Glacial refugium
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A glacial refugium (plural glacial refugia) is a geographic region which made possible the survival of flora and fauna during ice ages and allowed for post-glacial re-colonization.[1][2] Different types of glacial refugia can be distinguished, namely nunatak, peripheral, and lowland.[3] Glacial refugia have been suggested as a major cause of floral and faunal distribution patterns in both temperate and tropical latitudes.[4][5][6] With respect to disjunct populations of modern-day species, especially in birds,[7][8] doubt has been cast on the validity of such inferences, as much of the differentiation between populations observed today may have occurred before or after their restriction to refugia.[9][10] In contrast, isolated geographic locales that host one or more critically endangered species (regarded as paleoendemics or glacial relicts) are generally uncontested as bona fide glacial refugia.[11]