Glacial Relicts

Glacial Relicts 

plants and animals that have survived from the ice age on a given territory in isolated habitats owing to a particularly favorable combination of microclimatic and soil conditions in the habitats. The glacial relicts in regions that previously were in the periglacial areas are more often encountered on cliffs and in caves on slopes with a northern exposure, in sphagnum bogs, in lakes with clear cold water, and, more rarely, in forests and on broad sandy expanses. Examples of plant glacial relicts are reindeer moss (the pine groves along the Voronezh River), the dwarf birch (in the peat bogs in central Eastern Europe), and the mountain avens (on cliffs along the valleys of northern rivers), all of which are widely found in the tundra and are encountered in various parts of the European USSR. Examples of animal glacial relicts are the fly Cephenemya ulrichi and certain dragonflies (in a number of forest areas), the common lizard, and the common adder, or viper.