] 218 – 231 . Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Kozhevnikov , Yu. P. 1973 . “Botanical‐geographic observations in the western part of the Chukchi Peninsula,” . Botan. zhurn. , 58 ( 30 ) : 546 – 554 .
   Google Scholar
• Kozhevnikov , Yu. P. 1977 . “Critical review of data relating to florogenesis of Chukotka,” . Botan. zhurn. , 62 ( 3 ) : 262 – 276 .
   Google Scholar
• Kozhevnikov , Yu. P. 1979 . “New information concerning Beringia (review written on occasion of publication of the book Beringia in the Cenozoic),’’ . Botan. zhurn. , 64 ( 10 ) : 9262 – 9276 .
   Google Scholar
• Kozhevnikov , Yu. P. 1981 . Ekologo‐floristicheskiye issledovaniya na rekakh Indigirke, Kolyme, i severo‐zapade plato Putorana. V 2‐kh chastyakh [Ecologic‐Floristic Research along the Indigirka and Kolyma Rivers and in the Northwestern Part of the Putorana Plateau. In 2 Parts] , Moscow : All‐Union Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, Russian Academy of Sciences . Part 1, Part 2
   Google Scholar
• Kozhevnikov , Yu. P. 1989 . Geografiya rastitel'nosti Chukotki [Geography of the Vegetation of Chukotka] Leningrad
   Google Scholar
• Kozhevnikov , Yu. P. 1989 . Geosistemnyye aspekty rastitel'nogo pokrova Chukotki [Geosystem Aspects of the Vegetation Cover of Chukotka] Vladivostok
   Google Scholar
• Lavrenko , Ye. M. 1981 . “Vegetation of the Pleistocene periglacial steppes of the USSR,” . Botan. zhurn. , 66 ( 3 ) : 313 – 327 .
   Google Scholar
• Leskov , A. I. 1938 . “Relict elements in the flora of the wooded northeastern European USSR,” . Problemy reliktov vo flore SSSR [Problems in Floral Relicts of the USSR] , : 41 – 48 .
   Google Scholar
• Litvinov , D. I. 1891 . Geobotanicheskiye zametki o flore Yevropeyskoy Rossii [Geobotanical Notes on the Flora of European Russia] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Murray , D. F. 1978 . “Vegetation, floristic, and phytogeography of Northern Alaska,” . Veget. Product. Ecol. Alaska Arct. Tundra, Ecol. Stud. , 29 : 19 – 36 .
   Google Scholar
• Murray , D. F. 1981 . “The role of arctic refugia in the evolution of the arctic vascular flora—a Beringian perspective,” . Evolution Tday. Proc. II Int. Congr. Syst. Evol. Biol. . 1981 . pp. 11 – 20 .
   Google Scholar
• Murray , D. F. , Murray , V. M. , Yurtsev , V. A. and Howenstein , R. E. 1983 . “Biogeographic significance of steppe vegetation in subarctic Alaska,” . Permafrost: Proc., 4 Int. Conf. . 1983 , Washington, DC. pp. 883 – 888 .
   Google Scholar
• 1980 . Noveyshiye otlozheniya i paleogeografiya pleystotsena Chukotki [Most Recent Deposits and Pleistocene Paleogeography of Chukotka] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• 1982 . Paleoecology of Beringia New York, London
   Google Scholar
• Petrovskiy , V. V. 1967 . “Survey of vegetation associations of the central part of Wrangel Island,” . Botan. zhurn. , 52 ( 3 ) : 212 – 224 .
   Google Scholar
• Pohle , R. 1903 . “Pflanzengeographische Studien uber die Halbinsel Kanin und das angrenzende Waldgebiet,” . Acta Horti Petrop. , 21 ( l ) : 13 – 24 .
   Google Scholar
• Popov , A. I. 1982 . “Genesis and paleogeographical conditions for the formation of the sedimentary‐cryogenic (Yedoma) complex on the coastal plains of the Subarctic,” . Vestn. Mosk. un‐ta, ser. geogr. , : 60 – 65 .
