Abstract
In tropical Africa during the last glacial the climate was cooler and drier and the ram forest retreated. It remained present in several small forest refuge areas only. The species of two sections of Begonia are ideal to serve as bioindicators of the localities of former forest refuges. Their distribution patterns have been analyzed elsewhere but are discussed here in the light of new evidence and data. This is followed by a discussion on the validity of deducing localities of forest refuges by means of present day distributional data.
Résumé
En Afrique tropicale, durant la dernière période glaciaire, le climat était plus froid et plus sec et la forêt ombrophile se retira. Elle ne subsista que dans plusieurs petites superficies de refuges forestiers. Les espèces de deux sections du genre Begonia représentent des bioindicateurs idéaux pour situer les endroits de ces anciens refuges forestiers. Leurs modes de distributions ont été analysés ailleurs mais il en est discuté ici à la lumière de nouvelles preuves et données. S’en suit une discussion concernant la valeur que l’on peut accorder à la déduction des emplacements de refuges forestiers à partir des données actuelles de la distribution.
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Sosef, M.S.M. (1996). Begonias and African rain forest refuges: general aspects and recent progress. In: van der Maesen, L.J.G., van der Burgt, X.M., van Medenbach de Rooy, J.M. (eds) The Biodiversity of African Plants. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0285-5_73
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