On metapopulations and microrefugia: palaeoecological insights

We highlight the importance of microrefugia in the light of population migration and genetic drift by synthesizing lessons learnt from metapopulation and palaeoecological studies. The concept of microrefugia is considered as a long-term variant of conventional metapopulations, in which microclimatic stability supersedes gene flow in determining species survival. Not all species can maintain populations in microrefugia. Life history traits such...