   Google Scholar
• Repenning , C. A. 1967 . “Palearctic‐Nearctic mammalian dispersal in the Late Cenozoic,” . In Bering Land Bridge , 232 – 244 . Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Ritchie , J. C. and Cwynar , L. C. 1982 . “The Late Quaternary vegetation of north Yukon,” . In Paleoecology of Beringia 113 – 126 . New York, London
   Google Scholar
• Roland , C. A. 1994 . “A comparison of topographic controls of steppe vegetation in the upper Yukon and Kolyma River drainages,” . In Bridges in Science. 45th Arct. Sci. Conf. Book 2 29 Vladivostok
   Google Scholar
• Sheludyakova , V. A. 1938 . “Vegetation in the Indigirka River basin,” . Sov. botanika , : 49 – 79 .
   Google Scholar
• Sheludyakova , V. A. 1957 . “Steppe vegetation of the Yakutian transpolar region,” . In Tr. In‐ta biologii AN SSSR, Yakut, filial. Vyp. 3 [Transactions of the Biology Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk Filial, No. 3] 68 – 82 .
   Google Scholar
• Sher , A. V. 1971 . Mlekopitayushchiye i stratigrafiya pleystotsena kraynego severo‐vostoka SSSR i Severnoy Ameriki [Mammals and Stratigraphy of the Pleistocene in the Extreme Far Eastern USSR and North America] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Shilo , N. A. , Lozhkin , A. V. , Titov , E. E. and Shumilov , Yu. V. 1983 . Kirgilyakhskiy mamont [The Kirgilyakhskiy Mammoth] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Tanfil'yev , G. I. 1902 . “Most important features of vegetation in Russia,” . In Raspredeleniye rasteniy v zavisimosti ot vneshnikh usloviy [Distribution of Plants as a Function of Environmental Conditions] 315 – 474 . St. Petersburg
   Google Scholar
• Tolmachev , A. I. 1938 . “Nature of the arctic alpine and some floristic elements locally related to them in the neighborhoods of the Pinega and Sotka rivers,” . In Materialy istoricheskogo razvitiya flor yevropeyskogo severa SSSR [Materials on the Historical Development of Floras in the European USSR] 24 – 48 . Arkhangel'sk
   Google Scholar
• Tomirdiaro , S. V. 1976 . “Arctic loessal‐ice plain as American‐Asiatic bridge and its thermokarst destruction in the Holocene,” . In Beringiya v kaynozoye [Beringia in the Cenozoic] 248 – 257 . Vladivostok
   Google Scholar
• Ukraintseva , V. V. 1981 . “The environment and conditions for the death of mammoth herds,” . In Magadanskiy mamontenok [Magadan Mammoth Herds] 254 – 261 . Leningrad
   Google Scholar
• Ukraintseva , V. V. 1986 . Flora, rastitel'nost’ i prirodnyye usloviya Sibiri v pozdnem antropogene (po rezultatam issledovaniy soderzhimogo kishechnykh traktov iskopayemykh zhivotnykh i vmeshchayushchikh ikh otlozheniy) [Flora, Vegetation, and Natural Conditions in Siberia in the Late Anthropogene (Based on Results of Research on the Content of the Intestinal Tracts of Fossil Animals and the Deposits Holding Them)] , Leningrad : Dissertation for award of degree of doctor of biological sciences .
   Google Scholar
• Ukraintseva , V. V. , Arslanov , Kh. A. , Belorusova , Zh. M. and Ustinov , V. N. 1989 . “First data on Early Holocene flora and vegetation of Bol'shoy Lyakhovskiy Island (Novosibirskiy Archipelago),” . Bot. zhurn. , 74 ( 6 ) : 782 – 793 .
   Google Scholar
• Ukraintseva , V. V. 1993 . “Vegetation cover and environment of the ‘Mammoth Epoch’ in Siberia,” . In South Dakota: The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs Edited by: Agenbroad , L. D. Hot Springs, SD
   Google Scholar
• Vartanyan , S. L. , Garutt , V. E. and Sher , A. V. 1993 . “Holocene dwarf mammoths from Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic,” . Nature , 362 : 337 – 340 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Verkhovskaya , N. B. 1986 . Pleystotsen Chukotki [The Pleistocene on Chukotka]
   Google Scholar
• Voshchilko , M. Ye. and Kozhevnikov , Yu. P. 1982 . “Reflection of modern vegetation by surface spore‐pollen spectra in the middle course of the Berezovka River (Kolyma River basin),” . Botan. zhurn. , 67 ( 7 ) : 1100 – 1111 .
