|
Vol. 53, 2014
Late Pleistocene fossils and the future distribution of Rana temporaria (Amphibia, Anura) along
the Apennine Peninsula (Italy)
Saverio
Bartolini1, Elisabetta Cioppi2, Lorenzo Rook1
and Massimo Delfino3,4*
1Dipartimento
di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, 50121
Florence, Italy
2Museo di Storia Naturale, Sezione Geologia e
Paleontologia, Università di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, 50121 Florence,
Italy
3Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di
Torino, Via T. Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino, Italy
4Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont,
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici Z (ICTA-ICP), Carrer de es
Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona,
Spain
Abstract
Background: The effect of past
climatic changes on the distribution of organisms is a fertile field of
research that has been tackled in many different ways. Because the
fossil record provides direct access to the chronological and
geographic dimensions of biological events occurred in the past, it can
be a useful tool for assessing range contractions and expansions
related to climatic changes.
Results: Here, we provide support for the ‘recent’
shrinkage of the range of a frigophilous anuran, the common frog, Rana temporaria Linnaeus, 1758, by
analyzing the amphibian fossil assemblage coming from the Grotta di
Equi, a Late Pleistocene site (about 45 ka) located in the Apuan Alps
(northern Apennine chain, Massa-Carrara Province, Italy). Besides, R. temporaria, the assemblage
includes cf. Salamandra salamandra
Linnaeus, 1758 and Bufo bufo
Linnaeus, 1758.
Conclusions: The presence of R. temporaria in the Apuan Alps
during a cold interglacial phase at an elevation that is much lower
than the minimum current elevation in the region (about 300 m lower)
supports the previously reported hypothesis that the Pleistocene
coolings favored the dispersal of this frigophilous species along the
Apennine chain and that its current, locally disjointed distribution is
the effect of the post Pleistocene raise in temperature. Our results
concur in predicting that the current global warming will further
affect, negatively, the range of this frigophilous species by further
reducing its distribution in the southern sectors of its range.
Key words: Biogeography; Bufo bufo; Fossil record; Global
warming; Grotta di Equi; Rana
temporaria; Salamandra
salamandra.
*Correspondence: E-mail: massimo.delfino@unito.it
|