   Google Scholar
• Vul'f , Ye. V. 1944 . Istoricheskaya geografiya rasteniy [Historical Geography of Plants] Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Wesser , S. , Armbruster , W. S. , Edwards , M. and Debevec , E. 1994 . “Modeling arcticsteppe distribution using terrain variables as microclimate surrogates with geographic information,” . Bridges in Science. 45th Arct. Sci. Conf. Book 1 . 1994 , Vladivostok. pp. 80 – 81 .
   Google Scholar
• Yarovoy , M. I. 1939 . “Vegetation in the Yana River basin and Verkhoyansk Range,” . Sov. botanika , : 21 – 40 .
   Google Scholar
• Yudin , Yu. P. 1963 . “Relict flora in limestones in the northeastern European USSR,” . In Materialy po istorii flory i rastitel'nosti SSSR. Vyp. 4 [Materials on the History of Flora and Vegetation in the USSR. No. 4] 493 – 571 . Moscow, Leningrad
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. A. 1962 . “Floristic relationships between the Siberian steppes and North American prairies,” . Botan. zhurn. , 47 ( 3 ) : 211 – 223 .
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. A. 1963 . On the Floristic Relations Between Steppes and Prairies Lund
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. A. 1966 . “American‐Asiatic steppe relationships and the question of the ancient continental element of arctic and high‐mountain floras of northeastern Siberia,” . In Rastitel'nost’ vysokogor. i voprosy yeye khozyaystvennogo ispol'zovaniya [Alpine Vegetation and Matters Related to its Economic Use] 42 – 52 . Leningrad
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. V. 1968 . “Steppe associations of the Chukotka tundra and the Pleistocene tundra‐steppe question,” . In Problemy izucheniya chetvertichnogo perioda [Problems in the Study of the Quaternary Period] 133 – 135 . Khabarovsk
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. A. 1974 . Problemy botanicheskoy geografii severo‐vostochnoy Azii [Problems in Botanical Geography of Northeast Asia] Leningrad
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. A. 1981 . Reliktovyye stepnyye kompleksy severo‐vostochnoy Azii [Relict Steppe Complexes of Northeastern Asia] Novosibirsk
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. A. 1982 . “Relicts of tundra‐steppe landscapes of Beringia in the vegetation cover of Northeast Asia,” . In Palinologicheskiye metody v paleogeografii i stratigrafii. Mater. 3 mezhved. seminara po palinologicheskim issledovaniyam [Palynological Methods in Paleogeography and Stratigraphy. Materials of the Third Interdepartmental Seminar on Palynological Research] 3 – 14 . Magadan
   Google Scholar
• Yurtsev , B. A. 1994 . “Some new botanical data on the history of Beringia,” . In Bridges in Science. 45th Arct. Sci. Conf. Book 1 263 Vladivostok
   Google Scholar
• Yusov , B. V. 1958 . Tibet Moscow
   Google Scholar
• Comment from Editorial Board, Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, seriya geograficheskaya: This article contains irrefutable evidence indicating the considerable diversity of ecosystems existing in the peri‐glacial regions of Northeast Asia during the time of the last Pleistocene glaciation. Earlier prevailing concepts regarding the existence of an extensive uniform cover of cold tundra‐steppes thereby are refuted. The ideas advanced by the authors of this article are entirely consistent with the latest analytical arguments presented by P. M. Anderson and A. V. Lozhkin at the International Conference on Peripheral Regions of the Arctic held in Magadan in 1994. It is clarified, for example, that on the northern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in the Late Pleistocene there were forests of larch and shrubby stone pine, whereas in Eastern Koryakia there were shrubby‐grassy tundras. Hardwood birch forests extended far to the north under improving climatic conditions during the Pleistocene‐Holocene transition period (11,000–9000 years B.P.). The sources of the present biotic diversity in the boreal belt evidently must be sought in the differentiation of the plant cover, which already had developed in the Late Pleistocene and is convincingly confirmed by the authors of this paper through the historical analysis of the flora on Chukotka. However, the problem of a Pleistocene tundra‐steppe in Northern Eurasia is much broader than is outlined here. It is by no means restricted to Beringia, where because of the oceanic character of the climate the periglacial landscapes differed substantially from those in the intracontinental regions. In publishing this article, the editorial board recognizes that the debate over the Pleistocene tundra‐steppe retains its timeliness and by far not all the arguments advanced by the authors can be accepted as decisive either in a “pro”; or “con”; context.
   Google Scholar